Down on the Upside

Certain Songs #2394: Soundgarden – “No Attention”

June 30, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Down on the Upside
Year: 1996

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A terrific deep cut up on the backside of Down on the Upside, “No Attention” wasn’t a single or anything like that, but it showed again that Soundgarden could take their hard rock roots, shuffle them around a bit, and come up with something cool and new while still acknowledging those roots full force.

So, if “Outshined” reminded me of Black Sabbath, “Head Down” The Beatles and “My Wave,” Led Zeppelin, then “No Attention” is a pure Aerosmith homage. It easily could have fit just fine on either Toys in the Attic or Rocks. So not just Aerosmith, but fucking great Aerosmith.

Certain Songs #2393: Soundgarden – “Burden in My Hand”

June 29, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Down on the Upside
Year: 1996

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But my favorite song on Down on the Upside was Chris Cornell’s dynamic “Burden in My Hand.” And in fact, except for “Superunknown” and “Head Down,” it’s my favorite Soundgarden song, period.

“Burden in My Hand” starts with just Chris Cornell singing over a couple of guitars, one of which I swear to god is a piano, except nowhere in the credits is there any mention of a piano, so I guess it has something to do with the jauntiness of the guitars, even without any real drums.

Certain Songs #2392: Soundgarden – “Blow Up The Outside World”

June 28, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Down on the Upside
Year: 1996

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OK, so Soundgarden didn’t fully abandon psychedelia or big pop hooks for Down on The Upside, as was evidenced by the album’s centerpiece, the suitably massive “Blow Up The Outside World,” which had both in in spades.

Another master class in how to balance quiet verses with loud choruses, “Blow Up The Outside World” starts off with a mid-tempo Matt Cameron beat, relatively quiet guitars from Chris Cornell & Kim Thayil, and Cornell in his crooning mode, singing about fending off the slings and arrows of life.

Certain Songs #2391: Soundgarden – “Ty Cobb”

June 27, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Down on the Upside
Year: 1996

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The fifth and final studio album of the initial phase of Soundgarden’s career, Down on the Upside, came out in the spring of 1996, and it’s one of those records that I associate with a specific place and time in my life. In this case, it was the transition from Art & Science, the first web digital agency I ever worked for, to the much larger and more stable Organic, where my first assignment was to build out a special 1996 Olympics website for a little shoe company in Portland called Nike.