Product Description

As the first grunge band to be signed by a major label, Seattle's Soundgarden opened the pop floodgates, and a deluge of thrash-o-rama bands began swamping the airwaves. Followinga series of trend-setting releases on the independent Sub Pop and SST labels, Soundgarden's initial A&M releases LOUDERTHAN LOVE and BADMOTORFINGER signaled the return of the classic guitar band to popular consciousness.
Using the time-honoured Led Zeppelin/Aerosmith approach as a jump-off point--not to mention influential bands like Black Sabbath, MC5,The Stooges and Killing Joke--Soundgarden has formalised their own approach to raw power. Their stylised melodic hooks,however, along with their sometimes surreal lyrics, set them apart from the pack. Whether they get dazed and confused on the vamping "Limo Wreck", or cut loose with a wham- bam-thank-you-ma'am 4/4 cruncher like "Kickstand", Soundgarden canrock and roll with all the jet-propelled, no-nonsense crunch of all your favourite bands, from Zeppelin to the Ramones--and lead guitarist Kim Thayil's chops never outrace his melodic imagination.
But Soundgarden is doing a lot more than simply recycling their best bits for another run up the charts. With SUPERUNKNOWN, they're stretching out and putting some distance between themselves and their imitators, incorporating different styles into their own mix, and creating a fresh modern sound. Certainly, there are not many bands who could rock convincingly in 5/4 time without sounding like slumming jazzbos, but Soundgarden's "My Wave" is a fist-shaking anthem that suggests the tone of the Stones' "Get Off My Cloud". The curious mixture of psychedelic blues elements, Near-Eastern tonalities and Indian ragas which make "Head Down", "Black Hole Sun" and "Half" so distinctive indicates thatSoundgarden didn't simply cop their ideas from a Hollywood soundtrack. With his guttural Steve Tyler-like growl, frontman/songwriter Chris Cornell can turn a spoon player into a street shaman on "Spoonman", give in to despair on "Let Me Drown", or rail against authoritarian types on "Head Down". With slamming production by Michael Beinhorn, SUPERUNKNOWN is the hard rock event of 1994.

Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4745 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 73 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Fell on Black Days", indeed. Seattle sludge slingers Soundgarden made a living out of cathartic, woe-is-me wailing (we're talking the banshee vocals of Chris Cornell and the crypt-creaking guitar of Kim Thayil), but this wallowing in grim depression ironically proved to be the band's most uplifting career effort. When the reclusive Cornell ventures out of his shy-guy shell, it's typically via a primal scream of cathartic emotion--he might camp it up with a sophomoric "Spoon Man", but most of this vicious disc leaps straight for your jugular. Generations in the post-millennial future will one day refer to this record to discover exactly how 1990s rock & roll was done. --Tom Lanham

Customer Reviews

soundgaaaarrgden
to any young unpolluted minds/souls out there this sucks! alwys has done! theres no crunch just the smooth disguised as the crunch, dont believe these reviews! listen to funhouse by the stooges or you might end up thinking you enjoy soundgartden and form a crap band, like many others have thought they enjoyed doing, but this is no road to enlightenment, no yellow brick path, no route, 69 its a road to nowhere!

Super - Known
I've finally decided that Soundgarden's 'Superunknown' is my all time favourite album!

I'm not gonna be so arrogant as to say "it's the best", because like any art form, it's all down to personal taste and opinion.

After nearly 15 years, it's easily the album I listen to the most and get the most out of.
Only Pearl Jam's 'Vs' and Blind Melon's 'Soup' come anywhere near.

I just find it incredible that an album with so many obvious influences, can still manage to sound totally unique, original and innovative.
You can hear the slow, sludgy riffs of Black Sabbath. The mystical musings of mid-career Led Zeppelin. The psychedelic rock of Pink Floyd. The pop melodies of the Beatles. As well as hints of AC/DC, Tom Waits & Grateful Dead.
But despite all this, the album sounds unlike anything I've ever heard.

It's not just the flagship songs, the title track, 'Fell On Black Days', 'Spoonman' & 'Black Hole Sun', that make the album great. The lyrics and the textured layering of the sound make 'Let Me Drown', 'My Wave', 'Mailman' & 'Fresh Tendrils' more than just straight forward rockers.
Then there's the doomsday, apocalyptic feel to 'Limo Wreck', 'Day I Tried To Live' & '4th Of July'. Had it not been written some 7 years earlier, 'Limo Wreck' could easily have been about 9/11.

The beauty of the lyrics to 'Like Suicide' and the left field Eastern sound of 'Half' just add to the complexity of the album.

When you consider that Soundgarden are the only band from the 90s Alt/Rock scene that could get away with a track like 'Head Down' and the fact that 'She Likes Surprises' could easily have been found on a Beatles album, is just the final tick in the box for me.

This, of course, along side Chris Cornell's unparalleled vocals, Kim Thayil's unique guitar sound, and also that drummer Matt Cameron & bassist Ben Shepherd add so much as songwriters and not just as musicians.

Should be appreciated as a truely great piece of art.

great singer - shame you cant hear him!
amount of tracks :16
excellent :4
v.good :0
good :3
fair :8
poor :1

soundgarden, along with alice in chains, were definately the very best bands to come out of the so-called 'grunge' scene. and in chris cornell they had a truly great singer. the only problem is that chris was up against it for a couple of reasons - and continues to be so with 'audioslave' - and herein lys my problem with this album.

firstly its far too long, but most importantly, the material herein is not consistently strong enough to warrant such a lengthy album. theres a lot of filler here - and there was throughout all soundgardens albums. however, when they DID hit the mark, then they were premier league quality. for me the stand out tracks are the opener 'let me drown', the fabulous 'limo wreck' and '4th of july' - the rest of the material goes from ok to average. secondly, whilst the actual production on this album is very powerful, chris's vocals are buried in the mix throughout (except for a couple of tracks) - whilst chris is a serious singer, his only downfall is that his diction can be a bit lazy at times, and that, combined with the buried vocal sound, means that the majority of the time you cant hear a word hes singing about. maybe some people dont care about that too much, but for me, it spoils the whole album. with a voice this great, i wanna HEAR it man!
im not writing this as a putdown though - i think soundgarden were one of the most important acts to come out of the 90's. but this is not their best album. 'louder than love' and 'badmotorfinger' were superior and i think its significant that the band didnt last too much longer after this release