Some moments in ’90s rock history don’t live on because they were dramatic or explosive.
They live on because they were quietly uncomfortable — and somehow perfect.
This short interview between Chris Cornell and Dutch journalist Jan Douwe Kroeske was filmed backstage at Pinkpop Festival in 1992, just after Soundgarden came off a rain-soaked set.
It’s been circulating online for years — replayed, quoted, and endlessly commented on — not because of what was said, but because of what didn’t quite land.
At first glance, it feels harmless.
Then the tone slips.
Then it gets weird.
Then it becomes legendary.
The interview opens with talk of the weather and the audience being “wet.” Within seconds, Kroeske refers to Soundgarden’s music as “noise” — not angrily, not jokingly, just… plainly.
Chris doesn’t push back. He smiles.
“Yeah, I think noise is the perfect word.”
From that moment on, Cornell answers politely, but everything is wrapped in dry sarcasm and perfectly timed understatement. He answers every question — just not in the way the interviewer expects.
The issue isn’t hostility.
It’s that the interviewer never quite realizes Chris is joking.
And Chris realizes that very quickly.
No fight. No ego. Just control.
This isn’t an aggressive interview. There’s no yelling, no walk-off, no visible tension. What makes it fascinating is how calmly Chris takes control without ever announcing it.
When asked what he wants to achieve with “this noise,” he shrugs it off.
When asked what he learned musically from touring with Guns N’ Roses and Skid Row, he replies:
“I didn’t learn anything musically.”
Then comes one of the most quoted lines of his career, when Jimi Hendrix is mentioned:
“I was like two years old, so I didn’t hang with him much.”
Chris doesn’t correct the questions. He doesn’t explain himself. He lets the pauses hang. The awkward silences do the work.
Watching it now, it feels less like confrontation and more like a quiet power move — sarcasm instead of defensiveness.
Why fans never stopped talking about it
Scroll through the comments today and a clear pattern emerges. Fans don’t describe this as an interviewer attacking Soundgarden. They describe an interviewer who missed the joke.
Again and again, people point out:
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Chris is clearly being sarcastic
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The interviewer takes everything literally
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The humor goes straight past him
What people love isn’t the awkwardness itself — it’s how effortlessly Chris handles it. Calm. Patient. Slightly amused. Completely unbothered.
It’s a reminder of something many ’90s artists had: confidence without performance. No media training. No polished soundbites. Just personality.
A small detail that says a lot
There’s one detail in this interview longtime fans notice immediately: Chris is wearing a 90 T-shirt, a design we now call “ED.”
It’s not styled. It’s not performative. It’s just there — like the answers he gives.
What makes that detail matter isn’t nostalgia. It’s alignment.
In this clip, Chris represents something that defined an entire era: honesty over polish, humor over ego, confidence without noise. He doesn’t posture. He doesn’t try to fit expectations. He answers on his own terms and lets the moment be what it is.
That’s exactly what 90 The Original has always stood for.
The brand was never about trends or hype. It came from the same place this interview lives — anti-bullshit, self-aware, quietly defiant. Worn by artists who didn’t need to announce who they were, because the work already did that for them.
Seeing Chris in that shirt, in this moment, isn’t about branding.
It’s about shared values.
Who Jan Douwe Kroeske really was — and is
Online comments sometimes reduce Kroeske to “that awkward interviewer,” but that’s only part of the story.
Jan Douwe Kroeske was already an established figure in Dutch music media by the early ’90s. He began working in radio in the 1980s and became best known as the creator and host of 2 Meter Sessies, a long-running radio and television project that documented intimate live performances from hundreds of artists across genres.
Over the years, 2 Meter Sessies grew into an important archive of alternative music in Europe — proof that Kroeske wasn’t dismissive of heavy or unconventional music as a rule. His career was built on documentation, not judgment.
After his long run in mainstream radio and TV, he founded his own production company and shifted into broader media work. Today, he remains active as a producer, moderator, voice-over artist, and event host, often appearing as a speaker and cultural commentator in the Netherlands.
This interview wasn’t the end of his career — just a moment where tone, humor, and perspective didn’t quite align.
Watch the full interview
Short clips never tell the whole story.
If you want to see the entire exchange — the pacing, the pauses, the body language, and the way Chris quietly steers the conversation — we’ve uploaded the full interview to our YouTube channel.
👉 Watch the full interview here:
This interview has lasted because it captures something real: a moment where tone, humor, and expectation didn’t line up — and no one tried to smooth it over.
Chris Cornell didn’t argue.
He didn’t explain himself.
He stayed himself.
And sometimes, when the interviewer misses the joke, that’s exactly what makes the moment unforgettable.
