After being sued by Chris Cornell's widow, Vicky Cornell, last week over a buyout price for Chris' share of the band, the remaining members of Soundgarden have issued a statement in which they accuse Cornell of having “hijacked” Soundgarden's social media, and “misleading and confusing our fans.” They said in part, “Being a band from Washington State since 1984, we are proud of Soundgarden’s musical legacy, work and career. We look forward to completing the final Soundgarden album.”
According to court documents, Cornell claims that Soundgarden members Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd offered her a lowball figure of $300,000 for Chris’ portion, when she claims that the band recently received an offer for the band’s master recordings from an outside music investor for $16 million.
Cornell also claims that she made two counter offers to the band to purchase the masters herself — one for $12 million and a second for $21 million. Both offers were rejected, which Cornell says was the catalyst for her lawsuit.
Soundgarden's complete statement on the matter is as follows:
“The buyout offer that was demanded by the Estate has been grossly mischaracterized and we are confident that clarity will come out in court. All offers to buy out our interests have been unsolicited and rejected outright. For more than a year, Soundgarden’s social media accounts have been hijacked; misleading and confusing our fans. Being a band from Washington State since 1984, we are proud of Soundgarden’s musical legacy, work and career. We look forward to completing the final Soundgarden album.”
Cornell initially sued the members of Soundgarden in December of 2019 over ownership of seven unreleased songs and accusing them of withholding royalties from her. The band responded with a countersuit.