I remember being little, around six maybe, and my parents taking me to my first concert by this band called Soundgarden. They were touring their album, “Badmotorfinger,” to support and advertise their new album, “SuperUnknown.“

I didn’t know at the time, but this band and their album SuperUnknown would define a major era in my life to this day.

With the album being released in 1994, it still holds up to the alternative metal of today, 31 years later. With songs like “Black Hole Sun” still being their most popular song today, the album remains a standout. 

With only four members coming and going, Soundgarden originated in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 and quickly became one of the rising bands. The group was formed by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Matt Cameron. Initially, Cornell handled both vocals and drums, but they later added drummer Matt Cameron to complete the lineup. Singing different genres from heavy metal, punk, and rock, with their album SuperUnknown.

This album was definitely a commercial success, selling 310,000 copies in its opening week. 

I’ve heard every song on this album a million times, and I can never get tired of them. With “Let me Drown” starting off the album with a powerful opener, you can already tell this is a well-produced album, thanks to Chris Cornell’s involvement as the songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist. As the song plays, we hear the drumming and aggressive guitar provided by the band members. Matt Cameron on percussion and drums, Kim Thayil, lead guitarist, and Ben Shepard, vocalist and bass.

This has to be one of my favorite album song openers of all time.

It sets an aggressive tone for the rest of the album, leading to the next being “My Wave”. This isn’t my favorite song on the album, but it’s definitely good, again featuring the amazing vocals and lyrics by Chris Cornell, as well as the guitar work by Kim Thayil.

It was tricky to find this song’s meaning, but with lyrics in it like

“Don’t come over here

And piss on my gate

Save it just keep it

Off my wave

Keep it off my wave

Keep it off my wave

Keep it off my wave

My wave” 

I interpret it as meaning people can do whatever they want, just do it away from me, and don’t ruin my mood with it.

For the next song, “Fell on Black out Days” was a song that’s meaning was clear; it was about depression and how you can suddenly wake up and no longer feel happy for no reason.

This song was a shift in mood for the listeners, where we were just listening to upbeat rock from the band, and now all of a sudden it’s more real to the listeners. This song is praised by its universal experience with unhappiness, with Lead singer Chris Cornell stating the song stemmed from his own fear of experiencing this type of profound sadness and his desire to process and express the feeling of confronting the abyss. 

The song was produced by Chris Cornell, the vocalist, guitarist, and composer with Kim Thayil being lead guitarist and Ben Shepherd doing Bass and Matt Cameron on Drums.

This was definitely one of Soundgarden’s most depressing songs, with the lead singer being Chris Cornell, who later stated “Fell on black out Days is about realizing your unhappiness in the extreme”. This song has been interpreted as reflecting his own struggles with depression and unhappiness. 

The whole feel of this song makes it one of my favorites, with deeply relatable lyrics in it, the sudden shift in mood this is another well made song by Soundgarden and their team.

There is so much meaning behind it, with Melody maker interviewing Cornell more about the meaning.

There’s definitely a lot to unpack across the remaining songs, each adding its own mood, and different interpretation for the listeners to the album’s story. I’ll leave those discoveries to listeners.

If the tracks I’ve covered are any indication to listen to the full album and its Deluxe versions.

I highly recommend it, as this is definitely an album worth your time.

With only getting to a couple of the few first songs in the album my honest review on this album all together is it’s a musical masterpiece.

With its arrangements in songs and constant lyrical themes in every song, this has to be a 10/10 album. The only weakness I would say is the immense length, but even that makes it a good album, with it being over an hour of high-quality songs. 

If you’re getting into rock, alternative, or metal, this has to be a good album to start with, and so are other Soundgarden albums.