Soundgarden "Superunknown" 10\10
For my second review, I have decided to dive into one of the best selling albums of the 1990s. This album was a monster when it was unleashed. Soundgarden moved from a cult favorite of the alternative metal and Seattle scene into the rock n roll stratosphere. This album spawned radio hit, after radio hit, forcing the FM band to conform to THEIR sound, instead of the other way around. Big songs such as "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun" are still in heavy rotation on just about every rock station throughout the US.
One of the challenges of talking about an album like this is really finding something interesting, new, or insightful to say about it. If you are a rock n roll fan and are over the age of 35, you almost certainly have a copy of this album on one format or another. I do have an OP of it on CD, but The 20th Anniversary edition on LP is my go-to. If you can't find this press, they did another run of the same remaster a few years ago, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band. This album is going to sound great on whatever format you choose. It was expertly produced by Michael Beinhorn and the band at the world famous Electric Ladyland Studio.
When this album was released, there was a giant, gaping void in rock n roll music. Kurt Cobain had just committed suicide, and the rock world was turned on its head, as it felt like a ship without a captain. Kurt had been designated as a sort of spokesperson for a jaded generation (a job he never seemed to really want), and was the face of the burgeoning Seattle scene. Much has been said and written about whether or not there was an actual "grunge" sound, or if there was just a plethora of talent that happened to be focused in the Pacific Northwest. I generally favor the latter explanation, as none of the big Seattle bands really sounded much alike.
Soundgarden had been building up to this moment. Their first few releases on the infamous Seattle Sub Pop record label hinted at what was to come. Songs on their early releases have the heavier riffs, with a bit of punk energy, and a tinge of trippiness to them as well. While the first few albums are a solid listen, it wasn't until bass player Ben Sheppard joined the band that they seemed to find their real sound.
Ben Sheppard's tenure with Soundgarden started with their crunchy, riff-laden "Badmotorfinger." An album that rode on the wave of major label contracts as other contemporaries from the north west moved up to the big leagues. There is a significant change in tone between "Badmotorfinger" and "Louder than Love." Better arrangements, more mature songwriting, better lyrics, and a more serious attitude. That record began a great 3 record run for Soundgarden, one that only came to a close as the band itself broke up.
One of the challenges of talking about an album like this is really finding something interesting, new, or insightful to say about it. If you are a rock n roll fan and are over the age of 35, you almost certainly have a copy of this album on one format or another. I do have an OP of it on CD, but The 20th Anniversary edition on LP is my go-to. If you can't find this press, they did another run of the same remaster a few years ago, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band. This album is going to sound great on whatever format you choose. It was expertly produced by Michael Beinhorn and the band at the world famous Electric Ladyland Studio.
When this album was released, there was a giant, gaping void in rock n roll music. Kurt Cobain had just committed suicide, and the rock world was turned on its head, as it felt like a ship without a captain. Kurt had been designated as a sort of spokesperson for a jaded generation (a job he never seemed to really want), and was the face of the burgeoning Seattle scene. Much has been said and written about whether or not there was an actual "grunge" sound, or if there was just a plethora of talent that happened to be focused in the Pacific Northwest. I generally favor the latter explanation, as none of the big Seattle bands really sounded much alike.
Soundgarden had been building up to this moment. Their first few releases on the infamous Seattle Sub Pop record label hinted at what was to come. Songs on their early releases have the heavier riffs, with a bit of punk energy, and a tinge of trippiness to them as well. While the first few albums are a solid listen, it wasn't until bass player Ben Sheppard joined the band that they seemed to find their real sound.
Ben Sheppard's tenure with Soundgarden started with their crunchy, riff-laden "Badmotorfinger." An album that rode on the wave of major label contracts as other contemporaries from the north west moved up to the big leagues. There is a significant change in tone between "Badmotorfinger" and "Louder than Love." Better arrangements, more mature songwriting, better lyrics, and a more serious attitude. That record began a great 3 record run for Soundgarden, one that only came to a close as the band itself broke up.
Anyways, lets give the record a spin, and write about this great collection of songs.
1) "Let Me Drown"
This song does start with a pretty standard grunge rock groove. It is a pretty straight forward rock song for a band known for odd time signatures, bizarre tunings, and cryptic lyrics. Matt Cameron's drumming abosolutely carries the excitement of the song, his frantic beats just glue the whole song together. Chris Cornell's double tracked vocals really showcase his range as he harmonizes with himself, and lets out a few banshee squeals for good measure.
2) "My Wave"
Here we get a glimpse into what makes Soundgarden so unique. A big riff that would find a space on either a Black Sabbath or Dick Dale record. A song with a 6\8 time signature, but remains insanely catchy. The whole band crunches the riff together for emphasis. And it is all in service to a song essentially telling a negative force to piss off. Ben Sheppard does some amazing bass work with a wah pedal too just for texture. Backwards and forwards guitar leads interspersed to create atmosphere. If you aren't singing along and pumping your first along by the end of this track, check your pulse.
3) "Fell on Black Days"
Track 3 brings in one of the big themes of this album; depression and loneliness. Another odd rhythm pattern on the guitar work, with a mellow lead vocal. This song will just feel you with Chris Cornell's existential dread. Chris Cornell was characteristically private about his life in interviews, preferring to let the music speak for him. The middle eight of the song features one of the most desperate "coos" of any vocal in any rock song.
4) "Mailman"
Mailman harkens back to earlier Soundgarden records. This song would have comfortably fit onto "Badmotorfinger" (perhaps it was written durring those sessions). Absent some of the effects and gloss of the other songs on this LP, this is another straightforward rocker. Once again drummer Matt Cameron seems to do most of the heavy lifting on this one.
5) "Superunknown"
Title tracks are always dicey. This one isn't an abject failure, but it certainly isn't as exciting as the rest of the album. It feels almost like a theme song for the concept of the album, versus a piece with something to really say. Title tracks, or even songs named after the band, in my opinion, should really be a centerpiece of the record. Not necessarily a single caliber song, but one that can help drive the album. This song is kind of forgettable, which is a shame.
6) "Head Down"
This song does start with a pretty standard grunge rock groove. It is a pretty straight forward rock song for a band known for odd time signatures, bizarre tunings, and cryptic lyrics. Matt Cameron's drumming abosolutely carries the excitement of the song, his frantic beats just glue the whole song together. Chris Cornell's double tracked vocals really showcase his range as he harmonizes with himself, and lets out a few banshee squeals for good measure.
2) "My Wave"
Here we get a glimpse into what makes Soundgarden so unique. A big riff that would find a space on either a Black Sabbath or Dick Dale record. A song with a 6\8 time signature, but remains insanely catchy. The whole band crunches the riff together for emphasis. And it is all in service to a song essentially telling a negative force to piss off. Ben Sheppard does some amazing bass work with a wah pedal too just for texture. Backwards and forwards guitar leads interspersed to create atmosphere. If you aren't singing along and pumping your first along by the end of this track, check your pulse.
3) "Fell on Black Days"
Track 3 brings in one of the big themes of this album; depression and loneliness. Another odd rhythm pattern on the guitar work, with a mellow lead vocal. This song will just feel you with Chris Cornell's existential dread. Chris Cornell was characteristically private about his life in interviews, preferring to let the music speak for him. The middle eight of the song features one of the most desperate "coos" of any vocal in any rock song.
4) "Mailman"
Mailman harkens back to earlier Soundgarden records. This song would have comfortably fit onto "Badmotorfinger" (perhaps it was written durring those sessions). Absent some of the effects and gloss of the other songs on this LP, this is another straightforward rocker. Once again drummer Matt Cameron seems to do most of the heavy lifting on this one.
5) "Superunknown"
Title tracks are always dicey. This one isn't an abject failure, but it certainly isn't as exciting as the rest of the album. It feels almost like a theme song for the concept of the album, versus a piece with something to really say. Title tracks, or even songs named after the band, in my opinion, should really be a centerpiece of the record. Not necessarily a single caliber song, but one that can help drive the album. This song is kind of forgettable, which is a shame.
6) "Head Down"
This is the first of 2 compositions entirely by bass player "Ben Sheppard." This song is a creative reprieve. Big lead guitars matching heavily capoed acoustic guitars. The ethereal sound creates a dream-like atmosphere for the song. It is a pychadelic fever dream worthy of attention. The acoustic guitars somehow sound just as heavy as the distorted lead.
7) "Black Hole Sun"
7) "Black Hole Sun"
If you are reading this blog, my guess is that you have heard this song about a million times too. Its staying power is its eeriness and timelessness. The lyrics are a word soup, which stand to create more of an atmosphere than deliver a story or message. The trippy guitar parts and stream of consciousness lyrics seem to make this song simultaneously about the deepest thoughts in the recesses of your mind and nothing at all at the same time.
8) "Spoonman"
"Spoonman" feels like a song that was successfully written with the intent of becoming a single. Sure enough, this was the lead-off single from "Superunknown." Featuring a classic dropped-D tuned hook, and a sing-along verse-chorus-verse, this song became a signature song for Soundgarden. Weird enough to appease the true believers, but easily digestable enough for the general public. It was also a vehicle for Seattle street performer, Artis the Spoonman. Every city has an Artis; the talented guy who lives outside the bubble. He apparently plaid a set of spoons outside of a market in downtown Seattle. Soundgarden invited him to record a spoon solo in their song, and the rest is rock n roll history
9) "Limo Wreck"
After a high charged rock n roll affair, we get the more mellow "Limo Wreck." This one feels like another throwback to a little Sabbath worship. The lead riff sounds straight out of Tony Iommi's bag of tricks. The rhythm section plays in the pocket, never really taking off.
10) "The Day I Tried to Live"
This song *could* serve as the statement piece of the album, had the album not been so chocked full of hits. As a person who has suffered from clinical depression throughout my life, this song is just about the closest thing lyrically to what it feels like to go through a crippling bout of melancholy. The lyrics describe what it is like to finally scrape yourself out of bed and to try to do something, anything, just to snap out of the funk. The cruel joke is, it just makes you feel worse. Lines like "The day I tried to live, I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs" and "I woke the same as any other day you know, I should have stayed in bed." Just heartbreaking, especially in hindsight with the loss of Chris Cornell to suicide. The guitar work is so atmospheric, and Matt Cameron and Ben Sheppard never played the rhythm tighter than on this song. Honestly, this song is Soundgarden's overlooked masterpiece.
11) "Kickstand"
This is a fun little punk number. It breaks up the seriousness and dread of the record. A call back to their days as a bar band in Seattle. It is a pretty straight forward number, but it has a big catchy chorus.
12) "Fresh Tendrils"
Flowing guitars bring us into this slow groove track. Another song that feels more like a driver for the the rest of the album than a standalone piece. There isn't really anything that would fall directly into the category of "filler" tracks on this album, but this one finds itself dangerously close. One of the caveats to the CD era of music (I am listening on LP, but this album is certainly a product of the CD era) was the extended length of the discs. LPs can hold about 45 minutes of music total. A CD can hold 79 minutes. There was a sort of push for a while to use all of that extra space. Often times, it wasn't necessary. "Fresh Tendrils" probably would have found its way onto the cutting room floor had it not been for a label and producer trying to get about an hour of music onto a disc. Not a skippable song, but not really memorable.
13) "4th of July"
Despite the title, this song is not about the USA's birthday. It is about an acid trip. The sludgy guitars feel like a nod to fellow Seattle upstarts, The Melvins. You get just an insanely big, downtuned, slow burn riff. It feels like that onerous moment on a few doses of acid, where you can feel a trip maybe falling off of the track. This song lives in that space where you or your psycadelic guru have to pull you back before you delve into a really bad trip.
14) "Half"
Another big dream-state number. The second of Ben Sheppard's compositions on the record. This time he takes the microphone too. He seems to be doing his best interpretation of Chris Cornell, singing through a few vocal filters, to create a helium-heavy sound. The instruments feel like a kaleidoscope of oddities. This number is very experimental, and almost Syd Barrett-like, without ever becoming to self-indulgent.
15) "Like Suicide"
Chris Cornell was always a great story teller. This song is a narrative, describing the moments as a woman decides to end her life. The song feels like pure tragedy, and you can just feel the desperation soak through. Even more tragic now knowing that Chris Cornell took his own life. The song is almost morbid now, as it feels like it serves as Chris writing his own eulogy. The slow drums and bass part pull you in, and this song never lets go. It is the perfect closer for such a dark affair.
*16) "She Like Surprises*
This song gets an asterisk because it isn't *really* the album closer. This is another leftover indulgence of the CD era. The bonus track. Sometimes bonus tracks work. Sometimes they are really good songs. This song is pretty catchy. But, it just sticks out like a sore thumb, and doesn't fit the flow of the record. Sometimes tacking on a bunch of bonus stuff at the end cuts into the magic of the flow of the album, and that is what this song does. That being said, it is a solid, if not a little bit forgettable B side. I would have rather paid a few bucks more for this record to have this song left to its own devices as a bonus 7" than to have it lazily slopped onto the back of this album. Plus, as it does force side 4 of the album to run very, very close to the label, it is rife with innergroove distortion.
Soundgarden would go on after this release to become one of the biggest bands in rock n roll. Years of touring, and a great, more commercially viable sound found them in their follow up, "Down on the Upside." Pressures from the industry ultimately broke the band up for 15 years. Matt Cameron would go on to play drums for fellow Seattleites Pearl Jam (a familiar affair as he was the drummer of Pearl Jam/Soundgarden supergoup Temple of the Dog) Chris Cornell would go on to front Audioslave with members of Rage Against the Machine, and bassist and guitarist Kim Thayil would do session work and find themselves in various projects.
"Superunknown" would go on to sell 9 million copies. That ranks it as one of the best selling rock records of all time. Its influence is undeniable, and the songs and production sound just as fresh today they did in the Summer of 1994 when it came out.
8) "Spoonman"
"Spoonman" feels like a song that was successfully written with the intent of becoming a single. Sure enough, this was the lead-off single from "Superunknown." Featuring a classic dropped-D tuned hook, and a sing-along verse-chorus-verse, this song became a signature song for Soundgarden. Weird enough to appease the true believers, but easily digestable enough for the general public. It was also a vehicle for Seattle street performer, Artis the Spoonman. Every city has an Artis; the talented guy who lives outside the bubble. He apparently plaid a set of spoons outside of a market in downtown Seattle. Soundgarden invited him to record a spoon solo in their song, and the rest is rock n roll history
9) "Limo Wreck"
After a high charged rock n roll affair, we get the more mellow "Limo Wreck." This one feels like another throwback to a little Sabbath worship. The lead riff sounds straight out of Tony Iommi's bag of tricks. The rhythm section plays in the pocket, never really taking off.
10) "The Day I Tried to Live"
This song *could* serve as the statement piece of the album, had the album not been so chocked full of hits. As a person who has suffered from clinical depression throughout my life, this song is just about the closest thing lyrically to what it feels like to go through a crippling bout of melancholy. The lyrics describe what it is like to finally scrape yourself out of bed and to try to do something, anything, just to snap out of the funk. The cruel joke is, it just makes you feel worse. Lines like "The day I tried to live, I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs" and "I woke the same as any other day you know, I should have stayed in bed." Just heartbreaking, especially in hindsight with the loss of Chris Cornell to suicide. The guitar work is so atmospheric, and Matt Cameron and Ben Sheppard never played the rhythm tighter than on this song. Honestly, this song is Soundgarden's overlooked masterpiece.
11) "Kickstand"
This is a fun little punk number. It breaks up the seriousness and dread of the record. A call back to their days as a bar band in Seattle. It is a pretty straight forward number, but it has a big catchy chorus.
12) "Fresh Tendrils"
Flowing guitars bring us into this slow groove track. Another song that feels more like a driver for the the rest of the album than a standalone piece. There isn't really anything that would fall directly into the category of "filler" tracks on this album, but this one finds itself dangerously close. One of the caveats to the CD era of music (I am listening on LP, but this album is certainly a product of the CD era) was the extended length of the discs. LPs can hold about 45 minutes of music total. A CD can hold 79 minutes. There was a sort of push for a while to use all of that extra space. Often times, it wasn't necessary. "Fresh Tendrils" probably would have found its way onto the cutting room floor had it not been for a label and producer trying to get about an hour of music onto a disc. Not a skippable song, but not really memorable.
13) "4th of July"
Despite the title, this song is not about the USA's birthday. It is about an acid trip. The sludgy guitars feel like a nod to fellow Seattle upstarts, The Melvins. You get just an insanely big, downtuned, slow burn riff. It feels like that onerous moment on a few doses of acid, where you can feel a trip maybe falling off of the track. This song lives in that space where you or your psycadelic guru have to pull you back before you delve into a really bad trip.
14) "Half"
Another big dream-state number. The second of Ben Sheppard's compositions on the record. This time he takes the microphone too. He seems to be doing his best interpretation of Chris Cornell, singing through a few vocal filters, to create a helium-heavy sound. The instruments feel like a kaleidoscope of oddities. This number is very experimental, and almost Syd Barrett-like, without ever becoming to self-indulgent.
15) "Like Suicide"
Chris Cornell was always a great story teller. This song is a narrative, describing the moments as a woman decides to end her life. The song feels like pure tragedy, and you can just feel the desperation soak through. Even more tragic now knowing that Chris Cornell took his own life. The song is almost morbid now, as it feels like it serves as Chris writing his own eulogy. The slow drums and bass part pull you in, and this song never lets go. It is the perfect closer for such a dark affair.
*16) "She Like Surprises*
This song gets an asterisk because it isn't *really* the album closer. This is another leftover indulgence of the CD era. The bonus track. Sometimes bonus tracks work. Sometimes they are really good songs. This song is pretty catchy. But, it just sticks out like a sore thumb, and doesn't fit the flow of the record. Sometimes tacking on a bunch of bonus stuff at the end cuts into the magic of the flow of the album, and that is what this song does. That being said, it is a solid, if not a little bit forgettable B side. I would have rather paid a few bucks more for this record to have this song left to its own devices as a bonus 7" than to have it lazily slopped onto the back of this album. Plus, as it does force side 4 of the album to run very, very close to the label, it is rife with innergroove distortion.
Soundgarden would go on after this release to become one of the biggest bands in rock n roll. Years of touring, and a great, more commercially viable sound found them in their follow up, "Down on the Upside." Pressures from the industry ultimately broke the band up for 15 years. Matt Cameron would go on to play drums for fellow Seattleites Pearl Jam (a familiar affair as he was the drummer of Pearl Jam/Soundgarden supergoup Temple of the Dog) Chris Cornell would go on to front Audioslave with members of Rage Against the Machine, and bassist and guitarist Kim Thayil would do session work and find themselves in various projects.
"Superunknown" would go on to sell 9 million copies. That ranks it as one of the best selling rock records of all time. Its influence is undeniable, and the songs and production sound just as fresh today they did in the Summer of 1994 when it came out.
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