The song that Chris Cornell thought was unsuitable for Soundgarden
(Source: Far Out / TIDAL)
No songwriter really stops creating when they’ve taken some time off. Anyone working in a creative medium usually gets their inspiration when the time is right, and when a song comes out of the blue, an artist almost has to get it on paper before it dies down. Although Chris Cornell was more than willing to follow his muse in strange directions, he initially thought that a work like “Black Hole Sun” didn’t really fit with what Soundgarden was about.
But did Soundgarden ever really have a distinctive sound? Sure, they shared some similarities with artists like Led Zeppelin, but you probably wouldn’t hear Jimmy Page as hard as in a song like “4th of July” or as punky-thrashy as in a song like “Circle of Power” or “Limo Wreck.”
No, their music was about discoveries, and Superunknown was probably the clearest indication of this. Although it is the highest-charting Soundgarden record, this is by no means a secure record for the pop charts. Aside from the lyrics of despair in tracks like “Fell On Black Days” and “The Day I Tried to Live,” there are unconventional time signatures and odd tunings throughout the record that make it virtually impossible for amateur guitarists to figure anything out.
Although Cornell was not averse to writing hit tunes, he hesitated a little when “Black Hole Sun” fell into his lap, and told Rolling Stone, “I felt like it was a success for me because I’m a music fan and I always wanted to write a song that made you feel that way. I wasn’t sure it was right for Soundgarden. I’m not sure that was the case for all of us. Everyone reacted really positively to the song, but I don’t think any of us were 100 percent convinced it belonged on a Soundgarden record until we recorded it.”
Anyone with ears could have known from the demo that the song was a hit, but Cornell is right in a way. The most successful Soundgarden singles up to that point were tracks like “Outshined” and “Rusty Cage,” so hearing a song that felt like the depressive side of AM radio rock wasn’t exactly their cup of tea.
But when they added the menacing slide guitar and the distorted barrage of noise behind it, it became something else entirely. Compared to any other Seattle rock band, this felt like the dream child of the Beatles and Black Sabbath, including some squeaking noises from Cornell as the song broke down.
On the other hand, the whole thing sounds a bit like a solo song by Cornell, on which all the members of Soundgarden happen to play. The frontman has not yet felt the need to go solo, but considering how great the song “Seasons” is on the singles Soundtrack, this was an extension of this style of writing that would only get stronger when he released Euphoria Morning at the end of the decade.
Even the rest of the Seattle scene had to give way to Soundgarden. Dave Grohl recalled hearing the song at Nirvan’s final recording session and thinking it would be a huge hit. It wasn’t released until after Kurt Cobain’s death, but as grunge imploded, Soundgarden gave the world one last piece of dark sunshine.
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