Illegal Foreign Object

Review From The Crates: Soundgarden’s Superunknown

One morning, during a 12-round bout with writer’s block, Chris Cornell heard a loud noise from outside another room in his house. Ascending from his basement and making his way to his garden, he soon discovered a bird had flown headlong into a closed window, breaking its neck.

Cornell, distraught by the injured bird that lay at his feet, made the choice to put it out of its misery. After burying the bird, he returned to his notepad…

πŸŽΆπ‘―π’†π’‚π’“π’… π’Šπ’• π’‡π’“π’π’Ž 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 π’“π’π’π’Ž
π‘¬π’šπ’†π’” π’˜π’†π’“π’† π’˜π’‚π’Œπ’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒖𝒑
𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑
𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆’𝒔 π’π’Šπ’Œπ’† π’”π’–π’Šπ’„π’Šπ’…π’†

𝑫𝒂𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 π’Šπ’ 𝒂 π’ˆπ’‚π’“π’…π’†π’ 𝒃𝒆𝒅
π‘Ύπ’Šπ’•π’‰ 𝒂 π’ƒπ’“π’π’Œπ’†π’ π’π’†π’„π’Œ
π‘³π’‚π’šπ’” π’Žπ’š π’ƒπ’“π’π’Œπ’†π’ π’ˆπ’Šπ’‡π’•
𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 π’π’Šπ’Œπ’† π’”π’–π’Šπ’„π’Šπ’…π’†

𝑨𝒏𝒅 π’Žπ’š 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 π’…π’Šπ’•π’„π’‰
𝑾𝒂𝒔 π’Žπ’š 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 π’ƒπ’“π’Šπ’„π’Œ
𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 π’‡π’Šπ’π’Šπ’”π’‰ 𝒉𝒆𝒓
π‘­π’Šπ’π’Šπ’”π’‰ 𝒉𝒆𝒓

𝑺𝒉𝒆 π’π’Šπ’—π’†π’… π’π’Šπ’Œπ’† 𝒂 π’Žπ’–π’“π’…π’†π’“
π‘―π’π’˜ 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒅 π’‡π’π’š 𝒔𝒐 π’”π’˜π’†π’†π’•π’π’š
𝑺𝒉𝒆 π’π’Šπ’—π’†π’… π’π’Šπ’Œπ’† 𝒂 π’Žπ’–π’“π’…π’†π’“
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 π’…π’Šπ’†π’… 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 π’π’Šπ’Œπ’† π’”π’–π’Šπ’„π’Šπ’…π’†πŸŽΆ

“Just Like Suicide”, the final song from Soundgarden’s 6x platinum smash Superunknown, caps a 15-song, 70-minute masterpiece. The album launched Soundgarden into the stratosphere. It ran them right up alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice In Chains in terms of fame. It’s up for debate if that proved to be a good thing or not.

Producer Michael Beinhorn pushed the band into uncharted waters, sending them swimming away from their punk rock roots and towards psychedelia, pop, and even Middle Eastern sounds. Beinhorn also pushed Cornell as a vocalist, saying the full-throated vocalist “blew through a bunch of condenser mics” while endeavoring to capture his astounding vocal abilities. You can hear it in the tracks — the mics are working overtime to capture Cornell’s rage.

“Spoonman” rattles down the track at breakneck speed, “Fell On Black Days” will bring a tear to your eye, and “My Wave” is decidedly groovy, but it is “Black Hole Sun” that will forever be the song by which the band is most well known. The funny thing is, when it came time to record the vocals for “Black Hole Sun”, a song Cornell “wrote in about 15 minutes” while driving home from Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, Washington, Beinhorn wanted the singer to get into a specific groove. So, he had Cornell listen to Frank Sinatra.

The lyrics, said Cornell, were the closest thing to him “just playing with words for words’ sake”. Years later, Michael Beinhorn said, “I think for the rest of my entire life, until I draw my last breath, I’ll never ever forgot how I felt when they started playing that song. From the very first few notes, I felt like I’d been hit by a thunderbolt. I was just absolutely stunned.”

For a lot of 1994, I was a little lost; a scuffling 16-year-old seeking acceptance after a time when I could find no peace. When π—¦π˜‚π—½π—²π—Ώπ˜‚π—»π—Έπ—»π—Όπ˜„π—» was released, it filled my soul. It made me wanna scream to the heavens, bang my head, and play music with my friends. All these years later, it evokes similar thoughts and feelings. Albums like Superunknown walked me through doors I wouldn’t have otherwise tried. They were conversation starters, filled entire nights, and were (and are) the kind of listening experience that when done by at least two people in the room, will forge bonds that can last a lifetime.

Track List:

  1. Let Me Drown 8/10
  2. My Wave 8/10
  3. Fell On Black Days 10/10
  4. Mailman 10/10
  5. Superunknown 7/10
  6. Head Down 8/10
  7. Black Hole Sun 10/10
  8. Spoonman 9/10
  9. Limo Wreck 9/10
  10. The Day I Tried To Live 10/10
  11. Kickstand 6/10
  12. Fresh Tendrils 8/10
  13. 4th Of July 10/10
  14. Half 4/10
  15. Just Like Suicide 10/10

Grade: 85

Mike Langford
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