Rage Against the Machine frontman Tom Morello has said he’d be happy to sign the online petition to name the recently photographed black hole after his late Audioslave bandmate, Chris Cornell.
Last week (10th April), a fan-driven petition was launched online to name the recently photographed black hole after the late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, paying homage to the Soundgarden hit ‘Black Hole Sun’.
During an interview with Rock 105 WRXR radio, Morello put his support behind the petition: “I think that would be really nice. I don’t know who you send that petition to, but I’d be happy to officially add my name to that…That seems absolutely appropriate.”
Giuliana Jarrin, who launched the petition, said: “Almost two years ago, we lost Chris Cornell. He was the lead singer for Soundgarden and Audioslave and above all, the voice of an entire generation…Black Hole Sun, written by Chris Cornell is without a doubt Soundgarden’s most recognisable and most popular song, and one of the biggest anthems of the ’90s.
“For this reason, and the impact Chris Cornell had in the lives of so many and music itself, I ask NASA, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration and all the astronomers and scientists involved in this discovery, to name this black hole after Chris Cornell. This would be a ‘surreal’ and amazing way to honour his life and his contribution to music.”
However, Jarrin’s might be a losing battle: the photographed black hole has already been officially named ‘Powehi’, a Hawaiian word which means “the embellished dark source of unending creation.”
Looks oddly familiar… #EHTBlackHole https://t.co/mDvjh597bu pic.twitter.com/gk8g1MQmgm
— Soundgarden (@soundgarden) April 10, 2019
After the landmark images of the black hole were released, the official Soundgarden Twitter account was quick to make a comparison between the snap and the band’s 1994 music video for ‘Black Hole Sun’, tweeting “looks oddly familiar”.
Chris Cornell died 17th May 2017 at the age of 52 – it was later determined that he’d taken his own life.
Photo by Suzi Pratt/FilmMagic
