So why is Soundgarden’s Superunknown on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
For a long time, Superunknown “suffered” a little bit in terms of my personal For a long time, Superunknown “suffered” from one thing: overexposure.
If you’re of a certain generation, you’ll know how pervasive “Black Hole Sun” and, to a slightly lesser extent, “Spoonman” were on MTV and rock radio back in the day. 1994 was a year when alternative rock had long since captured “mainstream” attention and, further, all things grunge were blasted nonstop into the ears of music lovers across the land.
In some ways, Superunknown is less an album than a time capsule, proof of when “alternative” and “alt rock” were terms that had real currency to my generation, Gen X.
Between Nevermind blowing the doors open, Pearl Jam dominating arenas on tour, and Soundgarden making the sludgy weirdness of Sabbath riffs MTV-friendly, 1994 was the moment when grunge stopped being subculture and started being the monoculture.
And then Cobain went ahead and killed himself that very year. Weird. And sad.
Part of why I’ve got Superunknown sitting in the high 400s, best 1,000 albums-wise, is because my tastes lean more toward punk, hard rock, new wave, and pop than metal. Which is why Nirvana might as well have been conjured in a grungy lab just for me – their balance of aggression and melody usually hits me harder than Soundgarden’s heavier edges.
More recently, I’ve come to greatly appreciate Superunknown as a whole – it’s remarkably consistent, high quality rock music that straddles alt rock, metal, and grunge.
While I have nothing “against” “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman” these days, it’s so easy for me to highlight other songs that I’m more partial to. “My Wave,” for example, has a great and crushing groove that happily sticks in my head for days after every listen. And dig how Chris Cornell’s voice is just spot on perfect for this style of music.
“Fell On Black Days” is slower, sludgier, and more bluesy, in the best way. And Cornell is just as adept at crooning on a slower, more emotional song as he is with more aggressive metal material.
The title track, “Superunknown,” could easily have become as big a hit as “Black Hole Sun” in my view. I absolutely love the chorus: dark yet somehow rollicking at the same time.
Alive in the superunknown*
First it steals your mind and then it steals your soul
* Confession: for years I thought the lyric was “alone in the Superunknown.”
Also see: Soundgarden – Down on the Upside (#545 of best 1,000 albums ever).
Some stats & info about Soundgarden – Superunknown
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Metal, Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock, Grunge, Seattle Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Superunknown released? 1994
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #495 out of 1,000
Soundgarden’s Superunknown on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Soundgarden’s Superunknown that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
In my eyes, indisposed, in disguises no one knows, hides the face, lies the snake, and the sun in my disgrace.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.