If I just Breathe...

H O ME

AR T GA LL ERY

TA B ULAT URE

MUS IC C OR NER

FOR U M

SEA TTLE

CA LIF ORNI A

LON DO N

PAG E O F TH E WEIRD

BO OKS

G U IT ARS

SUN SE T GALLERY

WAV ES

LES S ONS

- Chris Cornell, lyrics and guitar
- Matt Cameron, drums
- Ben Shepherd, bass
- Kim Thayil, Lead Guitar

Soundgarden � Superunknown
I cannot say how much I love Soundgarden these days, even though they have broken up. I can still remember the first time I heard Soundgarden - that was the Black Hole Sun video. When I first saw that video, I was amazed, more particularly by Kim's fiery solo and how well Chris's melodic signing worked with the rest of the band. Instantly, I was hooked.

The video for Black Hole, for me, is very similar to Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box. The second video that I saw of Soundgardens was Spoonman. Admittedly, I hated the song when I first heard it. I thought it was the most boring thing song ever and was too repetitive. Giving lots of time for me to get into it, I've changed my mind about the song. It's a great song and even though it can get a little repetitive, it has an awesome repetitive riff and again, another one of Kim's Blues influenced leads and killer bass rythm...seriously, I hate this word < I can never spell it right!

On Superunknown, there is a song titled, 4th July that I find particularly depressing. The voice of Cornell is deep and dark. The song kinda reminds me of Pearl Jams Nothing as it seems. They both have something in common, very depressing lyrics and both songs are slow and rythmetic.

Shower in the dark day
Clean sparks diving down
Cool in the waterway
Where the baptized drown
Naked in the cold sun

Something gives me the feeling Cornell is a vampire

Lucky for me, my sister had just come out of her grunge phase and decided to lend me a few grunge albums, a pity there was no Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains, however I did hear lots of Nirvana and Soundgarden. Without those introductory albums, I would have probably never heard of that 'Seattle Sound'.

To start off with, Superunknown (A&M Records) was a record that was released around the time of the death of grunge, March 8, 1994 to be exact. Soundgarden combines the hard rock sound with early blues influences. The album starts off with a particularly heavy track, titled Let me Drown. It's fast moving and emphasizes just how far Cornell can go with his lyrics,

Drown me in you, drown me in you, drown me in you
Slip down the darkness to the mouth
Damn the water burn the wine

Such raw lyrics and power, I don't think any genre can out-emotionalize the Seattle sound. The thing I find interesting about this song is the way Cornell screams - "Arrrgghhh". I found it funny at first, however, I came to realize that he screams all the time and each time it goes well with the melody. The solo in Let me drown is phenomenal, it was definitely my introduction to soloing properly.

The second track is titled My wave - a very similar style to how Angus Young would start a song. This track has plenty of melody, the lead work here is amazing with that high note emphasizing the lyrics, particularly the words, "come, piss" ,very nice and evocative lyrics. There isn't a real solo here in this song, but the lead rhyme...sp...makes up for it.

Probably my favorite track on the album, Fall on Black Days. This is the more soft side of Soundgarden on this album as well as Head Down. I find myself comparing it Nirvanas Dumb (don't ask why, I just do). The song starts softer, but gets heavier towards the end, when Cornell screams, "I wanna know". It's one easily acoustic convertible track that I�d have thought Soundgarden would have done well at (don't know if they have, but Jslaved will probably say). Jslaved has informed me, they have done before, but it hasn't been officially released.

Probably my least favourite on the album is Mailman, ,that's not to say I don't like the song, but I'd much rather listen to something else. Mailman is a track that I find very anger ridden. It's the sort of track that I'd listen to when i'm angry. It has that angry vibe, like Heart Shaped Box or Them Bones. Lyrics such as, "I'm the dirt beneath your feet, The most important fool you forgot to see" speaks for itself. I also find myself comparing this with Alice In Chain's Dam that River.

In contrast, perhaps my second favourite of the album is Superunknown. I absolutely love this track because it shows Soundgarden at it's most melodic point: the guitars, the bass, the singing and Matts rthymetic...sp..drumming. It's a wonderful track to listen to, especially when you're on the high points of happiness. Again we hear Cornell screaming the blues. It's obviously the highlight of the album, after the album is being named after it. The main standout of the song is the guitar solo that Kim plays.

I've talked about the softer side of Soundgarden in Fall on Black Days, again in Head Down, Cornell shows just how mellow he can get, a particular attribute he shows iin his solo attempts. They may not be some of Cornells best lyrics, but they do show passion and awesomeness. The song has no solos, and needs not.

Limowreck, a track that Matt Cameron first worked on with Kim for the Superunknown album. It was originally Matts work. To quote Kim Thayil,

"It's a riff Matt wrote and I like it because it's so creepy, I don't even know how to describe it. The song has amazing depth and emotion. It's very dark, but at the same time, very powerful and angry" Kim Thayil.

He's right in what he says. It is a creepy track that very haunting and the song has a lot of emotion to it. The track reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins, Tonight Tonight, again, don't ask me why, it just does. I especially like how the instruments all work together really well and compliment each others playing, like when the chorus comes. Very 90s indeed. This is probably the only track on the album where Cornells screams sound best, in my opinion.

My favourite baseline is definitely the beginning to The Day I tried to Live. Ben Shepherd's baseline is amazing and the song wouldn't have been so great without it. The thing I hate most about this track are Cornells screams. I like the fact that he screams a lot, but admitedly, I don't like his screams in this track. It gets to the point where I find it slightly annoying in this track (don't flame please ), besides the screams, the singing is great.

What the hell does Cornell mean when he says Kickstand? I think he's talking about how motorcycles turn him on .

The track is very fast paced and very short. It's only 1 minute or so long, under 2 minutes. The lyrics are short, but very clear where Chris is coming from. I'm no Chris expert, but does he ride motorcycles and find passion in them? It seems very much so. There isn't much I can say about this track, but that it's very short and I would have liked it better if it got extended and a solo had got added.

Again, what are Tendrils? I've never bothered to look up what they mean or if it's an actual word, but it sounds very flowery. Is it a type of flower? The lyrics that Chris uses mentions no reference to it. I find that the lyrics are very hard to interpret. Chris mentions a lot about throwing away and despair. Maybe it is about dead flowers lol.

Half is a very weird track in my opinion, something I would have never imaged Soundgarden to produce. It has a very culturalistic influence rather than Soundgardens usual rock and blues influences. It sounds so different, it's refreshing, but it's definitely not my chioce of music. This just shows how expandable Soundgarden can be, if they can produce that sort of music, something that Pearl Jam take huge credit for.

And here comes Cornells masterpiece, the last track on the album, Like Suicide with it's very teen angst lyrics.

Bit down on the bullet now
I had a taste so sour
I had to think of something sweet
Love's like suicide
Safe outside my gilded cage
With an ounce of pain
I wield a ton of rage
Just like suicide

This, in my opinion, is easily Cornells best lyrics on the album. The lyrics are very original and very poetic. "Love's like Suicide" is an amazing quote that Cornell should be remembered by. It makes great sense.

Nonetheless I just love the guitar solo at the end, around 5:11. Kim Thayils uses a wha pedal with blues influences to create a solo similar to Black hole Sun.