I remember first coming across Soundgarden’s single ‘Black Hole Sun’ when I was 13. I was at the age where staying up all night still felt like an event (my family and I were taking the Eurostar to Paris in the early hours of the morning), and I was bingeing through music videos on Youtube from alternative rock acts that I was really into at the time (particularly Nirvana). The rabbit hole landed me on a rather colourful, psychedelic music video that accompanied a very catchy yet sombre sounding song. The lyrics “black hole sun, won’t you come/wash away the rain” were stuck in my head for the longest time afterwards. It even inspired a Soundgarden deep dive of sorts that admittedly didn’t yield much past the album I’ll be reviewing, Superunknown.
Superunknown did mark a shift in the band’s sound. Soundgarden, headed up by legendary alt-rock vocalist and songwriter Chris Cornell, with Kim Thayill on lead guitar, Ben Shepherd on bass, and Matt Cameron on drums, had a more heavy metal, hard rock bent to the grunge genre. Although they were upstaged by their more popular Seattle grunge counterpart Nirvana, with the release of their 1994 LP Superunknown, which turns thirty this year, the band proved they had as much popular appeal as Kurt Cobain and co. Cornell’s voice was higher on the mix, Cameron’s drumming had a Keith Moon-esque kineticism, and – more importantly – the band embraced (my love) psychedelia.
The album sold nine million copies worldwide, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and singles such as ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Spoonman’ won Grammy Awards for Best Hard Rock performance and Best Metal Performance respectively. Listening to this now, there’s no surprise that it’s often considered one of the finest albums from the period. Despite the rather tense recording sessions thanks to Michael Beinhorn’s perfectionism, the group truly recorded a rock album with a level of quality that can rival some of the most acclaimed LPs that came from the classic rock era.
Musically it’s impressive. Superunknown is filled with tracks with odd time signatures, which makes its popular appeal all the more impressive, and the music has a momentum to it that’s akin to music produced by bands such as Led Zeppelin (admittedly, the band is very much like Zeppelin). The single ‘The Day I Tried to Live’ alternates between the 7/8 and 4/4 time signatures wonderfully. The hook has a real unrelenting groove. Songs such as ‘Limo Wreck’ don a 15/8 time signature, which you almost never come across on a pop album. Well, it’s a hard rock, hard metal, psychedelic grunge album that became very popular. These song structures really give Superunknown a distinct character that’s charming, there is the sense that the album wasn’t created with the intention of being a mainstream sensation.
I have to talk about the psychedelia too because it really elevates the tracks here. The second song, ‘My Wave’, has a beautiful groove and it’s topped off brilliantly by a collage of cymbals, wah-wah guitar, and vocal harmonies. The iconic single ‘Black Hole Sun’ is a neo-psychedelic classic, a real exhibition of grunge balladry whose melodicism owes more to The Beatles than Zeppelin. The Beatles influence comes through again in bassist Ben Shepherd’s effort ‘Head Down’ that has a real hypnotism that’s addictive – again Cameron’s drumming is so instrumental in setting up the psychedelic wall of sound.
To be honest, the music and soundscapes are so great that the album’s lyrics, though good, don’t catch the ear as much. Cornell was reading a lot of Sylvia Plath at the time and it shows in some of the titles of the songs (‘Let Me Drown’, ‘Fell on Black Days’). He’s quoted to have said that such tracks are about “crawling back to the womb to die” and “realising you’re happy in the extreme”. Yeah, Plath is the apt poet to consult when experiencing such feelings. That being said, the lyrics on ‘Fell on Black Days’ for instance, aren’t bad at all, but they’re nothing compared to Thayill’s fiery guitar lines, or Cameron’s rolling drum fills, or Cornell’s catchy vocal riffs. The extent to which the sounds on the LP are so great is encapsulated on singles such as ‘Spoonman’: the integration of utensils in such a manner is inventive and executed very, very well.
Superunknown is a worthy album to have on your Spotify playlist, or vinyl collection, or Youtube saved list (hey, each to their own). It’s one of grunge’s crowning achievements, which is no mean feat given that the genre can be summed up by one band: Nirvana. The other band formed in Seattle finally showed the world the extent of their musical genius, and the world nodded in approval. It’s one of the best rock albums of the nineties. What are you waiting for? Have a listen!
Words by Keith Mulopo
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