Album: Superunknown
Year: 1994
. . .
So let’s clear something up: “Black Hole Sun” — by far and away the most popular song Soundgarden ever recorded — was not a hit. Not a pop hit, anyways. Was it a rock radio hit? Absolutely: it topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and was #2 on their Alt Rock chart. Was it played on MTV? All the fucking time. Hell, it was even a pop hit in the U.K., making it to #12. Just not here in the States: despite being released as a single and everything, pop radio just didn’t bite, and it didn’t even chart.
But nearly 30 years later, it sure feels like it was a massive hit, doesn’t it?
If Led Zeppelin’s great secret was that they were also a terrific prog band, than Soundgarden’s must be that they were also a terrific psychedelic band, and while I still prefer the two songs that precede it — “Superunknown” and “Head Down” — that also might be that I kinda got sick of it for awhile.
Because, let’s face it: “Black Hole Sun” is a supersonic psychedelic power ballad for the ages, a magnificent song worthy of its magnificent title.
And while when Cornell first brought it in, there were worries that it wasn’t Soundgardeny enough, they soon realized that any song that Soundgarden played was going to be Soundgardeny enough, duh.
What I love about “Black Hole Sun” is the quiet resignation of the vast majority of Cornell’s vocal, not just on the verses where he’s duetting with Kim Thayil’s Leslie-amped guitar, but also on the choruses, when he’s singing against sustained power chords.
It’s, of course, the post-choruses that kill — you know, when Cornell lets go with this big rock voice against his crooning voice and skyrocketing guitars.
Black hole sun, black hole sun
Won’t you commmmmmmmmmmmme?
Black hole sun, black hole sun
Won’t you commmmmmmmmmmmme?
Black hole sun, black hole sun
Won’t you commmmmmmmmmmmme?
Black hole sun, black hole sun
He didn’t have to scream “black hole sun, black hole sun,” but the fact that he did made it the part of the song that I always listened to the rest for, and the rest was pretty fucking great. Oh, and let’s pour one out for Kim Thayil’s guitar solo, a careening, off-kilter wah-wah extravaganza that quite literally stops time, like what would happen if you got sucked into a black hole and was burned by its sun.
After that it’s all Cornell screaming “black hole sun” and the fucking end of the world.
And then they topped it all off by releasing one of the most apocalyptically fucked-up and weird videos ever filmed, which has no doubt helped the song’s legacy: as I write these words, it’s been viewed over 212 million times. That said, it’s not just the video: “Black Hole Sun” has streamed on Spotify over 454 million times. So yeah, while technically “Black Hole Sun” wasn’t a hit at the time, it’s definitely a timeless classic.
“Black Hole Sun” Official Music Video
“Black Hole Sun” live in 1996
“Black Hole Sun” live in Austin, 2014
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