Photo: The Howard Stern Show

Before his Stern Show visit on Tuesday morning, Adam Levine sent an email to Howard asking if he could perform a special tribute to Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell who passed away in May. Of course, Howard gave him the green light.

“This is probably my favorite Chris Cornell song,” Adam said of “Seasons” before he and his Maroon 5 bandmates (James Valentine, Sam Farrar, and Jesse Carmichael) performed their in-studio cover. “Seasons” was originally featured on the soundtrack for the movie “Singles” which Adam said he considers to be one of the best soundtracks of all time.

“I deeply regret not getting to meet him, but his music was so unbelievably influential on all of us,” Adam said of Cornell.

Check out audio of Adam Levine and Maroon 5 performing “Seasons” (below).

Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine explained why “Seasons” is such a unique song. “It’s only two notes,” he told Howard while strumming out a C note followed by an F note. “For a guitar player, that’s a pretty weird tuning.”

And while the guys are confident their fans would enjoy it if they sang “Seasons” in concert, Adam told Howard there was no better place to perform the song than on the Stern Show.

“Going on your show and doing this song for [Cornell] is something that makes sense,” Adam said.