984. Soundgarden / Superunknown. 1994. 4/5

Soundgarden hit the big time, in a fan way rather than a commercial way, with their album “Badmotorfinger”, that caught the attention of metal heads and alternative grunge lovers alike. Its style was one that garnered attention through the bombastic music and amazing vocals of Chris Cornell and set the band on the path to greater things. After touring behind the album, and then coming off the Lollapalooza tour, the band took a short break before beginning the process of writing for their next album. In reading about the way the album came together, it was interesting that the band members themselves found that the way they were going about the process had begun to change. It was noted that during the writing process, all of the members of the band gave each more freedom than they had in the past, both in the creating of the songs and allowing a more collaborative effort. It was also felt that while the band spent the same amount of time writing and arranging the songs for the new album, there was more time spent when it came to the actual recording, and making sure the songs got the finishing polish that they deserved.
Having changed producers for this new album, the band came in looking for a new perspective to their music, and that does become noticeably obvious very quickly, that sonically at least this is a different beast from their previous album. Whereas the previous album feels louder, this feels bigger, wider, deeper. The last few years had seen a massive change in the way music was being written and recorded in the age of the expanded grunge movement, and while Soundgarden was parcelled into this sound, they never really fit nor conformed to it. Parts of their make-up certainly had an element of grunge to it, but they drew their inspiration from other sources. Coming from Seattle didn’t make a band grunge, and Soundgarden were especially of this mould. There is as much Led Zeppelin about Soundgarden as there is Nirvana or Pearl Jam, and those influences come through on “Superunknown” more than anything they had produced prior to this album being released.

“Superunknown” is a refinement to what the band had released in the past. For the most part the tendrils of heavy metal have been sifted into the mists of time, and while there are some great songs on this album that utilise the heavier side of the band, there are few songs here that come close to some of the material that was written and recorded on “Badmotorfinger”. There are some good hard rock songs, and some good alternative songs, and some songs that continue to fly the flag for the grunge scene, which was quickly moving away from its peak by the time this album was released. Perhaps it was a more commercial record, or perhaps in essence it is just that two of the singles here went gangbusters both on the music video shows as well as commercial radio.
“Let Me Drown” is a strong opening song in a classic hard rock way with hard drums and solid rhythm followed up with vocals that are forthright and at the forefront of the song. “My Wave” comes from the same production line, with Cameron’s hard hitting drums bursting out of the speakers at you followed by Cornell’s wonderful vocal lines. Songs like this, when Cornell is on song and being the driving force of the song are my favourites because everything works together and there is a force behind it, a driving desire. That still makes songs like the following track, “Fell on Black Days”, terrific in their own right, but it is a different style of song, for which there is more melancholy in both music and vocals. That this band is capable of writing and performing these two styles of songs without skipping a beat is one of their great strengths.
Whatever the process, this almost acts like Soundgarden’s vision of a Led Zeppelin inspired Sgt Peppers, and while that may appear far-fetched, just stay with me for a moment. It contains songs that have almost psychedelic connotations with songs such as the grunge inspired “Mailman”, the Ben Shepherd composed “Head Down” and the change of intensity throughout in “The Day I Tried to Live”, that really hold themselves back and spin out the drama. Sitting between these songs is the title track “Superunknown” which is the hard rock alternative to those tracks, while “Limo Wreck” is a real indulgence, a long dragged out affair that combined with “The Day I Tried to Live” combine the thoughtful slow smouldering rhythm within the tonal areas where each song has its own break out point, where the music and vocals both explode for a time. Mixed within the middle of this are the mega-singles, “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman”. “Black Hole Sun” disguises its intent within the clear guitar and smooth vocals before the heavier guitar comes into play, while “Spoonman” is the closest to metal this album comes in regards to drum beat and guitar, which along with that higher range vocal from Cornell initiates some blood pumping through the veins.
It will always be the upbeat songs such as “Spoonman” and “Kickstand” that I remember most fondly, because they are the ones that for me make Soundgarden the band that I enjoy. You can have your melancholy songs and your reflective tunes and those types of songs, because they have their place within the framework. But the faster upbeat songs are the ones that grab your attention and hold it for longer, because that is how they are designed. The back half of the album reigns in these songs to a degree, with the songs “Fresh Tendrils”, “4th of July”, “Half” and “Like Suicide” but that doesn’t make them any less entertaining. In fact, they fit the framework of the album as it is written and performed extremely well. It perhaps just muddies up how the album finishes, from a personal perspective, given what songs are the ones that draw me in.

As will become a common theme of albums released in 1994, for those of you who listen in on a regular basis, I didn't automatically get this on its release, due to a great shortfall of cash from being unemployed and living poor in a new city. And whereas tape sharing had been massive back in high school a decade earlier, that didn’t always occur in the 1990’s with friends now far flung around the cosmos. The singles on the radio had to keep me amused until such time as I could get around to buying the album, which came much later on.
I often wonder why this album for me didn’t quite match up to the previous album, and indeed how that occurred again with the following album. More than anything else, the music the band produced here was an evolving beast, and while I was on board with a lot of it, some of it... bored me And by the time I first got this album I wanted angry music, because I was angry at the world at that time, and this album isn’t angry music. That was why “Spoonman” and “Kickstand” were (and are) my favourite songs from the album, because they have the heaviest sound and the fastest pace, which was what I was looking for. I could appreciate the album, the musicianship. Chris Cornell’s vocals are sublime, truly amazing in both respects on this album, whether it is reaching those screams that pierce through the speakers or the honey smooth lower range croon that emote more than most lead vocalists could ever dream to do. But other albums at the time provided me more of what I needed.
Flash forward to 2024, and the replaying of the album over recent weeks has shown me in a much better frame of mind, and more mellow in the outset. And I still think the ban and the production of this album is spectacular. And the conclusion I have come to is this - I do like “Superunknown”, but I don’t love it. In many ways I could draw the same comparison to Soundgarden as a whole. It’s a band I truly enjoy listening to, but not one I guess that I would ever concede that I love. So, in many ways, this album mirrors how I feel about the band. There is so much to like about band and album, and I do. I just don’t emphatically love everything about it.

983. Soundgarden / Badmotorfinger. 1991. 4.5/5

There are moments in life that can stand out amongst all other memories, that are the ones that are easily remembered when the right question is asked. When I am asked “When did you first hear Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger album?” it is an easy answer. It was on the day it was released, which was also my 22nd birthday. A mate of mine bought it that day, and insisted I come over for a beer and to listen to it. I had heard snatches of Soundgarden’s earlier material at that stage, but not a lot. What I heard that day didn’t change my life, but it certainly enhanced it.

How do you describe such an album? I wasn’t sure at the time, but this was when grunge was just beginning to take hold, with albums such as Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten and Alice in Chains' Facelift also coming out, each with their own interpretation of the Seattle sound. Badmotorfinger wasn’t like those albums. It immediately had that traditional heavy metal element infused into the songs, such that I couldn’t possibly categorise the album as a grunge album. In fact, I couldn’t categorise them in any particular genre, because in many ways this album transcends that (as indeed do all of those albums mentioned). All I knew was that from the opening stanza this album was something special, and I had to get it.
For me, it is the first half of this album that does everything right. It appeals to my musical loves. I never owned this on vinyl, as by this time it was CD that had become the format for my collections, but if I had I reckon I would have worn out the first side of the album such was its pull over me. From the opening strains of “Rusty Cage” to that amazing sound the band squeezes out of “Outshined” as those vocals croon at the brilliant pitch, the two opening songs sound like studio jams with the foursome just hammering away on their instruments while someone records them in a corner. That guitar sound in “Outshined” is just fantastic.
For those that are of a mind to want to categorise this album, it’s not an easy one. Grunge had arrived and Soundgarden certainly infused that sound throughout their music, but this was mixed with the hard arsed metal guitar of Kim Thayil. “Slaves & Bulldozers” may be the perfect example of this. It has that slow tempo throughout that typified much of what grunge was, but listen to that guitar! Not only in the rhythm rumbling along the underlying song with Ben Shepherd’s cool as ice bass and Matt Cameron’s perpetual motion drumming, but also in the solo pieces he gets to add. And then Chris Cornell’s vocals, going from calm and low to the brilliant high energy scream. There is so much of Black Sabbath’s legacy within this song that surely it has to be metal! So, how do you categorise it? In the long run, if you are trying to describe the sound to a potential listener, you just have to say ‘put it on and find out for yourself’
For the metal lovers, “Jesus Christ Pose” and “Face Pollution” are the obvious winners on this album because they just hammer along and drag you into that headbanging action you know so well, and force you to try and sing along at the same pitch that Cornell does. Which is literally impossible, but you have to try, before eventually finding your own range of comfort. As “Slaves & Bulldozers” rolls almost literally into the brilliant “Jesus Christ Pose”, with that fabulous riff over Cameron’s amazing drum performance before Cornell’s vocals just take off, you can only wonder in awe at how this band puts together so many unique sounds in a collection of songs. “Jesus Christ Pose” is that song that every garage band in the world wants to play, but has four instrumental pieces combined here that are practically impossible for amateurs to play and make sound good. Bass, guitar, drums, vocals. No chance on all counts. “Face Pollution” then follows this up at speed with not so much low end guitar but plenty of flailing and energy.
I’m not going to say that this is the best section of any album ever, but while I can find others that may equal this, I cannot say that there is any better ‘first five songs on an album’ ever. So don’t get me wrong when I suggest that the second half of the album mightn’t quite stack up to the first half. I’m not saying is that it isn’t very good. That isn’t true, because the performances and songs on the second half of the album are still awesome. They are different though. They are of a slower tempo generally, and find their way into that alternative medium that is more similar to those other bands they came through the scene with.
“Somewhere” pulls back from the metal heights and finds the middle ground again in more of an alternative sound, clearer guitar. “Searching With My Good Eye Closed” is perhaps the less impactful song on the album for me after the assault of the opening songs. This is brought back into line by “Room a Thousand Years Wide” which has a great underlying riff throughout while Cornell takes control of the song with his driving vocals. “Mind Riot” and “Drawing Flies” both settle back into that comfortable mid-section of the album. The passion of Cornell’s vocals in “Holy Water” drags this from being a good song into being a terrific song. The closing track “New Damage” has that mid-range latter day Sabbath tempo with the band doing their thing while Cornell croons over the top. The sludgy, syrupy guitar, drum and vocals here is the closest indicator to the bands’ genre standing in the community.

25 years after its release, Badmotorfinger remains a hallmark of the period. It managed to draw in those punters who were beginning to take on the newly romanticised genre of grunge while also compelling those punters who were hanging on to 1980’s heavy metal to also love this, and yet it hasn’t dated. It holds true to what it was when it was recorded, and still old fans and new fans alike can put this on in this day and age and find stuff to love. Perhaps it is not for everyone, and future blockbuster albums were perhaps more accessible for the next generation, but this album is perhaps still the one that best holds true to Soundgarden’s roots.

Rating:  “Now I’m in the mirror, now it’s getting clear”  4.5/5

247. Soundgarden / Down On The Upside. 1996. 3.5/5.

This was unfortunately the final album for Soundgarden, who split following this tour. Their break-up signalled the beginning of the end for the Seattle scene as it had been for the past six or seven years.

Their final album is a mixture of brilliant and average. I've always thought that the first seven songs of this album represent the band's greatest work, while most of their hardcore fans see it as too commercialised and a sell-out.
I think Pretty Noose, Blow Up The Outside World, Burden In My Hand and Ty Cobb are just great songs, and the equal of anything else they released.

Take that with the second half of the album, which fails to excite me at any point. They are average songs without any fire. Did they run out of inspiration? Maybe. Perhaps that's why they went their separate ways. It is as if they only had enough for seven songs, so they put those at the front of the album, and put all the filler in the back half.

No matter. Though we were not to know that it was their final opus, the door certainly closed on a great band.

Rating : 1st half of the album 4.5/5. 2nd half of the album 3/5. Total 3.5/5.