Behold! The Garden Where Sound Is Grown

Clockwise from top left: Matt Cameron(Drums), Chris Cornell(Vocals,guitar), Ben Shepherd(Bass), Kim Thayil(Guitar), probably 1991ish?

 

I remember the first time I heard this band, well, heard and saw.  It was the music video for Outshined sometime in 1992.. I estimate.  It was on the VHS tape my buddy Alan brought to me at my parents house when we were 13/14/15 years old.  Alan's parents had a satellite dish and received a channel called Much Music from Canada and Alan had recorded a bunch of rock videos for us to watch.  I think I will start calling that VHS tape the 'Holy Grail' because the bands and music on that tape... not trying to sound dramatic here... changed my life.  Of course I didn't realize how impactful it was until I could look back over the 30ish years that have passed and how most of the music I still enjoy today has its roots in the bands and songs on that tape.  There are five videos that I remember specifically...

Kiss - Unholy

Pantera - Mouth For War

White Zombie - Thunderkiss '65

Megadeth - Peace Sells

Soundgarden - Outshined

I have the Outshined song included in the Badmotorfinger songs down below, the full version.  The video version is edited down which, after years of loving the full version, kinda messes up the experience for me now.... but, I digress.  All that is to say, that here is the music video version so we all know what I am talking about.

The first thing that jumped out at me was... this song does not mess around, it jumps right into one of the heaviest riffs Soundgarden has ever produced.  Sludgy.  The second thing that drew my attention was Chris Cornell.  I didn't know who he was at the time, but, I knew he was amazing!  A very good-looking fella, amazing hair, a body anyone would trade for, and....  he was belting out some of the best sounding vocals I had ever heard. 

I bought the album Badmotorfinger not too long after that first encounter with the Soundgarden folk.  I listened to that CD front to back more times than I can count.  It is still my favorite album from them. (Louder Than Love a close second).  

So... lets take a trip through my favorite Soundgarden songs, in order of release date.  I like a lot of songs so....  grab a beverage!

Chris Cornell in an early performance, 1987ish. Wild strings!

Song: Nothing To Say (Video from 2013 re-release from Sub Pop label)
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Screaming Life EP
Release Year: 1987

I've got 'nothing to say' about this song.  Except that it is my favorite off of their first two EPs released in '87.  I did not hear any of this super-early stuff until a few years ago.  Chris always had the voice, man!  This is a really cool video of someone leafing through old news articles and show flyers from back when Soundgarden first began.

Song: Hunted Down - live performance
1988-02-11 Club Lingerie: Los Angeles, CA.
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Screaming Life EP
Release Year: 1987

The other song I like from their initial independent EPs, Hunted Down.  Found this live performance while putting this article together.  Pretty good!  "Your narrow escape, has wiped the smile right from your face.  Those starved dogs howling, run to hunt you down."

An early performance from around this time. 

Album:  Ultramega OK - 1988

Not my copy, but I had one just like it!

I don't exactly remember when I got the Ultramega OK album.  I became a fan in 1992 with Badmotorfinger and a couple years later found out they had earlier work.  This was pre-internet, people, give me a break... I DIDNT KNOW!  I first acquired Louder Than Love, their second full length, and then eventually purchased Ultramega OK, their first full length album. I think the band has expressed over the years that they were not thrilled with the production, and I can see what they mean.  Seems like something is missing from the guitar tone or the way Cornell's voice was recorded.  But hey, what the hell do I know!  

Song: Flower
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Ultramega OK
Release Year: 1988

 Flower is the first song on the album and still my favorite of the group of songs included on the album.  That riff is great!  

Song: All Your Lies
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Ultramega OK
Release Year: 1988

I love the dynamics in All Your Lies.  The parts where they quiet down and Chris sings the rhythmic:

See through your tripless, falling, limping, crawling
Biting, fighting back from dying
Endless ending, comprehending
Nothing of the sin she's sinning

Loosely buying your cheating, your lying
Will make it mine while never crying
Corralled like a cat with my head in a sack
And I feel like I'm tied to a railroad track

ALL YOUR FEARS ARE LIES.   I agree, Chris Cornell, I agree.  The more I dive into this life and spirituality and the older I get... the more I see that.

Song: Mood For Trouble
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Ultramega OK
Release Year: 1988

The acoustic guitar strumming is something I really dig about this one.  Adds some texture.  I now have Goldmember from Austin Powers III in my head... the scene where he is eating large flakes of his dry skin "It's the taaaaste... the tehhhhxture."  

Making an assumption this is from around the time of the Louder Than Love album. Second guy from the right is original bassist, Hiro Yamamoto.

Album: Louder Than Love - 1989

Louder Than Love CD

Louder Than Love, my second favorite Soundgarden album.  It definitely had to grow on me, however. I remember how I acquired it like it was yesterday.  My friend Conan's older brother Devin had a large CD collection and, if we found one we wanted, sometimes he would let us buy them from him.  A couple years after falling in love with the Badmotorfinger album, we were hanging out at the older brother's house and looking through his CDs and I came across this one.  WHAT WAS THIS?!  I don't remember if I was aware Soundgarden had earlier albums or not at that point, but, either way I wanted it.  I bought it for a few bucks. (Thanks Devin!)

It is different than Badmotorfinger and, at first, I wasn't sure I liked it.  I had this awful summer job in a factory after graduating high school and I listened to Louder Than Love on my Discman all day every day for a solid week or two.  With all that time spent together, I learned to accept and love it.  Chris Cornell's vocals are superb and are a big step up from their debut album.  The production is also much, much better.

Song: Ugly Truth
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Louder Than Love
Release Year: 1989

The lead track on Louder Than Love is Ugly Truth.  Great riff, great vocals.  With this album and then even more so on the next, Chris Cornell sings extremely high but with power.  It sounds nothing like the wailing banshees in classic heavy metal.  It's dirtier... grungy even. ;0)   "If you were mine to give, I might throw it away."  Wow.  Harsh.... poetic and harsh.  One of my favorite lines from the album.

Song: Hands All Over
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Louder Than Love
Release Year: 1989

 This was the first song I liked from Louder Than Love.  The song builds instrumentally with some aaaaaaahs from Cornell then... DON'T TOUCH MAY (me)!  Slidey guitars in this one.  For years I kinda wondered what Chris was talking about in this song.  He mentions 'you're gonna kill your mother, and I love her.'  Turns out the mother he is talking about is Earth/the environment.  From that angle, it all makes sense.  

Song: Gun
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Louder Than Love
Release Year: 1989

Gun is a unique song in the Soundgarden catalog.  It increases in pace from beginning to end.  By the end they are flying, baby!   Found this live performance from 1990 in Germany that I had never seen before.  Before they were 'famous'. 

Song: Power Trip
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Louder Than Love
Release Year: 1989

This song starts with Cornell's vocal matching the guitar in a very impressive way. He is way up in the clouds with his notes and then immediately dips down into his lower register for the verse.  It's a bit of a slower plodding song.  Kinda Sabbath-y.  Take away lyric from this one:  "I wanna be the father of the ethnic child that stars on TV."  I love that line.  It just seems so incredibly creative and original.

Song: Loud Love (music video)
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Louder Than Love
Release Year: 1989

The simple up and down notes of the guitar intro is powerful somehow.  Then Cornell can be heard coming from the distance wailing.  Next some grimey guitar which is heavy yet soothing.  All of these songs are over five minutes but they go by in a flash.  I find I am still finding new things even after a million thousand billion listens.

Soundgarden with new bassist, Ben Shepherd (second from right apparently giving Kim Thayil a wet willie).  I am guessing around the time of making the Badmotorfinger record.

Album: Badmotorfinger - 1991

It's been a long time since I've seen the CD itself.  Blast of nostalgia!

What do I say about this one?  One of my favoritest (no, I don't care that it's not a word!) albums of all my time on this Earth. Matt Cameron's drumming is so good on this one.  Soundgarden don't like 'normal' time signatures, always adding a beat hear or there (see/hear the bonus at the end of the main Outshined riff as an example).  Chris Cornell's vocal performance on this album is at the top of the pile for me... all time top.  So much power, so much versatility.  Interesting and varied songwriting without sounding haphazard and distracting.  One-of-a-kind.

Song: Rusty Cage
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Badmotorfinger
Release Year: 1991

The alternating guitars in the intro... love it.  I also love this song.  Let me count the ways.

1. The lyrics.  

Examples: 

Hit like a phillips head into my brain, it's gonna be to dark to sleep again.

When the forest burns along the road, like God's eyes in my headlights. And when the dogs are lookin' for their bones, and it's rainin' ice picks on your steel shore.

2. The changes.  At the 2:50 mark it goes into the 'breakdown' section.  Slower, thicker, heavier.  Cornell singing his balls off.

3. Ben Shepherd's bass.  Can hear it loud and clear in this song.  

When I heard Johnny Cash covered this song on one of his 'comeback' albums produced by Rick Rubin I thought... really?  Well, hell... that just might sound cool!  And it does....

Song: Rusty Cage
Artist: Johnny Cash (Soundgarden cover)
Album: Unchained
Release Year: 1996

Song: Outshined
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Badmotorfinger
Release Year: 1991

"I'm feeling like I'm sober, even though I'm drinking.  I can't get any lower, even though I'm sinking."

"I just looked in the mirror, and things aren't looking so good.  I'm looking California, and feeling Minnesota."

There was a movie released in 1996 called Feeling Minnesota and it was confirmed that the Soundgarden lyric was the inspiration for the title.  That's some Hall of Fame shit, right there.  Oh, thats right, they were just inducted!  Well deserved!

At the 3:30 mark in the song the instruments quiet down and one my favorite moments of any song ever happen.  Cornell sings ouuuuuuuuuuuutshiiiined.  The first half of the word is a powerful scream which dips down to a soulful low-register for the second half.  Most incredible single word ever sung in my humble opinion.  

Song: Slaves And Bulldozers
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Badmotorfinger
Release Year: 1991

This entire song is one long incredible vocal performance by Chris Cornell.  NOW I KNOW WHY YOU BEEN SHAKIN, NOW I KNOW WHY YOU BEEN SHAKIN.  When he strings out those words and goes up an octave or two, then back down, etc.  I get tired just listening to this... but in the best way.

Song: Birth Ritual
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Singles Movie Soundtrack
Release Year: 1992

In 1992 the movie Singles came out.  Surprisingly, I have never seen the movie.  I will be correcting that error soon!  I do know a few things about it, however.  I know that Chris Cornell has a small part in it. The soundtrack is full of grunge kings, including this song from Soundgarden, Birth Ritual.  Funny thing is, I had never heard this song until it was re-released on the compilation Telephantasm in 2010.  I initially thought it was a song cut from Badmotorfinger because it for sure has the same sound.  It has become one of my favorite Soundgarden songs.  One reason, I'm sure, is because it was 'new' to me, so it was a thrill to hear 'new' material from my favorite era of the band.  Another reason, is (stop me if you've heard this before) Chris Cornell's singing.  I seriously do not see how it is possible to reach the heights he reaches while still pushing out so much power and energy.  

Album: Superunknown - 1994

Superunknown CD.  

Superunknown was the album that launched Soundgarden into the mainstream and made them as well known as they are today.  Everyone knows Black Hole Sun.  Most people know Spoonman. Neither of those songs are included in this write-up.  What fun would that be? lol. It's almost like once a song gets too popular and is known by too many people it loses its personal connection.  Strange how that happens. One distinct memory I have is listening to this CD non-stop in my childhood bedroom (I would have been about 16) on Dad's Pioneer speakers that I moved into my room. I want to take this opportunity to officially apologize to my brother Eric, who had the room next to mine, for the years 1994 to 1996.  I've always liked my music loud..  SORRY BROTHER! I'm sure it wasn't easy being in the next room and having to listen to my music.  Love you, dude! ❤️😎

Song: The Day I Tried To Live (Music Video)
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Superunknown
Release Year: 1994

This song is both sad and hopeful at the same time.  Mostly sad, tho.  That's ok, I like sad songs.  They make me think. ;)

"I woke the same as any other day, except a voice was in my head.  It said pull the trigger, drop the blade, and watch the rolling heads."

"One more time around... might do it... one more time around... might make it."

Cornell's vocal on this is a great example of the change from Badmotorfinger.  I would describe much of his vocal style on this song as 'vulnerable' with powerful explosions mixed in.

Song: 4th Of July
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Superunknown
Release Year: 1994

This song is on this list for one reason.  It is the sludgiest, darkest piece of music Soundgarden ever produced.  I remember loving it the very first time I played the Superunknown disc all the way thru.  It starts with the guitars and vocals with no drums, which makes it all the more impactful when the slow steady beat comes in.  Cornell's vocals are doubled, with the low range in the forefront and him belting out in upper range in the background. 

"Down in the hole, Jesus tries to crack a smile beneath another shovel load."  Bruh!  Where does he come up with this stuff?!

At the 3:37 mark when everything drops out except the guitar....  chef's kiss, man, chef's frickin' kiss.  Delicious.

Song: Fresh Tendrils
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Superunknown
Release Year: 1994

It was hard to decide which songs from Superunknown to put on this list.  I could put every song from all three albums in this stretch (Louder Than Love, Badmotorfinger, Superunknown) if I were to list every song I love.  But, as I've said before, Daddy's gotta make the bacon!  Bring home the bacon?  Make the butter?  No, churn the biscuits?  Yeah, churn the biscuits, that's the one.   Aaaaaanyway, Fresh Tendrils was one of the songs I paid less attention to back in the day, but one that I have liked more and more thorughout the years.  I love the riffage and groove in some places.  I love the melody changes. They lyrics are great, too. 

Shame shame
Throw yourself away
Give me little bits of more than I can take
If it sits upon your tongue or naked in your eyes
Give me little bits of more than I can try

Album: Down On The Upside - 1996

Again with this one, have not seen the actual disc in years and it blasts my neurons with familiarity!

If forced to pick a least favorite Soundgarden album, it would be this one. It's absolutely not a 'bad' album by any stretch, it just has some serious competition!  This is also one of those albums that came out right around the time I was graduating high school and trying to fake my way through a semester at college.  Not the best of times for ol' Nicky boy. So these songs bring with them some... emotional baggage?  I think that's why, in recent years, I have gravitated to the songs I used to skip over.  

Song: Applebite
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Down On The Upside
Release Year: 1996

This song is very interesting.  Not a 'typical' Soundgarden song, not that many of their songs are.... typical.  Applebite almost puts me in a trance, with the steady beat and repeating guitar notes.  Cornell's vocals have an effect on them like he is signing to you from deep under the ocean through a pipe up to the surface.  

Song: Never The Machine Forever
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Down On The Upside
Release Year: 1996

This is the one song on Down On The Upside that reminds me of previous Soundgarden songs, but only slightly.  Cornell's vocals on this are wonderful, once again.  With each verse they become slightly more unhinged as he changes notes here and there.  At this point in time, it is my favorite song from the album.  Don't worry, I'm sure it will change... it usually does!!

Song: Boot Camp
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Down On The Upside
Release Year: 1996

I was completely unfamiliar with this song before doing this article.  That is one of the reasons I spend time doing these....  discovering songs I love from the artists I thought I knew everything about.  

I must obey the rules
I must be tame and cool
No staring at the clouds
I must stay on the ground
In clusters of the mice
The smoke is in our eyes
Like babies on display
Like Angels in a cage
I must be pure and true
I must contain my views
There must be something else
There must be something good far away
Far away from here
Far away, I'm far away from here
Far away, I'm far away from here
Far away, I'm far away from here
And I'll be here for good
For good

 Boot Camp's lyrics say to me that Cornell may have had the view that our time here on earth is like boot camp for whatever comes next.  I like this perspective.  Maybe my main job while I am here is just to experience being human, with all the pain and joy that comes along with that.  Maybe the goal is not to be 'happy' all the damn time.  Maybe the goal is to live all of it.  Some say our 'true' selves exist outside this realm/dimension/frequency and each of us chose to forget who we really are to come here and experience this... human thing.  That's why we will never figure out what happens when we leave. If we did, the whole reason we are here would be ruined. 

Reunited in 2010.  Estimate this photo was around the time they made 2012's King Animal.  Love the smiles :0)

Album - King Animal - 2012

Singed copy of 2012's King Animal. Again, not mine!

Soundgarden disbanded in 1997 and eventually reunited for some shows in 2010.  That led to them making their last album, released in 2012, King Animal.  I was so extremely excited for this album to come out.  It had been 15 years, so I assumed there would never be another album of new Soundgarden songs. I am still getting to know this album (13 years is not nearly enough time to fully explore a Soundgarden album, good sir) and, just like every album before, it sounds different than any of their previous releases.  There are a few heavy-ish tunes, a few that sound like they belong on a Cornell solo record, and a couple that are unlike anything else Soundgarden has ever done.  The two songs below belong in the last category... for me, anyway ;0)

Song: By Crooked Steps (music video)
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: King Animal
Release Year: 2012

With the lyrical content of Soundgarden's songs, you may think they don't have a sense of humor.  NOT TRUE!  Go back and watch any interviews with the band and they are constantly making jokes and laughing.  In this video they seem to be members of a Segway biker gang.  C'mon man, thats funny shit. By Crooked Steps was instantly my favorite song from King Animal.  It has the weird time signature thing, its got some Cornell screams, its got a great riff.  I love it.

Song: Rowing (fan made video)
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: King Animal
Release Year: 2012

I said above that By Crooked Steps was immediately my favorite song from King Animal.  Immediately, yes, it was, and sometimes it still is.  But, for now, Rowing is top dog.  One reason... it is unlike most of Soundgarden's material.  It is based around this wonderfully haunting bass riff.  After a few dozen listens it actually puts an image in my mind of someone alone, rowing a small boat toward the horizon, on a seemingly endless lake.  I don't know where I'm going.  I just keep on rowing.  Keep on pulling.  Gotta row.

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Moving is breathing and breathing is life
Stopping is dying
You'll be alright
Life is a hammer waiting to drop
Adrift in the shallows and the rowing won't stop
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Can't see the sky, nothing's on the horizon
Can't feel my hands and the water keeps risin'
Can't fall asleep 'cause I wake up dead
I just keep pulling, I just keep rowing
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Rowing is living and living is hard
But living beats losing all that we are
All that we know of, and all that we feel
All we remember, imagined or real
All we remember, imagined or real
Hey
I heard an echo but the answer had changed
From the word I remember
That I started out sayin'
Living is cheating if you're not pulling oars
The current is leaving
I'll get mine
You'll get yours
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Hey
Rowing is bleeding, bleeding is breathing
Breathing is feeling, burning and freezing
Keep gettin' dirty but I started out clean
Keep on rowing
I keep on rowing
I keep on pulling
I keep on pulling
I keep on rowing
I keep on rowing
I keep on rowing
I keep on rowing
I keep on rolling
Keep on rolling
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row

Chris with his son Christopher in 2008

Chris Cornell seemed to always be fighting against the darkness of depression.  Many of his lyrics reflect this.  Chris died in 2017 after a Soundgarden show in Detroit.  Hard to believe its been 8 years considering how recent it still seems to me.  I could not listen to Chris or Soundgarden for a couple years after his death, and even now, I can't listen for too long.  I feel like I knew him, because I relate to what he says in his songs and from what I have read and heard from people who were close to him.  Chris was an addict/alcoholic.  Me too.  Chris always looked ok, and always seemed to take care of his business and never show the world what was going on.  Me too.  People told Chris 'what do you have to be sad about? You are talented, everyone likes you. You can do whatever you want'.  I have heard the same said to me. I'm making an assumption here when I say I think Chris would give you the same answer to that question that I would. That answer:  "I don't know". 

I am grateful for my life and grateful for all the relationships and all the talents and love I am blessed with. Nevertheless, the darkness is always waiting to take over.  The thoughts come without my permission.  "It's all pointless.  I'm exhausted. This is hopeless. My relationship with my kids will change and not be as good.  I will never be able to be completely trusting and at ease with those I am closest to, because, if I stop being useful, if I ever become a burden, those people will abandon me."  

I must obey the rules
I must be tame and cool

There must be something else
There must be something good far away
Far away from here

Here's the thing, tho.  Those dark thoughts are only as true as I let them be.  From the age of 16 to 42 the way I escaped those thoughts was alcohol and drugs. I didn't know another way.  Today, I have other ways of dealing, which mainly involve trying to stay in an 'attitude of gratitude'.  And when I am unable to do that, and I feel the darkness and negativity, I need to let myself feel that and not immediately try to 'fix' it or do something to avoid experiencing the sadness and despair.  That's why alcohol was the solution for so many years.  It was a ticket out of being trapped in my own head... trapped in those thoughts. I need to experience those 'low' emotional states.  Allow myself to feel it, and carry on.  If I stay there too long, if I stop practicing the methods of gratitude/acceptance/love, then ....  well,  I'm not gonna find out cause I'm not stopping!   

Rowing is living and living is hard
But living beats losing all that we are
All that we know of, and all that we feel
All we remember, imagined or real
All we remember, imagined or real

Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row
Don't know where I'm going I just keep on rowing
I just keep on pulling, gotta row

✌️❤️🤘

PS: 
A Sound Garden is an outdoor musical art installation in Seattle, Washington, located on the campus of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Artist: Designed by sculptor Douglas Hollis and completed in 1983.
Structure: It consists of twelve 21-foot-high steel towers.
Sound: Each tower is topped with a hollow organ pipe attached to a weather vane. When the wind blows, it catches the vanes and passes through the pipes to create eerie, low-pitched whistling or moaning sounds.
Musical Influence: The famous Seattle grunge band Soundgarden took their name from this specific artwork.

A Sound Garden.  Seattle, WA