Screaming Life
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Screaming life | ||
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| EP by Soundgarden | ||
| Released | October 1987 | |
| Recorded | Reciprocal Recordings, Seattle, Washington | |
| Genre | Grunge | |
| Length | 22:16 | |
| Label | Sub Pop | |
| Producer(s) | Jack Endino, Soundgarden | |
| Soundgarden chronology | ||
|---|---|---|
| Screaming Life (1987) |
Fopp (1988) |
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Screaming Life is the debut EP by the Seattle grunge band Soundgarden, released in October 1987 on Sub Pop. It was recorded in Seattle's Reciprocal Studios by Jack Endino, who also produced albums for Nirvana and Mudhoney. The first 500 copies of the EP were pressed on orange vinyl; after that, they were released on standard black vinyl. Screaming Life was later combined with the band's next EP, Fopp and released as Screaming Life/Fopp in 1990.
- "Hunted Down" was Soundgarden's first single and also the first song on Sub Pop's "hold music" tape. According to guitarist Kim Thayil, "you would call them up, and when they put you on hold you heard Hunted Down".
- "Nothing To Say" is Soundgarden's first B-side, released on the "Hunted Down" single. The song also appeared on the KCMU compilation tape "Bands That Will Make Money".
- The original version of "Tears to Forget" appeared on the 1986 Deep Six compilation, which featured some of the first recordings by early Seattle grunge bands.
- "Hand Of God" has an interesting backstory. Jack Endino found old rolls of quarter-inch tape at a garage sale, and some contained recordings of a preacher giving sermons in the early 1950s. Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell had the idea to have a preacher on "Hand Of God", which led to Jack bringing the quarter-inch tape into the studio. The recording was synched with the eight-track machine, copied to an empty track and by coincidence (or because, as Endino says, "God smiled upon us") the tape rolls matched perfectly with the song. Cornell also added his own preacher-style vocals to the song. However, according to Endino, the labels on the rolls of tape were near-illegible and thus the name of the preacher remains unknown.
The title of the EP inspired the title of a book of photography by Charles Peterson, named Screaming Life: A Chronicle of the Seattle Music Scene. Printed by Harper Collins West in 1995, it is mainly composed of live photos taken by Peterson from the mid 1980s though the mid 1990s. Many of Peterson's photographs were used as album artwork for grunge bands, including the cover of Soundgarden's major label debut Louder than Love. There is a foreword by Bruce Pavitt of SubPop records and an essay by Michael Azerrad, author of Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. The book includes a CD with 9 songs selected by Peterson from bands of the era (including Soundgarden's "Entering")
[edit] Track listing
| # | Song | Length | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | "Hunted Down" |
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Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
| 02 | "Entering" |
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| 03 | "Tears To Forget" |
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Hiro Yamamoto, Kim Thayil |
| 04 | "Nothing To Say" |
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Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
| 05 | "Little Joe" |
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Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
| 06 | "Hand Of God" |
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Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
[edit] External links
| Soundgarden |
| Chris Cornell | Kim Thayil | Matt Cameron | Ben Shepherd |
| Scott Sundquist | Hiro Yamamoto | Jason Everman |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums Ultramega OK | Louder than Love | Badmotorfinger | Superunknown | Down on the Upside |
| EPs: Screaming Life | Fopp | Loudest Love | Songs from the Superunknown |
| Compilations: Screaming Life/Fopp | A-Sides |
| Singles: "Hunted Down" | "Flower" | "Loud Love" | "Hands All Over" | "Room a Thousand Years Wide" | "Jesus Christ Pose" | "Outshined" | "Rusty Cage" | "Spoonman" | "Black Hole Sun" | "Fell on Black Days" | "My Wave" | "The Day I Tried to Live" | "Superunknown" | "Pretty Noose" | "Burden in My Hand" | "Blow Up the Outside World" | "Ty Cobb" | "Bleed Together" |
| Related Articles |
| Temple of the Dog | Singles | Grunge music | Audioslave | Pearl Jam | Alice Mudgarden | Hater | Wellwater Conspiracy |
