Outshined
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Outshined” | |||||
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| Single by Soundgarden from the album Badmotorfinger |
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| B-side | "I Don't Care About You" / "Can You See Me" | ||||
| Released | 1991 | ||||
| Format | CD single, Vinyl | ||||
| Recorded | March 1991–April 1991 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative metal, grunge | ||||
| Length | 5:11 | ||||
| Label | A&M | ||||
| Writer(s) | Chris Cornell | ||||
| Producer | Terry Date, Soundgarden | ||||
| Soundgarden singles chronology | |||||
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| Badmotorfinger track listing | |||||
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"Outshined" is a song by the Seattle grunge band Soundgarden. It appears as the second track on the band's 1991 album, Badmotorfinger. It was also released as the second single from the album. It would later appear on the band's greatest hits album A-Sides and the 2007 Chris Cornell compilation The Roads We Choose - A Retrospective.
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[edit] Composition
The song was written by frontman Chris Cornell. It features a crunching opening riff. "Outshined" was performed in drop D tuning. The track is in 7/4 time, an unorthodox meter, common of some Soundgarden songs, such as "Fell on Black Days", which is in 6/4, or "My Wave", which is in 5/4. Kim Thayil has said the band usually did not consider the time signature of a song until after they had written it, and said that the use of odd meters was "a total accident."[1]
[edit] Release and reception
"Outshined" became an instant hit and a fan favorite, and gained considerable airtime on alternative rock radio stations. "Outshined" features one of the most memorable Soundgarden lyrics, "I'm looking California, and feeling Minnesota". The lyric inspired the title for the 1996 movie Feeling Minnesota, although Soundgarden is not featured on the soundtrack. The lyric "feeling Minnesota" has also been used by ESPN anchor Stuart Scott in reference to Kevin Garnett, who spent the first 11 years of his career as a player for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Steve Huey of Allmusic called the song a "steadily creeping rocker with a main riff that strongly recalled the heavy murk of prime Black Sabbath." He added, "It's a powerful re-imagining of what the Sabbath sound can represent, and the song's encapsulation of early-'90s angst and directionlessness helps make it one of the definitive grunge anthems."[2]
The song also appears on the True Romance: Original Soundtrack album.
[edit] Lyrical meaning
In an interview, Chris Cornell said, "I've never really been biographical in my lyrics, so when I wrote a line like "I'm looking California and feeling Minnesota" from "Outshined", it just felt refreshing."[3] Chris Cornell on the song:
I don't know how everyone else feels...but I definitely go through periods of extreme self-confidence, feeling like I can do anything. Perhaps a fan will sense that, like in a performance, and the hero image creeps out. But then someone will say something, however insignificant, or I'll get something in my head and, all of a sudden, I'm plummeting in the opposite direction, I'm a piece of shit, and I really can't do anything about it. That's where 'Outshined' comes from, and why I'll never consider myself a hero.[4]
[edit] Music video
There are two versions of the video, a U.S./international version and a Canadian version.
[edit] Official video
The video for "Outshined" was produced by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and directed by Matt Mahurin. The video was released in December 1991.[5] It is a fan favorite and gained considerable airtime on MTV, yet the band members themselves disliked it. According to Chris Cornell, Matt Mahurin was too busy concentrating on Metallica's video for "The Unforgiven" while working on the video for "Outshined".
Frontman Chris Cornell on the music video:
[Matt Mahurin] does people on the street, social underbelly crap, but it's pretend underbelly. The clip was in the MTV Buzz-bin for a few weeks and then it fell off. About two months later he sent us the real cut, and it was fantastic, way better than the one that got on the air. It was frustrating. The unseen version was dangerous; the released version was a standard hard rock video. He kind of winged it, he was too busy with Metallica.[6]
Guitarist Kim Thayil on the music video:
All I can remember is that they cut the guitar solo to make the video 'single-length.' I thought that was a stupid thing. Here we are, a guitar band, and the guitar solo -it may not be a great guitar solo- was edited out just for the video. That's ridiculous. It was a heavy song and our most popular video, even though it was a crap video. It never kicks in or explodes; there's no dynamics. The band never loosens up and explores the riff because the solo was taken out.[7]
In another interview, Thayil said:
It was Buzz Bin at MTV and got played a lot. I think when it was in Buzz Bin, simultaneously Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and Pearl Jam's 'Alive' were also in 'Buzz Bin' and they were also from Seattle, so maybe we were a little bit overshadowed - a little bit 'outshined' at that point! I didn't like our video either - it stunk! It was a last minute thing. I believe it was the couple who made that Smashing Pumpkins video where they were on the moon and stuff. Well, this was one of their early videos - and I hated it! That's what I remember most about that song - just how much I couldn't stand the video![8]
[edit] Canadian version
An alternate version of the "Outshined" video was shown on Canadian television. It features the band performing the song in a yellow-lit studio.
[edit] Live performances
A performance of the song is included on the Motorvision home video release.
[edit] Formats and track listing
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[edit] Chart positions
Information taken from chartstats.com.[9]
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | UK Singles Chart | 50 |
[edit] References
- ^ Rotondi, James. "Alone in the Superunknown." Guitar Player. June 1994.
- ^ Huey, Steve. "Outshined > Review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved on May 19, 2008.
- ^ "Sound and Vision". Rock Power. March 1992.
- ^ Friend, Lonn M. (July 1992). Heroes... and Heroin. RIP Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
- ^ Soundgarden music videos. Music Video Database. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
- ^ Macnie, Jim. "Soundgarden Hyperventilate and See Stars: The Godfathers of Grunge Go Psychedelic". Musician. April 1994.
- ^ Gilbert, Jeff. "Primecuts: Kim Thayil". Guitar School. May 1994.
- ^ "Kim Thayil's A-Sides". Metal Hammer. January 1998.
- ^ UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive - Soundgarden. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
[edit] External links
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