Superunknown

Certain Songs #2390: Soundgarden – “Kickstand”

June 26, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Superunknown
Year: 1994

. . .

The first song tracked for Superunknown was one of the shortest songs that Soundgarden ever recorded, coming in at just 1:34, a reflection on one of their other great influences – the Ramones. That said, I’m not sure that — leather jacket iconography aside — any of the Ramones were mountain bike riders, especially since they were so associated with New York City.

Certain Songs #2389: Soundgarden – “Spoonman”

June 23, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Superunknown
Year: 1994

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The first single from Superunknown, “Spoonman” was probably an indication that things were going to be slightly different on their new album: it was a supercharged slab of heavy-ass funk, full of stops and starts and asides. It also had kind of a weird origin story, as inside Seattle as you could possibly imagine.

Certain Songs #2388: Soundgarden – “Black Hole Sun”

June 22, 2022 by Jim Connelly

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?

Certain Songs #2386: Soundgarden – “My Wave”

June 20, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Superunknown
Year: 1994

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Superunknown is the record that changed everything for me when it came to Soundgarden.

Before it, I’d heard only a few songs on the radio or videos on MTV. Afterwards, I knew that I needed to explore their catalog to see what else I’d missed. But you know what? Let’s let 1994 Jim set the scene, here’s the opening paragraph of the review I published in Kade Magazine in July, 1994, just seconds after I moved away from Fresno.

Certain Songs #883: Soundgarden – “Superunknown”

May 18, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Superunknown
Year: 1994

I have a special fondness for some of the records that came out in the spring and summer of 1994, as I was making my move from Fresno. It was a huge, scary step to completely abandon my scene, my family and my comfort zone for who knows what? So the records that I really liked from that period — Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Live Through This, Vauxhall & I and Superunknown — are ones that always take me back to that time.

So I’m going to pour one out today for the newly-deceased Chris Cornell, whose preternatural voice barreled out of the speakers of my VW Fox more than once while driving back and forth from Fresno to Oakland, as I was already sleeping on Andrea & Suzi’s couch in Oakland during the weekdays while coming back to Fresno each weekend to get more stuff from my apartment in the Tower while wondering just the hell I was doing anyways?