Takin’ a Trip to 1996

Episode 1: Soundgarden’s Down On the Upside (A&M)

A&M released what would ultimately be Soundgarden’s last studio album, Down on the Upside, on May 21st, 1996. Even in High School this was my favorite Soundgarden album. I was never a huge fan of Badmotorfinger, although many fans count this as their favorite, and I really liked Superunknown even though I felt some of the songs were rather lacking and had a bit of filler feel to them. Down on the Upside is by no means a perfect album, but many of the songs are among the band’s best. The album has a more experimental feel to it as the band extensively used open guitar tunings and odd time signatures. My favorite single from the album would have to be “Burden in My Hand.” I’ve always been a fan of depressing songs about death and murder, but there’s something about the way the acoustic guitar sounds on this song that always intrigued me in my youth. The three songs that follow this are to me the weakest songs on the album. “Never Named” and “Applebite” are uninspired and meandering respectively while Kim Thayil’s sole writing contribution, “Never the Machine Forever” feels like it would’ve fit better on Superunknown than on this album. But it’s the final few songs that always had me putting this CD on in the nineties, “Overfloater” being my all time favorite Soundgarden song. The closing song, “Boot Camp,” is a slow, somber end to Soundgarden’s career and goes to show that it’s possible to go from a heavy fast song like “Ty Cobb” and end with a short, beautiful sounding song that seems oddly predictive of the band’s ultimate outcome. Down on the Upside remains my favorite of Soundgarden’s albums. It’s worth checking out again if you haven’t heard it in a while. Perhaps you might discover just how great some of these songs were. Join me again next time as I continue takin’ a trip to 1996.

Songs:
Zero Chance
Blow Up the Outside World
Burden In My Hand
Never Named
Applebite
Never the Machine Forever
Overfloater
Ty Cobb
Boot Camp