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Chris cornell songbook performance video1/30/2024 ![]() The full-band lurch is still thick as a brick, though, and Cornell’s eerie closing “And I don’t like what you got me hanging from,” hard enough to shake for the last 20 years, is now guaranteed to linger over the group’s catalog forever.Ī road-tripping deep cut off Superunknown in which the band barely even seems like they’re trying as they switch up rhythms, time signatures and melodic motifs without ever breaking their own spell credit to the versatility of drummer Matt Cameron for never letting the band’s instrumental indulgences rob them of the their funk. Not exactly the full-flight, pulverizing lead single fans might’ve been hoping from Soundgarden after they’d just released one of the decade’s biggest rock albums, “Pretty Noose” instead delivered a hazy and lyrically enigmatic churner that had Difficult Follow-up written all over it. “Pretty Noose” ( Down on the Upside, 1996) No matter: The guitars make this one a classic, buzzing in one ear as Thayil’s pitch-bent leads wail in the other, while Cornell’s gut-wrenched cries for tomorrow become quickly devastating in retrospect.ġ0. “Room a Thousand Years Wide” ( Badmotorfinger, 1991)Ī production as expansive as its title implies, though it lacked the iconic chorus to make it as much of a radio perennial as the album’s further releases. And yes, there is a real Spoonman his name is Artis and if you see him today maybe give him a hug.ġ1. ![]() ![]() Soundgarden were most traditionally seen as within the lineage of any number of ’70s rock Valhalla-seekers “She Likes Surprises” shows that they could’ve been The Byrds, too.Ī riffer goofy and groovy enough (with a full on, funky-as-s**t spoon-drum break!) that Pearl Jam were probably furious they didn’t get it for their own contemporaneous Vitalogy - but hey, there’s a reason why Steve Aoki is remixing this and not “Satan’s Bed” 20-plus years later. Originally an international Superunknown bonus cut and an eventual bonus EP release, “She Likes Surprises” is one of the band’s most intriguing rarities: Psychedelic power-pop with one of Kim Thayil’s most electrifying guitar curls and one of Cornell’s Paisley-est choruses. “She Likes Surprises” ( Songs From the Superunknown, 1995) “Nothing’s gonna put me out/ It’s backing down and under/ I’m down on the upside now.” The de facto title track to Soundgarden’s final LP in their first incarnation was a good example of that album at its most compelling - knotty, mysterious folk-prog that returned grunge from its rainiest days much closer to its arid, Neil Young roots. His closing cry is oddly buried in the mix the band would never make that mistake again. Soundgarden’s early EPs and pre-major debut albums certainly don’t rate as lost classics, but “Flower” is a pretty good dry run for the band’s fleshier later classics - chugging guitar and bass whose frantic fretwork causes your fingers phantom aches, a gorgeous psych-rock breakdown, and Cornell drawling out an alternately seductive and dire third-person lyric. And that’s why, despite his impressive successes with Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and his solo career, it’s still Soundgarden that first comes to mind when considering Cornell’s legacy - it was the only outfit that really armed and deployed his voice properly, as a weapon powerful enough not only to take over the Pacific Northwest, but the entire rock-listening world. Of course, what made Soundgarden so singular of their time was that they were able to translate Seattle sludge and rain-soaked despair into something thunderous and broadly accessible enough to invoke Physical Graffiti comparisons, without turning Cornell’s barbaric yawp into something that was all sound and no fury. Most likely, this is because among the biggest ’90s grunge bands, Soundgarden most brought the hammer down like ’70s predecessors Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, with a sound as soaring and untamed as Cornell’s wild black hair, and as broad and gleaming as his oft-bare chest. Even Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, who today seems mostly like a cool dad who just wants to take his daughter to a Cubs game, was more likely to be dubbed “brooding” or “complicated” than Cornell. ![]() But indeed, Soundgarden in their time were not viewed as particularly notable purveyors of existential angst or exorcists of personal demons. ![]()
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