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They embodied everything that was great about rock, punk, and metal in a single package.
It is for that very reason that the bands albums became progressively longer as the years wore on.
There was simply too much material to work with and they didnt want to cut things back.
Its not a bad metaphor if youre talking about hard rock.
Soundgardens career can be broken down to three distinct phases.
Cornells mustachioed mug was inescapable in the early 90s.
Here they all are, ranked from worst to best.
We would all still like to know.
Its more like a minute of ambient feedback with a few finger snaps and stuff thrown into the background.
2: Life With the Lions.
You could be forgiven for mistaking it as the worlds worst Doors imitation.
Sample lyrics: Bing Bing goes to church in the tinkle rain of the twinkle stars.
667,Ultramega OK(1988)
Soundgarden was not a band generally known for a sense of humor.
A rare disciple of both punk-rock legend Mike Watt and jazz icon Charles Mingus.
When his instincts are dead on, its awesome!
When they maybe lead the rest of the band too far astray, well, then … yeah.
His most maligned composition is Half, a song tucked away near the end of the bands best-selling albumSuperunknown.
(The 90s!)
Its not really a song per se.
Its more of a sonic kaleidoscope of backward echo and tinging cymbals.
The 1996 vibes are very, very real.
665,Ultramega OK(1988)
See No.
Solid drumming from Matt Cameron as always, however.
Shephards drumming is a little clattery, but the backward echo and menacing piano melodies are enticing enough.
Cornell was someone who could typically elevate even the simplest rock songs to incredible heights with his otherworldly voice.
Here, it sounds like hes reading the words off a piece of paper for the first time.
Little Joe is not a very good song.
When you think Soundgarden, you dont think clean, reverb-drenched guitars, and yet here we are.
Hey, I wrote a song.
Matt Cameron is one of the few exceptions to the rule.
Twin Tower was a Cameron composition recorded during theLouder Than Lovealbum sessions.
Theres even a pretty great Kim Thayil solo tucked into the middle.
Thats just the rules.
The only problem is that it doesnt really go anywhere.
The Telephantasm couldve been so much more.
The versionrecorded live at the Whisky A Go-Goand included on theLouder Than Livealbum kicks ass.
Lets just say that Hiro doesnt have the same vocal ability as his buddy Chris.
Nonetheless, its a fine punk-rock song with one of the fastest guitar solos Thayil ever whipped together.
It feels a little too nice and not quite like a Soundgarden song.
Tears to Forget, Deep Six (1985)
Deep Sixwas the canary in the grunge-rock coal mine.
Soundgarden logged three songs onDeep Six, of which Tears to Forget, is the weakest.
I know that description probably sounds badass, but its mostly just grating.
Covering the sensationally funky Fopp was Thayils idea.
We thought we could take the song and make it AC/DC or something, he explained toGuitar Schoolin 1994.
Wed take the power chords, turn up the volume, and make it heavy.
Mission accomplished, but the Fucked Up Heavy Dub Mix version is far more interesting.
is a pretty nice piss-off too.
The guy who did it said to us, Yeah, full on Kevins mom!
Theres a certain endearing grittiness and looseness to the original thats missing here.
Its almost like Soundgardens rendition is too good.
Anyway, have you recognized thatSatanoscillatemymetallicsonatasis a palindrome yet?
Pretty wild, right?
Touch Me, B-side (1992)
This song is so incredibly weird.
Its a wild duet and has this irreverent, boozy Beastie Boys feeling thats kind of endearing.
Thayil nails the wah-wah debauchery.
The 60s throwback hoo-hoo harmonies through the end are delightful!
Ashe later explained, I wrote it the day we started to raid Iraq.
It was a commentary on the world around us.
It only got the name Black Days III two decades later on the upgraded and expanded version ofSuperunknown.
Black Days III is a lot less resigned than Fell On Black Days, for instance.
Shes a Politician, Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas (1992)
A perfectly fine, sub-two-minute-long garage rocker.
Naturally, its pretty fucking dark.
Time is my friend, he sings.
Till it aint, and runs out.
Zero Chance, Down on the Upside (1996)
Zero Chance is a deceivingly tricky song.
Shout-out to Ben Shepherd for keeping everyone on their toes.
If it reads affirmational on paper, but it doesnt sound that way in the song.
I Awake begins with an admission to feeling depressed, before urging her to have a good day regardless.
Remember, I love you, Cornell screams in agony.
A fine song, if a little forgettable amongDown on the Upsides15 other tracks.
The key change in the second half of the song is an inspired choice.
The harmonious, delay-effect on Cornells voice in the choruses is pretty cool.
Power Trip,Louder Than Love(1989)
Another Yamamoto song that feels like a Sabbath deep cut.
That opening, glass-shattering scream certainly grabs your attention.
Vanilla is a flavor too.
The sixth track was this song.
The overall effect is pretty chilling.
I dont really have to tell you what Get on the snake means, do I?
Joss Whedon approached them asking to see if theyd like to contribute a track to the Marvel blockbusterAvengers.
The exercise turned out to be more challenging than he expected, however.
I went through a lot of different ideas that I scrapped, he said.
Soundgarden does a lot of time signature changes and shifts and things like that.
It felt like this should be a little more straightforward cause its for a broad audience.
It was a heady return for a band people had long been waiting to hear from again.
Turns out its a mostly nihilistic message about things like decay.
A lot, as it turns out.
Both bands would sign to Sub Pop and account for that labels earliest releases.
Both versions of Swallow My Pride are pretty good.
The Soundgarden take sears, while the Green River original sneers.
Karaoke, B-side (1996)
AnotherDown on the Upsideera track that didnt make it onto the official album.
In that context, its kind of funny they buried it on the B-side of Burden in My Hand.
Rowing,King Animal(2012)
The last song on Soundgardens last official album.
As far as final messages go, it’s possible for you to certainly do a lot worse.
Moving is breathing and breathing is life / Stopping is dying, youll be alright.
Even if you cant see the sky, and the horizon is bare, Just keep on rowing.
Vegetarians, feel free to skip this one.
Its far and away the most brutal-sounding song on the record, but then thats Kim Thayil for you.
By Crooked Steps,King Animal(2012)
By Crooked Steps was the second single released fromKing Animal.
Its a damn fine rock song that every member of Soundgarden had a hand in writing.
It also did pretty well commercially, reaching No.
1 on the mainstream-rock charts.
Directed by Dave Grohl, the clip opens with a shot of Soundgarden playing poker in a darkened room.
Naturally, the clip ends with a slow-speed police chase and the band in handcuffs.
Its also a great example of refusing to let a good song die on the vine.
It definitely has a kind of out-of-body sensation, filled with imagery of roses and willows and the dead.
The fade-out and fade-back-in near the end is a nice touch.
And thus the roots of this fierce but uneven punk rock B-side were born.
Blind Dogs is methodical but not plodding.
Heavy but not punchy.
Cornell, however, gets pretty close to nailing it on Soundgardens rendition of this Howlin Wolf classic.
Been Away Too Long,King Animal(2012)
The understatement of the decade.
Is it a little on-the-nose?
The riffage is savage, the solo is violent, Cornells singing is electrifying.
He was a nonconformist by nature and was naturally skeptical of any doctrine being taught to him.
Thats what this song is mostly about.
And they take thine/ Majesty so seriously / Cause Its the big lies / More likely to be believed.
Aint that the truth.
Its easy to understand why he likes it so much.
The drums in particular on this song smack into your chest like a trio of Bruce Lee kicks.
Its a plodding monster of de-tuned guitars and weird echoes.
Granted, theres not much thematically happening here.
Consider this exhibit A for why hes considered by many to be the greatest rock singer of his generation.
The band used the same unorthodox tuning on Pretty Noose and Burden in My Hand.
A relatable experience whether you were the smiler or maybe even the one doing the slapping.
Its not even the most central song thematically onSuperunknown.
Anyway, its fun to shout Alive in the superunknown!
over and over again at the top of your lungs while shooting down the highway with the windows down.
I suppose thats reason enough.
Rhinosaur, Down on the Upside (1996)
Its really all in the name.
A vicious, romping, relentless monster of a song.
The bands fans liked it so much that it hit No.
It was added to their greatest-hits compilationTelephantasm, as well as theGuitar Hero: Warriors of RockandGuitar Hero Livegames.
It was originally recorded during theBadmotorfingersessions, and was salvaged, rearranged, and remixed nearly two decades later.
Its one of my favorite tunes that weve recorded, hetoldM.E.A.T.
It feels like the alienated child from the family, or the one that was left behind.
I can certainly see where hes coming from.
Into the Void (Sealth), Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas (1992)
This is just brilliant.
Instrumentally, its a pretty straight-ahead cover of Black Sabbaths Into the Void.
This is a nice little subversive nod that also netted them a Best Metal Performance Grammy nomination in 1993.
They lost to Nine Inch Nails Wish, which, okay, fair, but still!
Thayil was old friends with co-founder Bruce Pavitt from back when they both lived in the Chicago suburbs.
Hands All Over,Louder Than Love(1989)
Theres not a lot to Hands All Over.
Its basically a two-note melody and a three-note riff, with a bouncing bassline anchoring everything underneath.
A Thousand Days Before,King Animal(2012)
This is the best song onKing Animal.
Written by Kim Thayil, its in large part a nod to his own Indian heritage.
Pretty Noose is at the top of that list for obvious reasons.
I think its turning back around / And I think I like it, he sings through the verse.
Dusty gets a few bonus points for name-checking the album title in the chorus.
Burden in My Hand is actually a lot more nihilistic than that.
The solo acoustic version on the deluxe version ofSuperunknownis even more evocative.
If this isnt the fastest song that Soundgarden recorded, its definitely in the top three or four.
Its also shockingly vulgar, with Cornell really digging into the word fuck repeatedly through the chorus.
Shepherd called this his favorite song onSuperunknown, and we can see why.
And yes, before you ask, the name Fresh Tendrils does refer to marijuana.
PRAAAAY if you wanna pray / If you like to KNEEL!
Limo Wreck,Superunknown(1994)
Its the grunge eras greatest waltz!
The experiment was inspired by a joke made by Pearl Jams bassist, Jeff Ament.
Its the kind of song that sucks you in and distorts time as you fall deeper under its spell.
A rooster says: (crowing sound) Here is a pig: (squealing sound).
The Devil says: (Gaping scream of a billion souls damned to eternal hellfire).
And thats just the first minute and a half!
It only gets more twisted, psychedelic, and depraved once Cornell starts to sing.
Just another day at the office, really.
Cornell saw the tracklist on the back and made real songs based on the titles of the made-up ones.
Cornell held onto the song until he was goaded into working on it by Matt Cameron during theSuperunknownsessions.
The whole thing is glorious and preposterous in the best possible way.
The prime example was Incessant Mace.
Youre staring at me like I / Like I need to be saved!
I know Im headed for the bottom / But Im riding you all the way.
By now, its a certified Soundgarden classic.
The song is an unsettling plea for an unnamed person to sleep tight for me before hes gone.
He fell too far to start again and craves one last sin before Im dead.
Just when everyday seemed to greet me with a smile / Sunspots have faded, now Im doin time.
Its an incredibly poignant portrait of the monster that is depression.
And yet it remains an utterly beautiful piece of music.
He described it as psychedelic, heavy, with a little sprinkle of evil.
I dont think theres another Soundgarden song where it sounds so present.
Especially that tricky little fill just after the chorus.
Both the breakneck pace it starts out with and the more methodical stomp in the back half.
The fade into the word Fooooooor and Yeaaaaaaaaah at the top of the first lines of the song.
It sucks you in from the jump.
Its a psychedelic monster of a track with Cornells high-low double-tracked vocals creating this weird, disorienting effect.
Quaint, chorus-painted arpeggios give way to towering walls of wicked, overdriven noise.
Camerons loose-sounding snare snaps have never sounded better.
Substance doesnt really matter in the face of something unique and so riveting stylistically.
It just sounds cool.
Outshined,Badmotorfinger(1991)
Im looking California / And feeling Minnesota.
In the long list of some of Chris Cornells attention-grabbing lyrics, that has to be the most evocative.
It says so much while hardly saying anything at all.
I definitely go through periods of extreme self-confidence, feeling like I can do anything, hesaid toRIPin 1992.
Thats where Outshined comes from.
But great songs arent made by a single lyric.
Outshined takes the No.
Oh, and have youseen the video?
The band supposedly hated it, but its so over the top as to be endearing now.
Its everything great about Soundgarden in a single, five-minute package.
