Happy 20th Birthday to Superunknown
Soundgarden’s most popular and biggest charting album “Superunknown” turned 20 years old this past weekend.
Twenty years is a long time to celebrate an album’s release and especially for a band that while having a couple charting singles, was mostly considered a grunge band from Seattle.
This album isn’t my favorite of the bands [I don’t really have a favorite Soundgarden album as I think all of them are pretty great.] but it was one that I listened to a lot when it first came out. But then there was one song that cemented it’s way into my head and became my favorite Soundgarden song.
‘The Day I Tried To Live” is all parts great. Chris Cornell’s vocals are so strong… even stronger than they are on such band classics like “Jesus Christ Pose” and “Rusty Cage”, which are such strong songs on their own. THe opening eases into the strong parts of the track, which is a nice balance of soft and hard. The chorus is nothing short of showcasing the vocals, which are instantly the most recognizable part of any Soundgarden song.
Of course, the two biggest hits that came from this album were “Spoonman” and “Black Hole Sun” [or “Black Olsen” if you go with the misheard lyric version]. These songs were overplayed on just about every rock and alternative station and even those who don’t know any other Soundgarden song, know these songs very well.
I put the album on this last week to see how well it held up and it did bring me back to 1994 when it first came out and trying to see how much more commercial they sounded when compared to their previous release “Badmotorfinger”
I still tried of hearing “Black Hole Sun” which means I heard it a SHIT TON back in the day. But then I got to “The Day I Tried To Live” and had to play it twice. Still very strong after 20 years, which means it’s a song I will never tire of hearing.
So let’s give this album another 10 years once it celebrates 30 years and I bet I will still tire of heading “Black Hole Sun” but still embrace “The Day I Tried To Live” as my all time favorite song.
Any Soundgarden fans out there? Any favorite songs from this album?