Superunknown
Soundgarden (1994)
Two of the most influential albums of the 90's are turning 30 years old today. One of them is The Downward Spiral, which I wrote about earlier today, and while I loved it when I was a teenager, my musical tastes have changed as I've gotten older. I still love and appreciate Nine Inch Nails, but when I'm in the mood for them, I'm much more likely to listen to tracks off of Pretty Hate Machine or Broken.
The other album that celebrates its 30th birthday today is the fourth studio album from my favorite band when I was in high school. They're still one of my favorite bands to this day, and this album in particular has a permanent spot in my top ten.
I strongly recommend listening to Superunknown from front to back because every song is freaking great and blends together to create what I believe to be the best 71 minutes of music from the grunge era. Black Hole Sun gets most of the attention from this album, but while I do love that song, I'm not sure it even cracks my top five favorite songs.
Let Me Drown, My Wave, and Fell On Black Days are maybe the best three songs to open a rock record that I've ever heard. Head Down is an awesome trippy song that sets up Black Hole Sun. 4th of July is an apocalyptic metal track that could be turned into a movie by itself, and Like Suicide is as dark and beautiful and the name implies. The song itself has nothing to do with suicide. A robin flew into the glass of a closed window at Chris Cornell's house. It broke its neck and was on the ground suffering when Chris discovered it. He put the bird out of its misery and was then went into the basement to write about the disturbing experience. That writing turned into the lyrics of Like Suicide.
It's hard to pick a favorite song off of this album. Limo Wreck and Like Suicide are definitely in the conversation, and depending on my mood, I'd be just as likely to pick either of those if you asked me. However, the one that hits me the hardest is The Day I Tried To Live. It's a song about trying to fit in, and it's a lot more complicated and less depressing than it may seem on the surface. When I heard this song for the first time, I immediately thought that this guy gets it... he captured what it's like to feel like an outsider in almost every situation. I'm not the angry kid that I was when I first heard this song. These days, I'm more the middle-aged Jeff Lebowski type if you replace the bowling alley with the drive-in theater, but this song still has the same impact on me today as when I first heard it three decades ago.
Soundgarden (1994)
I woke the same as any other dayExcept a voice was in my headIt said, "Seize the dayPull the trigger, drop the blade and watch the rolling heads"The day I tried to liveI stole a thousand beggar's changeAnd gave it to the richThe day I tried to winI dangled from the power linesAnd let the martyrs stretchSinging one more time around might do itOne more time around might make itOne more time around might do itOne more time around might make itThe day I tried to liveWords you sayNever seem to live up to the ones inside your headThe lives we makeNever seem to ever get us anywhere but deadThe day I tried to liveI wallowed in the blood and mudWith all the other pigs, heySinging one more time around might do itOne more time around might make itOne more time around might do itOne more time around might make itThe day I tried to liveI triedI woke the same as any other dayYou know I should have stayed in bedThe day I tried to winI wallowed in the blood and mudWith all the other pigsAnd I learned that I was a liarI learned that I was a liarSinging one more time around might do itOne more time around might make itOne more time around might do itOne more time around might make itThe day I tried to liveJust like you
