Superunknown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Superunknown | ||
 |
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| Studio album by Soundgarden | ||
| Released | March 8, 1994 | |
| Recorded | October - November 1993 in Seattle, Washington | |
| Genre | Grunge | |
| Length | 70:15 / 73:33* *international edition |
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| Label | A&M | |
| Producer(s) | Michael Beinhorn, Soundgarden | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Soundgarden chronology | ||
| Badmotorfinger (1991) |
Superunknown (1994) |
Songs from the Superunknown (1995) |
Superunknown is the fourth album by the Seattle grunge band Soundgarden. It was released in March 1994 through A&M Records. The following year it was nominated a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album, and picked up 2 Grammys for the songs Black Hole Sun and Spoonman. Superunknown had 6 charting singles. No other grunge band had released an album with 6 commercially successful, charting singles - including Nirvana, Alice in Chains or Pearl Jam. The album went 6x platinum and granted Soundgarden huge international recognition. In 2003, the album was ranked number 336 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
In a 1994 Pulse! Magazine interview [1], Chris Cornell said that the inspiration for the album's title came from his misreading of a video entitled Superclown. The cover artwork (known as the 'Screaming Elf') is a distorted photograph of the band members above an upside-down burning forest.
The album is greatly experimental and diverse in comparison with the band's previous releases. It also shows a Beatles influence, particularly on songs such as "Black Hole Sun" and "Head Down". In a 1994 interview with Guitar World, Kim Thayil explains this: "We looked deep down inside the very core of our souls and there was a little Ringo sitting there. Oh sure, we like telling people it's John Lennon or George Harrison; but when you really look deep inside of Soundgarden, there's a little Ringo wanting to get out."
- The song "Black Hole Sun" was released as a single shortly after the death of grunge icon Kurt Cobain in 1994. It is arguably the band's most recognizable and popular song. The song's surreal music video received heavy airplay on music television and, in 1995, received the Clio Award for Alternative Music Video.
- The title of the song "Spoonman" is credited to Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam. While on the set of the movie Singles, Jeff, who was part of the fictional band featured in the movie, came up with a list of possible song titles. Chris Cornell took it as a challenge to write a list of songs using those titles, and "Spoonman" was one of them. The song and its video featured Artis the Spoonman, who is a street entertainer in Seattle. A demo version of the song appears in the movie.
- "Flutter Girl" was written during the recording sessions but did not appear in the record. Instead, it eventually appeared on Chris Cornell's solo album, Euphoria Morning.
The album also saw a limited release on 12" colored vinyl (blue, orange, and clear, among other colors), as a double-LP in a gatefold sleeve.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
| # | Song | Length | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | "Let Me Drown" |
|
Chris Cornell |
| 02 | "My Wave" |
|
Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
| 03 | "Fell on Black Days" |
|
Chris Cornell |
| 04 | "Mailman" |
|
Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell |
| 05 | "Superunknown" |
|
Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
| 06 | "Head Down" |
|
Ben Shepherd |
| 07 | "Black Hole Sun" |
|
Chris Cornell |
| 08 | "Spoonman" |
|
Chris Cornell |
| 09 | "Limo Wreck" |
|
Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
| 10 | "The Day I Tried to Live" |
|
Chris Cornell |
| 11 | "Kickstand" |
|
Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil |
| 12 | "Fresh Tendrils" |
|
Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell |
| 13 | "4th of July" |
|
Chris Cornell |
| 14 | "Half" |
|
Ben Shepherd |
| 15 | "Like Suicide" |
|
Chris Cornell |
| 16 | "She Likes Surprises"* |
|
Chris Cornell |
*"She Likes Surprises" only appears on the international versions of the album, and is also included as a bonus track on the U.S. 12" LP release.
[edit] Chart positions
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Billboard Top 200 | 1 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Black Hole Sun" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1994 | "Black Hole Sun" | Modern Rock Tracks | 2 |
| 1994 | "Black Hole Sun" | Top 40 Mainstream Tracks | 9 |
| 1994 | "Fell On Black Days" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 4 |
| 1994 | "Fell On Black Days" | Modern Rock Tracks | 13 |
| 1994 | "My Wave" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 11 |
| 1994 | "My Wave" | Modern Rock Tracks | 18 |
| 1994 | "Spoonman" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 3 |
| 1994 | "Spoonman" | Modern Rock Tracks | 9 |
| 1995 | "The Day I Tried To Live" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 13 |
| 1995 | "The Day I Tried To Live" | Modern Rock Tracks | 25 |
| 1995 | "Superunknown" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 24 |
[edit] Personnel
-
- Soundgarden
- Chris Cornell - Vocals; Guitar
- Kim Thayil - Guitar
- Ben Shepherd - Bass; Vocals on "Half" and "Spoonman"; Drums and percussion on "Head Down"; Guitar on "Half"
- Matt Cameron - Drums; Mellotron on "Mailman"
-
- Additional Musicians
- Artis the Spoonman - Spoons on "Spoonman"
- Michael Beinhorn - Producer, Piano on "Let Me Drown"
- David Collins - Mastering
- Jason Corsaro - Engineer
- Adam Kasper - Assistant Engineer
- Gregg Keplinger - Drums and percussion on "Head Down"
- Brendan O'Brien - Mixing
- Natasha Shneider - Clavinet on "Fresh Tendrils"
- April Acevez - Viola on "Half"
- Justine Foy - Cello on "Half"
[edit] External link
| Soundgarden |
| Chris Cornell | Kim Thayil | Matt Cameron | Ben Shepherd |
| Scott Sundquist | Hiro Yamamoto | Jason Everman |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums and extended plays: Screaming Life | Fopp | Ultramega OK | Flower | Louder than Love | Screaming Life/Fopp | Badmotorfinger | Superunknown | Songs from the Superunknown | Down on the Upside | 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 |
