![Watch Stone Gossard, Jonny Polonsky Cover Audioslave In L.A.](https://static.spin.com/files/2021/06/GettyImages-144356225-1623808226-scaled.jpg)
![Soundgarden](https://static.spin.com/files/2021/06/GettyImages-144356225-1623808226-scaled.jpg)
Soundgarden actually stood tall over the world of Seattle rock within the grunge period â each member of the bandâs basic lineup was a minimum of 6â1â. As moreover the heaviest and most unabashedly formidable band within the scene, Soundgarden leapfrogged shortly from Sub Pop to a significant label within the late â80s. Frontman Chris Cornell, a naked chested rock god who might each sing and scream with uncanny melodic precision, finally revealed a delicate facet and a present for Beatles-esque psychedelic pop, whereas lead guitarist Kim Thayil and drummer Matt Cameron saved the bandâs thunderous sound rooted in Sabbath and the Stooges. Â
With the arrival of bassist Ben Shepherd in 1990, Soundgardenâs music grew to become extra complicated and collaborative as they explored alternate tunings and weird time signatures. Singles like âOutshinedâ and âSpoonman,â and a formative Lollapalooza stint in 1992, pushed the band to platinum gross sales, however Soundgarden broke up in 1997 earlier than ever mellowing out or turning into predictable.
Extra from Spin:
- Watch Dave Matthews, Matt Cameron, Mark Arm Jam With Dinosaur Jr.
- Unearthing Seattleâs Forgotten Hip-Hop Heroes: The Elevators
- Watch Stone Gossard, Jonny Polonsky Cover Audioslave In L.A.
Cornell continued making hits as a solo artist and with the supergroup Audioslave, however Soundgardenâs comparatively amicable break up left the door open for a triumphant reunion in 2010. They continued touring and recording till Cornellâs loss of life in 2017, at which level they’d labored on a minimum of seven songs for a deliberate seventh studio album. After a protracted authorized battle between the band and the singerâs widow Vicky Cornell, a settlement was reached in 2023, hopefully clearing the best way for a last Soundgarden album launch sooner or later.
Soundgardenâs best-selling album, the dizzyingly numerous 70-minute opus Superunknown, was launched 30 years in the past final week. Is it their finest? Under, weâll wade into the everlasting Badmotorfinger versus Superunknown debate and take a facet.
8. Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Throughout the Path (2014)
Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Throughout the Path is an appropriately nerdy title for a compilation tailor made for Soundgarden completists â a sprawling triple album divided into originals, covers and oddities. Highlights just like the Superunknown outtake âShe Likes Surprisesâ and âBlind Canineâ from the Basketball Diaries soundtrack are secret gems of the catalog. Listening to the band tackle Devo and Spinal Faucet songs is a kick, whereas different materials showcases the bandâs spacey experimental facet. The brand new recording on the gathering, âStorm,â was written in 1985 and completed almost 30 years, and it holds up surprisingly nicely. Nonetheless, Echo of Miles is for hardcore followers solely, and simply skipped by everybody else.
7. Louder Than Love (1989)
Soundgardenâs main label debut for A&M Information got here at an ungainly time when their sound was a bit of too darkish for mainstream laborious rock, however future Seattle compatriots Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains hadnât but primed different radio for one thing heavier. The singles âLoud Loveâ and âPalms All Overâ are nice, however Louder Than Love is a wierd, meandering album, and the bandâs camaraderie was faltering. Unique bassist Hiro Yamamato left Soundgarden quickly after the album was completed to pursue a Masters diploma in chemistry. The glam metallic parody âMassive Dumb Intercourseâ was later lined by Weapons Nâ Roses, who maybe didnât get the joke. âThis AOR reclamation job isnât retro as a result of so a lot of their culturally disadvantaged boho contemporaries have just about the identical concept,â Robert Christgau wrote within the Village Voice assessment.
6. Screaming Life/Fopp (1990)
Soundgardenâs first two EPs from 1987 and 1988, later launched collectively on CD, are as essential to Sub Popâs early historical past and what would finally be referred to as âgrungeâ as Mudhoneyâs Superfuzz Bigmuff or Nirvanaâs Bleach. Itâs spectacular how absolutely shaped Soundgarden was on Screaming Life â âNothing to Sayâ sounds prefer it mightâve been on Badmotorfinger. Fopp is a bit more flimsy, making the compilation really feel lopsided. Thereâs just one unique music, and 10 minutes are dedicated to âFopp,â a prime 40 hit from the Ohio Gamersâ 1975 funk basic Honey playfully rendered as an AC/DC-style rocker and an extended, bizarre dub remix filled with Godzilla sound results.
5. King Animal (2012)
Throughout Soundgardenâs 13-year breakup, Cornell and Cameron continued enjoying arenas with Audioslave and Pearl Jam, respectively, whereas Shepherd led Hater and Thayil collaborated with a bunch of friends. Seems the members of Soundgarden merely sound higher with one another than with anyone else, and King Animal rekindles that outdated chemistry with ease. Cornellâs voice had began to lose a few of its energy and vary in center age, and âBeen Away Too Lengthyâ is an uncharacteristically unimaginative comeback anthem. For probably the most half, the band picked up the place theyâd left off within the â90s with gnarled, heavy grooves like âNon-State Actorâ and âA Thousand Days Earlier than.â
4. Ultramega OK (1988)
Soundgarden had been already getting affords from main labels after their early Sub Pop releases, however opted to first make a smaller soar to a extra established indie, the California establishment SST Information, for his or her debut full-length. Soundgarden recorded on a budget with the labelâs beneficial producer Drew Canulette, whoâd labored on a Black Flag dwell album, they usually had been in the end sad with the sound and thought of remixing it. âThere are some bizarre phasing points with guitars and a few cymbals,â Thayil advised creator Jim Ruland within the 2022 guide Company Rock Sunds: The Rise & Fall of SST Information. Regardless of the flawed manufacturing, Ultramega OK is a pointy and hard-hitting album, with spectacular songwriting contributions from every member and extra fascinating left turns than on the eventual Louder Than Love. The album solidified Soundgardenâs early popularity as a heavy band, garnering airplay on MTVâs Headbangerâs Ball and their first Grammy nomination (for, considerably comically, Finest Metallic Efficiency). In 2017, a Jack Endino remix was lastly accomplished and launched on an expanded reissue of the album.
3. Down on the Upside (1996)
1996 was a famously tough 12 months for different rockâs industrial prospects, as a lot of Americaâs greatest bands immediately discovered their new albums promoting half in addition to earlier efforts. That will have been a welcome adjustment for Pearl Jam, whoâd been shell-shocked by their fast rise, however it appeared to take the wind out of Soundgardenâs sails, as they introduced their breakup lower than a 12 months after Down on the Upside hit shops. Upside retains the richly rewarding anything-goes vibe of Superunknown regardless of fewer standout hits, bouncing from the mandolin-flecked punk of âTy Cobbâ to the smiley, elastic Zeppelin groove of âDustyâ and the Moog atmospherics of âApplebite.â âSoundgarden doesnât sound a lot like Rush anymore. Thereâs a brand new rhythmic tilt in just a few songs that implies the affect of the unjustly maligned â70s boogie custom â you’ll be able to virtually hear âCandy House Alabamaâ hovering behind the backbeat of âBurden in My Hand,ââ wrote Ivan Kreilkamp within the SPIN assessment.
2. Badmotorfinger (1991)
Michigan producer Terry Date spent the second half of the â80s serving to heavy bands resembling Metallic Church, Dream Theater and Fifth Angel file their debut albums earlier than he introduced Soundgarden roaring into the large leagues with the brooding bombast of Badmotorfinger. Cameron and Shepherd shaped a pummeling new rhythmic core for Soundgarden on âJesus Christ Pose,â whereas Cornell started stretching out with arty epics like âLooking out With My Good Eye Closed.â Soundgarden would by no means wail with the identical constant depth after Badmotorfinger as they pivoted towards extra colourful and different albums, however the pace and fury of âRusty Cageâ and âFace Air pollutionâ is simple.
1. Superunknown (1994)
By the point Soundgarden started recording their fourth album, Cornell had already revealed a quieter, extra nuanced facet with the 1991 Pearl Jam-assisted facet challenge Temple of the Canine and his basic solo lower âSeasonsâ from the Singles soundtrack. The bandâs first set of demos for Superunknown, nonetheless, caught to Soundgardenâs tried-and-true laborious rock sound, till producer Michael Beinhorn prodded Cornell to jot down songs extra like his basic rock heroes Cream and the Beatles. The consequence was a brand new crop of tunes that included the psychedelic âBlack Gap Solarâ and the gradual however highly effective âFell on Black Days,â which propelled Superunknown right into a sextuple platinum blockbuster and proved Soundgarden wasnât only for the metallic heads. Shepherdâs eerie âHead Downâ and the clavinet-assisted groove of âRecent Tendrilsâ had been new territory, and even the largest straight-ahead rocker from the album, âSpoonman,â was an unlikely collaboration with the eccentric Seattle percussionist often called Artis the Spoonman.
To see our working record of the highest 100 biggest rock stars of all time, click here.