Soundgarden Down on the Upside 20 yrs

Soundgarden - Down on the Upside 20 Years Later 1996 ak320

analogkid6103



Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, and Hiro Yamamoto. Matt Cameron became the band's full-time drummer in 1986, while bassist Ben Shepherd became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990.


Down on the Upside, was released on May 21, 1996. The album was notably less heavy than the group's preceding albums, and marked a further departure from the band's grunge roots; Soundgarden said that it wanted to experiment with other sounds, which included acoustic instrumentation: David Browne of Entertainment Weekly said, "Few bands since Led Zeppelin have so crisply mixed instruments both acoustic and electric."

The overall mood of the album's lyrics is less dark than on previous Soundgarden albums, with Cornell describing some songs as "self-affirming." The album spawned several singles, including "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", and "Blow Up the Outside World". "Pretty Noose" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1997. Despite favorable reviews and modest sales, the album did not match the sales or praise of Superunknown.




Track listing


All lyrics written by Chris Cornell, except where noted.


No. Title Lyrics Music Length


1. "Pretty Noose" Chris Cornell 4:12

2. "Rhinosaur" Matt Cameron 3:14

3. "Zero Chance" Ben Shepherd 4:18

4. "Dusty" Shepherd 4:34

5. "Ty Cobb" Shepherd 3:05

6. "Blow Up the Outside World" Cornell 5:46

7. "Burden in My Hand" Cornell 4:50

8. "Never Named" Shepherd 2:28

9. "Applebite" Cameron 5:10

10. "Never the Machine Forever" Kim Thayil Thayil 3:36

11. "Tighter & Tighter" Cornell 6:06

12. "No Attention" Cornell 4:27

13. "Switch Opens" Shepherd 3:53

14. "Overfloater" Cornell 5:09

15. "An Unkind" Shepherd Shepherd 2:08

16. "Boot Camp" Cornell 2:59


Total length: 65:56



Soundgarden


Matt Cameron – drums, percussion, moog synthesizer (track 9)

Chris Cornell – vocals, rhythm guitar, mandolin and mandola (track 5), electric piano (track 14)

Ben Shepherd – bass guitar, mandolin and mandola (track 5), back photo

Kim Thayil – lead guitar


One of my personal favorite albums all time