a serious discussion about soundgarden

newwetkojak

i did a search for sg and a billion things showed up, so fuck it. a new soundgarden thread.

when i'm diggin on soundgarden, i rank them second only to the mighty zep for creative, soul bearing classic rock muzak. what a great band, what a great career, what an amazing catalog of music. a beautiful evolution from the gnarly hardcore acid blues of "screaming life," to the almost cock rock "fopp", to the dischordant hardcore metal on "ultramega ok", to the streamlined and subversively mainstreamed "louder than love," to the immortal epicness of "badmotorfinger," to the brain-blowingly diverse "superunknown," and, finally, the experimental last-gasp of "down on the upside"... these guys never bent to any corporate will or greed... they stayed the course, playing to please and challenge themselves... and it shows... their legacy will last for as long as teenage kids listen to cool music and smoke dope behind the school. "searching with my good eye closed" will never sound old, "beyond the wheel" will never sound like something from the long lost past, "jesus christ pose" will crush skulls until music is never played again, and "i awake" will never be anything but the darkest love song of all time.

i'm winding down my annual soundgarden kick. every spring i get the urge and run through their entire catalog over and over and over for a few weeks. love this fucking band. their legacy is so strong, that noone dares sound like them. queens of the stone age are the only guys trying for that classic heaviness (and succeeding).

blinddogsdontbelieve

wow, well said! that summed up one the most eclectic, unique and seminal rock bands of the last twenty years. and there was only one led zep, but it would have debatable if soundgarden had kept on. there was no weak link in this band, only four equal parts. true class!!!!!

newwetkojak

i wanna go on record as saying that i do NOT want a soundgarden reunion album/tour/one-off show. there's no point.

but i do wanna hear that chris and kim and matt and ben got together in someone's basement and jammed just for the hell of it and it sounded like the gods above were fucking. i don't need to hear it, i just wanna know that they did it.

i like matt.c

newwetkojak wrote:

but i do wanna hear that chris and kim and matt and ben got together in someone's basement and jammed just for the hell of it and it sounded like the gods above were fucking. i don't need to hear it, i just wanna know that they did it.

Oh, I'd need to hear Soundgarden do that!

dharma69

And the vocal ferocity of "Cold Bitch" would make lesser men pee their pants then shrivel up and die.

All hail the Garden of Sound.

Cropduster84

Soundgarden were truly something else.....


Been listening to Down On The Upside continually this past week......what a record.....

'Zero Chance' may just be the most beautiful song ever written.....


Also, 'Tighter and Tighter'....WOW.....

'And I hope its a sweeeeeet...RIIIIIIDE.....'

stargirl69

newwetkojak wrote:

i did a search for sg and a billion things showed up, so fuck it. a new soundgarden thread.

when i'm diggin on soundgarden, i rank them second only to the mighty zep for creative, soul bearing classic rock muzak. what a great band, what a great career, what an amazing catalog of music. a beautiful evolution from the gnarly hardcore acid blues of "screaming life," to the almost cock rock "fopp", to the dischordant hardcore metal on "ultramega ok", to the streamlined and subversively mainstreamed "louder than love," to the immortal epicness of "badmotorfinger," to the brain-blowingly diverse "superunknown," and, finally, the experimental last-gasp of "down on the upside"... these guys never bent to any corporate will or greed... they stayed the course, playing to please and challenge themselves... and it shows... their legacy will last for as long as teenage kids listen to cool music and smoke dope behind the school. "searching with my good eye closed" will never sound old, "beyond the wheel" will never sound like something from the long lost past, "jesus christ pose" will crush skulls until music is never played again, and "i awake" will never be anything but the darkest love song of all time.

i'm winding down my annual soundgarden kick. every spring i get the urge and run through their entire catalog over and over and over for a few weeks. love this fucking band. their legacy is so strong, that noone dares sound like them. queens of the stone age are the only guys trying for that classic heaviness (and succeeding).

Oh so well said.They were a phenomenal band.With a great catalogue of music that still sounds fucking amazing.
I love them best when I don't expect to hear them,like in a pub or when my mp3 is on random and they havn't come round for a while.My adrenaline rushes and I get goose bumps,its sounds so good.

jammerfall

Listening to "A Sides" right now. SG was an extremely potent band. I miss 'em.

Anon

i wish they'd put out a live album and/or a b-sides album. i think Chris said he'd leave all the shit like that up to Kim.

mole1985

Mushmouthmatt wrote:

i wish they'd put out a live album and/or a b-sides album. i think Chris said he'd leave all the shit like that up to Kim.

Yeah 'B-Sides' is like taking forever. What is Kim upto these days anyone know? I know he did an album with Kris from Nirvana, anyone know if it's any good?

reversedarwinism

Yes. Soundgarden is the best "hard rock" band ever. The best I've ever heard, and I can't imagine a hard rock band being better. It doesn't seem possible. They had the best of all parts and the best sum of the parts. From Screaming Life to DOTUS (minus Fopp) its the best. I'm always jamming soundgarden. I may be going through a heavy periods of other bands (currently Tom Petty), but I'm still spinning SG all the time, cause it the best.

HatredThrownDown

cornell ruins sg

reeferchief

mole1985 wrote:

Yeah 'B-Sides' is like taking forever. What is Kim upto these days anyone know? I know he did an album with Kris from Nirvana, anyone know if it's any good?

Do you mean Eyes Adrift? I think Kim maybe appeared on one or two tracks at most, it was actually one of the meat puppets, a guy from Sublime and Krist that were Eyes Adrift.

Not that this is gospel or anything but no mention of Krist here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_Adrift

Here's Kim's page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Thayil

catefrances

HatredThrownDown wrote:

cornell ruins sg

this is the stupidest thing ive ever read. cornell was a monster in that band.

culot4

Soundgarden would have cemented themselves a pioneer status if not for the antics of Chris Corny, and his anything for a buck and exposure at whatever cost actions over the past decade. The guy is a joke, thus tainting the relevance of Soundgarden as a band when it comes time to give them a place in rock history.

catefrances

culot4 wrote:

Soundgarden would have cemented themselves a pioneer status if not for the antics of Chris Corny, and his anything for a buck and exposure at whatever cost actions over the past decade. The guy is a joke, thus tainting the relevance of Soundgarden as a band when it comes time to give them a place in rock history.

ah bullcarp. anything cornell did AFTER soungarden should not reflect on what that band means in the scheme of things. thats like saying david lee roth doing just a gigolo and california girls reflects on what van halen did. it doesnt. so youre contention about cornell holds no water.

culot4

catefrances wrote:

ah bullcarp. anything cornell did AFTER soungarden should not reflect on what that band means in the scheme of things. thats like saying david lee roth doing just a gigolo and california girls reflects on what van halen did. it doesnt. so youre contention about cornell holds no water.

Sure it holds water because the only problem with using VH as an example is that band sucks too. Soundgarden in its time was a really good band, but when Cornell decided to turn into Derrick Zoolander it made Soundgarden look like a fad cashing in on the right image at the right time. If it was 1985 I don't think Cornell would have had any problem using a can of Aqua Net on his head, and being the frontman for Poison. We all got duped. The guy is a phony.

catefrances

culot4 wrote:

Sure it holds water because the only problem with using VH as an example is that band sucks too. Soundgarden in its time was a really good band, but when Cornell decided to turn into Derrick Zoolander it made Soundgarden look like a fad cashing in on the right image at the right time. If it was 1985 I don't think Cornell would have had any problem using a can of Aqua Net on his head, and being the frontman for Poison. We all got duped. The guy is a phony.

see heres the thing about stating opinion as absolute. music is extremely subjective. you say VH suck but there'd be just as many people who hold them in high esteem as there are soundgarden fans who think highly of that band, maybe even more. who knows. what i was merely pointing out was a singers postband activity should not reflect on their work with that band. i could easily have used guns'n'roses and axl rose.

newwetkojak

culot4 wrote:

Sure it holds water because the only problem with using VH as an example is that band sucks too. Soundgarden in its time was a really good band, but when Cornell decided to turn into Derrick Zoolander it made Soundgarden look like a fad cashing in on the right image at the right time. If it was 1985 I don't think Cornell would have had any problem using a can of Aqua Net on his head, and being the frontman for Poison. We all got duped. The guy is a phony.

i bet you were a fucking phoney at some point in your recent past. i'm not holding it against you, am i?

culot4

newwetkojak wrote:

i bet you were a fucking phoney at some point in your recent past. i'm not holding it against you, am i?

I don't see what this has to do with you putting a fad band like Soundgarden on a pedestal with Zeppelin.

newwetkojak

*crickets crickets crickets*


even in the invisible world of the internet, you have the personality to clear out an entire room. good job. stating soundgarden as a "fad band" reflects poorly on your musical views/tastes/opinions... it sheds new light on all of your previous posts, tainting them, and soiling any relevancy they might have held. much like your opinion of cornell with his past soundgarden work.

Music For Rhinos

mad love for soundgarden...one of my favorites

love all the records

Ugly Truth off Louder Than Love is mind-blowing

Down on the Upside is the best overall album

great great stuff

newwetkojak

i had "louder than love" on tape for years and years, but just recently bought it on cd. there was alot of subtle guitar playing i was missing... some really minimalistic, hypnotic stuff. the band really got interesting when chris started playing guitar, he and thayil formed a very trippy combination. some of the oddest, most creative guitar parts ever thought of.

HatredThrownDown

not a big fan of cornell at all. and for me to say that his voice ruins soundgarden is not stupid.

jackrabbit slim

HatredThrownDown wrote:

not a big fan of cornell at all. and for me to say that his voice ruins soundgarden is not stupid.

I'll have to disagree on that.
I don't expect everyone to love his voice, the high notes are pretty damn high.
But i can't see anyone else fronting that band. His voice and kim thayil's guitar were perfectly in sync IMO.

ii44

HatredThrownDown wrote:

cornell ruins sg

Conell is Sg

ii44

Besides all the unwarranted hating, I'd have to say that I'd be in favor of a one-off show down the line-- like at their RRHOF induction-- just because their last one ended with Ben storming off stage.

I will say no album EVER has had a better opening 5 tracks than Badmotorfinger.

culot4

newwetkojak wrote:

*crickets crickets crickets*


even in the invisible world of the internet, you have the personality to clear out an entire room. good job. stating soundgarden as a "fad band" reflects poorly on your musical views/tastes/opinions... it sheds new light on all of your previous posts, tainting them, and soiling any relevancy they might have held. much like your opinion of cornell with his past soundgarden work.

PJ is my favorite band, this is a PJ board, and I have bad musical taste? That makes about as much sense as these infantile posts you keep coming back at me with, when I have supplied a clear personal opinion for you to dispute. Instead, you would rather just rather try and discredit me because deep down you know I'm right. A Soundgarden album will take you back to place in time, it just won't transcend time because Cornell's career moves since leaving Soundgarden paint them as a good band in a single place in time. A couple good albums does not bring a band legendary status unless Cornell would have died, and a potential was cut short. Cornell didn't die. His credibility since Soundgarden disbanded sure did though.

If you want to rebut this I suggest you stay on point.

newwetkojak

not to be a dick, but i seriously have no idea what you are even trying to say. i don't understand the basic fundamentals of your argument. someone can do something 20 years after the fact and have it tarnish their past work? really? i didn't know that.

Big As A Mountain

SG was a great band. Kim and his axe = wow! Chris can sign well, Jesus Christ Pose!
Just my 2 cents.

Oh...and SG is not a "fad" band.

facepollution

culot4 wrote:

PJ is my favorite band, this is a PJ board, and I have bad musical taste? That makes about as much sense as these infantile posts you keep coming back at me with, when I have supplied a clear personal opinion for you to dispute. Instead, you would rather just rather try and discredit me because deep down you know I'm right. A Soundgarden album will take you back to place in time, it just won't transcend time because Cornell's career moves since leaving Soundgarden paint them as a good band in a single place in time. A couple good albums does not bring a band legendary status unless Cornell would have died, and a potential was cut short. Cornell didn't die. His credibility since Soundgarden disbanded sure did though.

If you want to rebut this I suggest you stay on point.

Look I'm not much of a fan of Carry On, but to be fair to him, it was just him trying out a bunch of different styles - experimentation doesn't smack of selling out, it shows he really is in it for the music . Euphoria Morning was incredibly well received by critics, even though it didn't sell bucket loads it still features some of his best stuff.

In terms of where he is at now and this 'loss of credibility', I can only guess at what you are hinting at. The time he cancelled a show for some jeans company party? Someone on his team double booked him - the guy no longer works for him, and he made the date up. His modelling for that designer guy? Cornell was being styled by designers even back in the Soundgarden days (look it up), it's no big deal.

The fact is, he works really hard, he plays massive tours, plays for nearly three hours a night, and is keen to keep moving forward by trying out new styles of music. Anything but a sell-out in my book.

Anyway here's a recent interview with him where he talks about his motivation for making music:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oRp5yepZ_v4