Soundgarden - Superunknown

I've listened to lots of music. Every genre from every decade has fascinated me at this point. However at the end of the day I always come back to the creative boom of the early to mid 90s. I'm not talking about the grunge movement in general. Between 1993-1996 there were so many fantastic albums that came out. I don't know what was in the water but critics didn't have to play the game of waiting for lightning to strike to get a good album.


Soundgarden are one of the big three Seattle bands. Along with Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam. I don't really call any of these bands grunge bands. The entire grunge thing was more of a movement then as a sound. It's an aesthetic or an ideal, not a staple. Soundgarden combine the largeness of Zeppelin with more punk sensibility and depression. Alice in Chains walks that hard rock/heavy metal line. Pearl Jam is a band that embraced some pop sensibility with emotion and gave birth to a thousand copy bands. None of these bands have anything in common music wise.

Now onto the album, and what an album it is. Superunknown paints a very dreadful picture. It's not a happy album but there is still an element of hope present. Every Soundgarden album is a beast onto itself. No album sounds like the previous and Superunknown was a departure from the arena rock sound present on Badmotorfinger. Badmotorfinger was the band's breakthrough album as it did sell over a million copies and spawned the anthem 'Outshined'.

Superunknown embraced the darkside. It's guitars resemble creaking crypts and Chris Cornell's primal wails are form another dimension. The song Limo Wreck has garnered a fair bit of attention in the last 10 years due to the lyrics 'Building towers that belong to the sky, When they crash down don't ask my why'. Many thought there was some element of premonition of 9/11 here but it's all just coincidence. What your getting is a full on rock masterpiece. Darkness and all.