Listening to Down on the Upside for the first time in ages today. Strangely colourful record, they took a lot of the heavy out and replaced it with the Beatles-y psych smear sound (not a move that often does much for me) - a bit incoherent as a whole and the two 'Black Hole Sun' rewrites are a tad redundant, but it was much more interesting than I recalled. Certainly cool to see that they DIDN'T play to their strengths when they got huge.
I rarely made it all the way through when I was a kid but was rewarded with this perfect little cloudy downer gem at the end:
Re: band: Soundgarden
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 4:30 pm
by gustavprom
M.H wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2023 4:25 pm
Listening to Down on the Upside for the first time in ages today. Strangely colourful record, they took a lot of the heavy out and replaced it with the Beatles-y psych smear sound (not a move that often does much for me) - a bit incoherent as a whole and the two 'Black Hole Sun' rewrites are a tad redundant, but it was much more interesting than I recalled.
I rarely made it all the way through but was rewarded with this perfect little cloudy downer gem at the end:
Pretty Noose from that album is like what Polvo might sound like if they got into stoner/doom metal.
Re: band: Soundgarden
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:28 pm
by jakethesnake
M.H wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2023 4:25 pm
Listening to Down on the Upside for the first time in ages today. Strangely colourful record, they took a lot of the heavy out and replaced it with the Beatles-y psych smear sound (not a move that often does much for me) - a bit incoherent as a whole and the two 'Black Hole Sun' rewrites are a tad redundant, but it was much more interesting than I recalled. Certainly cool to see that they DIDN'T play to their strengths when they got huge.
I rarely made it all the way through when I was a kid but was rewarded with this perfect little cloudy downer gem at the end:
I can't lie, I found that album exceptionally dull upon release, as if they (=Cornell I guess) continued to build on the duller aspects of Superunknown (the Moody and "brooding" post-grunge flavour with singer/songwriter ambitions) while leaving the heavy riff-rawk doom/stoner flavour behind. Maybe time for a revisit...
Re: band: Soundgarden
Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2023 4:37 am
by M.H
jakethesnake wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:28 pm
I can't lie, I found that album exceptionally dull upon release, as if they (=Cornell I guess) continued to build on the duller aspects of Superunknown (the Moody and "brooding" post-grunge flavour with singer/songwriter ambitions) while leaving the heavy riff-rawk doom/stoner flavour behind. Maybe time for a revisit...
I think that's a fair assessment for about a third of it, but there was more going on than I remembered - a neat tension 'tween psych-rock textures and mid-90s 'bored of rock' ennui that affected many of the smarter bands around that time.
Not necessarily repping DotU as some overlooked masterpiece, but quite a bit of it was good.
jakethesnake wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2023 5:28 pm
I can't lie, I found that album exceptionally dull upon release, as if they (=Cornell I guess) continued to build on the duller aspects of Superunknown (the Moody and "brooding" post-grunge flavour with singer/songwriter ambitions) while leaving the heavy riff-rawk doom/stoner flavour behind. Maybe time for a revisit...
I think that's a fair assessment for about a third of it, but there was more going on than I remembered - a neat tension 'tween psych-rock textures and mid-90s 'bored of rock' ennui that affected many of the smarter bands around that time.
Not necessarily repping DotU as some overlooked masterpiece, but quite a bit of it was good.
I agree, it is a good album. Some of the fat could have been trimmed but in general it has some fantastic songs.
Re: band: Soundgarden
Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2023 10:46 am
by enframed
Been listening a lot to Badmotorfinger. I think Chris Cornell may have had the single best voice in rock. Goddamn could that dude sing.
Michael Beinhorn
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2024 8:25 pm
by hbiden@onlyfans.com
can't say i've ever heard of this guy (my fault i'm sure)
soundgarden stuff starts about an hour in.
"you need to write more songs."
"chris played the majority of the rhythm guitar."
"forget what they want. they're listening to YOU."
"you are insanely brilliant! i love you [ben]."
"years later, [the label guy] said to me, 'i was wrong.'"
not to mention all the technical stuff that is over my head
"Stating that a record producer has fired a drummer is like stating that a mechanic is changing a tire on a car, or a butcher has sliced a piece of fat off an otherwise lean piece of meat. These are simply different aspects of a specific job. In any system, if something isn’t working right and it can’t be fixed, you have to get rid of it, right?"
"Stating that a record producer has fired a drummer is like stating that a mechanic is changing a tire on a car, or a butcher has sliced a piece of fat off an otherwise lean piece of meat. These are simply different aspects of a specific job. In any system, if something isn’t working right and it can’t be fixed, you have to get rid of it, right?"
Yeah, not a big Hole fan, but I'll take the swerving energy of Live Through This over the glimmer of Celebrity Skin. Indie rock production is encouraging and supporting every member of the band to do their best. Corporate rock is (was?) telling anyone who doesn't play professionally enough to fuck off.
"Stating that a record producer has fired a drummer is like stating that a mechanic is changing a tire on a car, or a butcher has sliced a piece of fat off an otherwise lean piece of meat. These are simply different aspects of a specific job. In any system, if something isn’t working right and it can’t be fixed, you have to get rid of it, right?"
that's pretty much what i imagined a beans session would be like after watching that smug interview. (can i call him beans? we should call him beans.)
20-40%?! by his own admission!
so you're saying almost half of your records aren't even the same band that is credited on the cover.