1994 - March - Soundgarden - Superunknown

Brian has us riffing on Soundgarden. If they were “superunknown” at the time, it wouldn't last past the release of this fourth studio album. Soundgarden would break into super stardom with this heavy hitting, 5-time platinum effort. The strength and distinctiveness of Chris Cornell's vocals are obvious. Sometimes called Stoner Rock, Soundgarden would be a key element in solidifying the "grunge" sound of Seattle. They won two Grammy awards for "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman." The album cover is a distorted image of the band members and is known as "the screaming elf." Black Hole Sun This is one of the big hits from the album. There were 15 tracks on this album, clocking in at over 70 minutes, exploiting the longer format of CD's relative to vinyl. The Day I Tried to Live This track released as a single was a deeper cut not often heard outside of rock stations. The strategy employed by Soundgarden was to have each musician to create his own work, then collaborate after the song was written. Fell on Black Days Another hit single from the album, Cornell said that this song was about realizing "you're unhappy in the extreme." ENTERTAINMENT TRACK: Theme from "The Naked Gun 33 1/3" This music track was used for both the "Naked Gun" movies and the "Police Squad" TV series. STAFF PICKS: “Mr. Jones” by Counting Crows Rob's staff pick is the first radio hit from "August and Everything After," released in December 1993. They also did the song "Accidentally in Love" for one of the "Shreck" movies. "We all want to be big, big stars, but we've got different reasons for that." “Return to Innocence” by Enigma Bruce's staff pick highlights the use of sampling popular at the time. The drum beat is from Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks." Unfortunately the Taiwanese chant sampled was copyrighted, resulting in a series of lawsuits. “Cannonball” by Breeders This alternative rock hit from the Dayton-based Breeders is off their second album entitled "Last Splash." "I know you're a libertine. I know you're a cannonball." “Mary Jane's Last Dance” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Brian closes out Stafff Picks with this song, originally going to be called "Indiana Girl," but Petty revised it to it's current form. There's not too many videos emphasizing necrophilia, but this is one of them. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK: “Train in the Rain” by Bruce Cockburn We finish off this week with a laid back fingerstyle guitar track. Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel. Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock-worthy memes we can share. Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform! **NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.