Total Fucking Godhead / The Soundgarden Thread

[TwoAlarmFire]

Rusty Cage from Guitar Center Sessions.

http://sessions.guitarcenter.com/

Their website says it airs May 4th (but both SG's facebook page and website say May 8th).

[Revelator]

Demo of Superunknown from deluxe re-issue. Haven't listened yet...

http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/soun ... -exclusive

[hbk]

Video of their Lollapalooza set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvqQY6b5IbA

[VinylGuy]

Awesome....i love ben.

[TwoAlarmFire]

http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainm ... -1.1003314

McFadyen said they recently inked contracts to make full-length documentaries on both Black Sabbath and Soundgarden, which will begin filming this summer.

http://www.metalinsider.net/interviews/ ... ice-cooper

We’re creating a documentary on Soundgarden. We’re going to look at that band’s career, how they were the first band in the Seattle scene, how they rose to become the biggest band in the world in the mid-90s, and much to everyone’s surprise they called it quits. And here we are, 20 years later, and they’re back at it, so were excited to tell that story.

[Dev]

projects like that always seem to turn out lame, guess I will hoped for the best. all and all I prefer Homme's approach to Kyuss, as the right way to honour legendary bands.

[VinylGuy]

anyone saw the chile show? its great....Pretty Noose sounded nice....

[VinylGuy]

Matt Reeder this is one is for you....has Bleed Together been played live?

[matt reeder]

Matt Reeder this is one is for you....has Bleed Together been played live?

No. They stopped playing anything even resembling a b-side by about 1994.

[VinylGuy]

Matt Reeder this is one is for you....has Bleed Together been played live?

No. They stopped playing anything even resembling a b-side by about 1994.

Fuckers. That song kicks ass.

[VinylGuy]

Matt...another question....

Is there any 1994 pro shot show available? Im kinda in love with Searching...from Hype...

[matt reeder]

Matt...another question....

Is there any 1994 pro shot show available? Im kinda in love with Searching...from Hype...

Nope. There are a couple of songs from a show in Japan out there and that's literally the only pro-footage circulating from 1994. It was around this time that the band stopped allowing audio or video broadcasts of their shows (even at festivals!) so there's almost nothing high-quality out there from this time period. It's very odd.

Here's what exists:

[DeLima]

DeLima watches the Jays game on mute while listening to Soundgarden and compares...

Superunknown vs Down on the Upside: TRACK BY TRACK. As always, these decisions are definitive.

Let Me Drown vs. Pretty Noose: Wanting to crawl back in the womb to die vs an attractively packaged bad idea. Let Me Drown wins with superior riffs, chorus and bridge. 1-0

My Wave vs Rhinosaur: Two of my least favorite songs on either album. My Wave has the least replay value of all the Superunknown singles, although the fuzzy ending jam is great. Rhinosaur was catchy when the album came out but there's not that much there lyrically or musically. My Wave takes it. 2-0

Fell on Black Days vs. Zero Chance. Bleak depression or loneliness? Fell on Black Days is a SG standard, and the way the last verse bleeds into the final chorus with Cornell wailing 'change' is a great moment. I think it's one of the few songs I actually like better when Cornell plays it solo. Zero Chance, though, is the kind of song that stops you in your tracks cold. Some of Cornell's best-ever lyrics and the gorgeous desolation of the music makes it maybe the prettiest sad song any of the grunge big 4 did. Strange that it would come from SG. Zero Chance, and it's not close. 2-1.

Mailman vs. Dusty. Hoo boy. This is a barnburner. Dusty sounds so good coming out of Zero Chance - SG's happiest (only happy?) song follows their saddest. The transition is perfect. If a song like this can come after Zero Chance, there's hope for the world. I love the soft humming that comes as the song slowly winds down. But Mailman is just a monster. This is the revenge song SG was meant to write, and it's up there with Cold Bitch and even Christi in terms of pure venom. The way "and now I send you a message of love" is submerged in watery tones just before the final explosion is one of the better moments of recorded coiled menace I can think of. Mailman by an inch. 3-1.

Superunknown vs. Ty Cobb. Superunknown is a great song that just never really hit me in the gut. Cool lyrical idea, and some great soloing by Kim, but it just doesn't stick out for me on such a great album. Weird that they chose it as the title song. Ty Cobb, meanwhile, is tons of fun. Music is propulsive and chorus is tons of fun to yell. Great mandolin too. Ty Cobb wins. 3-2

Head Down vs. BUTOW. Two more monsters head to head. Head Down's bleak vision of the world and the constant abuses of power and invasions of privacy that occur stay with you, and the percussion here is pretty much perfect. It seems like RM is not as big a fan of BUTOW as I am - to me it's a dead-on articulation of the desire to isolate and remove yourself from the world and never re-emerge, even though you know it's wrong. I love the bridge and final pre-chorus tons, and the repetitive fade-out of the chorus at the end of the song is pretty powerful live. I'm gonna go BUTOW here and expect to get shit on for the choice by many of RM's SG loyalists. 3-3.

Black Hole Sun vs. Burden in My Hand. Two of Cornell's most accessible compositions and two of SG's biggest singles head-to-head. Burden in My Hand is compulsively singable and the story of a murdered lover in the desert manages not to be cheesy even with its clear nod to Down By The River. But there remains something eerie, apocalyptic (a word I'll use again when describing some of the songs on both records' second sides) and compelling to Black Hole Sun after all these years and radio plays. It's that rare example of a band's best-known song standing up to scrutiny and the weathering of age. BHS, but not by that much. 4-3.

Side two will come after I come back from Mogwai! Jays are up 1-0 on Cleveland.

[Revelator]

Well done, man, I gotta agree with most picks except for Head Down losing to BUTOW

Looking forward to reading side two.

[LetMeSleep]

Good work DeLima and can't wait for Side 2. There's a battle coming up.

[Kevin Davis]

I just ordered ''Ultramega OK'' and ''You're Living All Over Me'' by Dinosaur Jr. off eBay. It's going to be a grungetastic week at Chez Davis next week.

[matt reeder]

Sorry DeLima, but Pretty Noose >>>>>>>>>> Let Me Drown.

[DeLima]

Mogwai was great and Jays won 5-4, so a good night.

Spoonman vs Never Named: Never Named is often cited as the weakest track on DOTU, but I think it definitely beats Rhinosaur. After the fury of Ty Cobb, the isolation of BUTOW, and the betrayal of BIMH, there's a kind of relief in hearing Cornell sound playfully defiant as he tosses off lines about his childhood dog and playing in the sand as long as he can. The music's cadence matches the lyrics' playful mood, and side 1 of DOTU ends on an unexpectedly up, or at least defiant, note. Spoonman, though, is just too damn groovy to lose this match. You can't help but move to this tune, and it's cathartic. Great live version on Live on the I-5. Spoonman wins; 5-3.

I'm going to drop Applebite to even out the number of songs on this album, but I will say that it's a really cool mostly instrumental track that I wish SG had tried out live in 96. Maybe they'll try it one of these days. They could jam it out into a trance for 8 or 10 minutes before slamming into Outshined, Slaves, or Jesus Christ Pose, and I think it'd work well.

Limo Wreck vs. Never the Machine Forever. NtMF is tons of fun with a great ascending (descending?) riff and screamed- from-the-gut man-vs-machine philosophy. Seems like Kim had a great time writing this one and it was a really nice surprise to hear it played a few times last year. Limo Wreck though is a top 5 SG song for me, and I'm thrilled they're playing it live this year. The lyrics, Matt/Kim written riffs, and tempo all slowly burn hotter as the song moves along until it scalds you at the end - this is SG as harbingers of doom, a role they enjoy, but here they've taken New Damage (already a great apocalypse-tune) and improved on it twice or three times. Limo Wreck would wreck almost any song on either of these records. 6-3.

The Day I Tried To Live vs. Tighter & Tighter. Big showdown here. Both songs about death in some ways - The Day I Tried to Live about the futility of trying to live better, Tighter & Tighter about the inevitability (and perhaps relief) of what comes at the end. Cornell spins a clear, stark narrative over the course of the lyrics of TDITTL, and you can really picture him moving through one unhinged day, all over Ben's memorable thudding baseline. TDITTL would probably beat most songs on both DOTU and Superunknown, but Tighter & Tighter is where the second half of DOTU moves into a different kind of space. The lyrics are only part of it. That watery, submerged vocal is used to much greater effect that on Mailman here - you can feel the song's character struggling to breathe, and the song's end is his body literally shutting down. Kim's solo is one of his best recorded efforts. Another track finally played live last year that was long overdue. Tighter & Tighter wins a tough one. 6-4.

Kickstand vs. No Attention. Tossup. Two fun, punky songs that provide some relief from the heaviness before and after. Kickstand is a hoot and the bike lyrics make you want to ride, but I really like No Attention's fuck-you feel and the sludginess of its ending. No Attention here; 6-5.

Fresh Tendrils vs. Switch Opens. Tough tough call. Two very different songs. Fresh Tendrils is a real fan favorite and contain some of Cornell's most memorable lyrics - that repeated "Throw yourself away" grabs me in the same way "I sure don't mind a change" does from Fell on Black Days. Switch Opens is so trippy though - SG pushing themselves in a direction I'd love to see more of. Fresh Tendrils is great live, and I wish Switch Opens was played more. I gotta go with Fresh Tendrils, but I feel bad voting against Switch Opens as it's an essential part of what makes the second side of DOTU so cool, and I wish there were more SG tracks like it. 7-5.

4th of July vs Overfloater. Probably the toughest choice of any matchup. I love both these songs. 4th of July is essential SG - it's got that slow-burning end of the world feel done so well, and is a showstopper live. It's a top ten SG song for me, but I'm still gonna vote against it, because Overfloater is a top 7 or 8. This song does so many things right, and the rays of optimism it provides over top of its totally hypnotic groove make it the most important track SG has yet to play live. Nothing's gonna pinch this nerve of mine. 7-6.

Half vs. An Unkind. Two strange Ben Sheperd compositions make up the second to last match. Half is awesome - I love the way it breaks up 4th of July and Like Suicide, two of SG's best songs. It's difficult for me to evaluate it on its own as opposed to a lead in to Like Suicide, but hearing it at SXSW recently reminded me of how cool the extended jam is that SG tacks on when they do play it live. Again, there's something about these perverse bits of optimism ("we still have half a chance") amidst all the desolate beauty and destruction that usually dominate SG albums that really appeals to me. An Unkind has a really catchy chorus, but beyond that I don't feel it's one of Ben's best efforts. Although i'd be cooler to go into the final matchup tied, I gotta vote Half. 8-6.

Like Suicide vs. Boot Camp. There's no choice here. Boot Camp is actually a beautiful, simple song with poetic lyrics ("like babies on display/ like angels in a cage") that ends DOTU on a note of hope for escape, and I love how it was played in 96 with the helter skelter/jam intro. But Like Suicide is basically as good as SG gets. I could write a full essay just on this song. The stately drum intro. The bass thudding in afterwards, and finally the ringing guitar comes in to fully introduce the picture. The unfolding story - I loved this song long before I knew it was about Chris killing an injured bird, but when I found out the origin of the lyrics, it didn't dislodge whatever meaning I had personally attached to the lyrics. I ended up appreciating the song more knowing that someone could turn a primal, personal experience like the mercy killing of a beautiful animal into this crashing, thundering thing without losing any of the subtlety of the experience. The repetition of the two prechorus lyric sections before the solo, as the band finally unleashes the full heaviness you always knew was coming. And then the solo, along with those drums that pound all around you, especially with headphones on. This is Matt, Kim, Ben and Chris all at the peak of their powers together. I put these guys up against any band when it comes to this song. The fade back down and the final chorus are the smooth exit needed after the power of the song's back half. SG, and music, at its best. 9-6.

[DeLima]

Sorry DeLima, but Pretty Noose >>>>>>>>>> Let Me Drown.

i thought you'd be way madder i picked BUTOW over Head Down. Pretty Noose just doesn't do it for me.

[zeb]

You got some of those right and some of those wrong, friend. I think the final count was 8-7.