Superunknown

8.5

geil

Day 48 Black Sabbath if they were cool Fav track: Black Hole Sun

Hmm, it was fine. I see a lot of people praise this album but I can't join them in that, even though I'd like to go deeper into Soundgarden. It has nice variety, probably a bit more than what Badmotorfinger (which I really love that album) has on it. Just overall my enjoyment of this album isn't very high. This is my second listen and I don't feel really keen to listen to this album again, I think will keep at it with Badmotorfinger, which is way, way less than a disappointment to me. Highlight Song/s: "Fell on Black Days", "Mailman", "Black Hole Sun", "The Day I Tried to Live" and "4th of July"

You know I love me some sound garden

🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 (rounded up to a four because come on) FUCK ALL REVIEWS IN THE WORLD!! Jeez, I didn’t know Soundgarden was a pressure point for me. I don’t know what touched a nerve with all of these “Nickelback would like this” and “straight man music” comments, which aren’t exactly bullshit. Certainly, Superunknown is littered with nineties hallmarks, from its super fuzz crunch guitar, to its “dugga dugga” rhythms, to that type of bridge where the song quiets down and the singer has like a radio-style vocal filter as the song chugs louder and louder (looking at you, “Spoonman”—not so epic after the first time). I think I’m going to sound like a cannibal who says he’s not as bad as the other cannibals because he only eats old people or something, but to hell with it—I think Soundgarden is a cut above their contemporaries, and as nineties as they are, they’re really nothing like “Nickelback,” fuck you very much. Maybe it’s because Chris Cornell is such a powerhouse, but I think that’s not all—for all of the latent pop progressions infused in manufactured grunge and nu-metal types, I think Soundgarden makes more mature music that’s just juicier than their peers. This is gonna be hypocritical in a second, but I’d even say they’ve got decent range—my dad always says he doesn’t think Soundgarden is grunge as much as they are metal, and I might even be more in that camp than he is. Soundgarden is great, man. But is Superunknown? I don’t know if I’d say great, exactly, though it is solid. I haven’t listen to a single Soundgarden album in full, but I was surprised to find I already had six songs downloaded: “My Wave,” “Superunknown,” “Head Down,” “Black Hole Sun, “Spoonman,” AND “The Day I Tried to Live.” On any reasonable record, that’d be, at most, half the tracks, but this closer to a third of sixteen-song Superunknown. Aside from “The Day I Tried to Live,” the entire second side was fresh to me. I suppose that could’ve been a good sign—if I liked that many songs, maybe I was in for ten more gems—but I had a feeling this one would wear down some of its best attributes, and unfortunately, I wasn’t off the mark. Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t a ton of five-star songs here—everyone seems to agree that “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman” are the only notable tracks, which is proof that wisdom of the masses is a logical fallacy to me because they’re disregarding “Let Me Drown,” “Head Down,” “The Day I Tried to Live,” which I think are all as good as (or objectively better than) the hits. I’m also partial to “My Wave” despite its almost pop riff, and the title track “Superunknown” is rapidly rising in the ranks. Regarding the hits themselves, it’s strange that they’re the most well-liked because I think they’re some of the most (relatively) dated stuff on here. I wish I liked “Black Hole Sun” as much as I did in middle school when I’d never heard it a billion times on the Sirius nineties channel and didn’t know the signs of nineties psychedelic revival, which never hits like the sixties stuff. Even then, I can’t deny the harmonies on the “won’t you come” section and the descending riff that closes that out—it’s pretty great stuff. As for the actual black hole of the record, that mysterious second half, I unfortunately think this is another one of those woeful cases where I’d already heard the best stuff beforehand. It’s admittedly pretty samey after sixteen songs, which is a flatness I find pervades a lot of hard rock and metal albums—it’s tough to keep the momentum up when the loudness grinds you down, and I think poorly deployed thrashing and screaming really starts to become white noise after a certain point. Of course, that’s compounded here because there *isn’t* a lot of thrashing and screaming, and it’s pretty midtempo despite its production. This results in songs like “Like Suicide,” which unfortunately comes the closest to the Nickelback comparisons (although still miles ahead, mind you) with its nineties ballad sound. I wanted to like standouts like “4th of July” and “Half” because they mix it up a bit, but neither really hit me. So, unfortunately, I’ve gotta concede that this isn’t an incredible album, although it’s earned itself the round-up to compensate for the fact that I’m taking the songs I already knew for granted. I’m sure if I heard this all at once for the first time, I’d be pretty blown away by the overall effect, which I’m sure would outshine the weaker spots. 1: Bad | 2: Below Okay, No Desire to Revisit | 3: Good, Conditionally (OR Inconsistent Mix of Qualities) | 4: Great (OR Technically amazing but missing the sauce emotionally) | 5: Amazing

Schön mal wieder Rock zu hören und erfrischender Sound

Find ich etwas überbewertet, viel Hype um Soundgarden.

Ok

Not a bad album. The songs were pretty good, though I thought they went on for too long without reason.

It's alright, has black hole sun which is a banger

Nirvana is widely considered to be the most important band in the grunge / 90s alternative era, while many consider Pearl Jam to be the best. To me, I would much rather listen to Live, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden. And if anyone is being honest about it, Chris Cornell blows away Kurt Cobain as a singer and a front man. He just owns an incredible instrument, and he knows just how to use it. There's a ton of tracks on here that hit the radio waves back then, whether it is Spoonman (crazy that this became a hit), The Day I Tried to Live, My Wave, Black Hole Sun, and my personal favorite Fell on Black Days. Even the title track you would hear occasionally back then. But this album has so much more to offer. Let Me Drown is a great opener. My brain almost instantly tied this to the great Rusty Cage from Badmotorfinger and I couldn't shake it. Just an excellent track. There are others like Mailman, Limo Wreck, and Kickstand, all of which are very cool songs. The song I re-discovered was Fresh Tendrils, which is an awesome track. Admittedly, the end of this album isn't as great, and they could have cut this off at 12 or 13 songs, though at that point it didn't really matter. You had gotten more than your money's worth. An amazing record, clearly one of the top of the 90s.

Slightly on the experimental grunge side.

It's fine. Just fine. I don't see myself ever needing to seek this one out again, but it's fine enough to not skip if it comes on the radio.

HERE WE GO, love Chris Cornell. I think I know the soundgarden hits but I'm pumped to listen to an album. This is more varied than I thought it would be. Very groove-heavy, of course it has beautiful, soaring vocals. I can really hear the Sabbath and Deep Purple influence on here. I was surprised by "Head Down". This is a really great rock and roll song, it goes on a little journey. That piece through The Day I Tried To Live feels like a unified event. Five stars.

rym 3.91 Grunge/Hard Rock 就是这个味道，年轻的时候听nirvana的感觉全都回来了。也是直到今天才知道有个什么四大grunge乐队的概念，或许应该找机会把其他乐队也补一补。总体上编曲比nirvana更精致，但也缺失了那种近乎残暴的活力与能量。 pick:Let Me Drown, Superunknown, The Day I Tried to Live

like i'm sure a lot of other people my only exposure to soundgarden before this was "black hole sun", which is a known banger, but it still never really gave me much of an urge to check out their other music somehow. but once again im a dipshit for this. cos this album fucks crazyyyy..... obviously "black hole sun" is great but like, wow theres a lot of other really good tracks on here. i think my favourite is "4th of july" for its dark and sludgy feel, with its guitars filthy and growling, but "the day i tried to live" comes close for much the same reason (although the guitars there are more wailing than growling), and tracks like "my wave", "fell on black days" and "spoonman" slipping back and forth between time signatures pulls them up as strong contenders too. even aside from those tho its truly just bangers cover to cover. i dont think theres a single point on this album where im not ready to lock the fuck in and zone the fuck out. this one really caught me outta nowhere like a sledgehammer to the chest. fuck yes dude. i literally love music.

Background music

yeah i'm just not the biggest grunge fan. doesn't really do much for me unless a woman is singing. Kurt Cobain counts as a woman for these purposes. this is kind of a slog, i'm gonna be honest. i really like Black Hole Sun but not much else sticks out in a positive way besides like. Mailman. I was kinda surprised by how psychedelic this was compared to my memory of it. deserves to be one of the 1001? either this does or Badmotorfinger does. i would rather this one i think

This one's particularly difficult to rate because as far as Grunge goes, it's very much great (if not spectacular) fare of its era - a little late maybe, and doubtlessly fun, but it's a testament to Cobain's talent that everything since Nevermind is stuck living in its shadow. Cornell's a better singer though, and the introduction of psych elements on this album definitely helps. It's a long album too, one where every song sounds pretty much the same: lucky for Soundgarden they struck gold on the sound so it's not really much of a problem. It's definitely 'music to drink Bud and watch WWE to' but I consider that a huge point in its favour. The radio-play singles are the obvious standouts, and I never realized how strong the bass work is from Shepherd - the whole rhythm section is holding everything down so tight for an otherwise sloppy-on-purpose genre. But all that's far too critical for what it actually is. It's definitely an album I'd turn back to, Superunknown. Fav tracks: Black Hole Sun, Spoonman, Kickstart, Limo Wreck

I never connected with Soundgarden, but I think that's a more of a me problem. This album is very good, but I rarely listen to it.

Abso-fucking-lutlely do I love this album. And how could you not?? This is what awesomeness sounds like. Front to back there is not a single skippable track, and the amount of classics here is ✨️iconic✨️

Chris Cornell απλά!

yeah I was excited for this one and then it was just noise. I LOVE black hole sun. This was like when you see a clip of a movie that looks awesome and then the rest of the movie sucks except for that one clip. After further consideration I think this definitely deserves a 3 due to its utility for showing women this album (as a straight man), after they’ve showed me Sabrina carpenter. Highlights Black hole sun (favorite) Like suicide

Not even sure if I finished this album because I think it got shuffled up and I ended up listening to a lot more than I wanted. But all I could think about was this time I was telling someone (who happened to be a straight guy) about sabrina carpenter and he told me to listen to this

I am a straight man and this album is my favorite to show to women when they say they listen to Sabrina Carpenter!

Stone cold classic grunge. That voice is so unique and that crunchy guitar + driving bass is a winning combo. The drum work is tight as fuck too. Nothing fancy, just some good shit. I love it. 7/10 Favorites: - Fell On Black Days - Superunknown - Blake Hole Sun - The Day I Tried To Live - 4th of July

Highlights for me were: Fell on Black Days, Black Hole Sun, The day I tried to live

Owned this for many years. So, cards on the table. I never liked Soundgarden quite as much as the other three members of grunge's big three. I never quite liked this album as much as Nevermind, Ten or Dirt. It was quite refreshing giving it a listen with this project in mind. My view had always been that it was a little too long and had too much filler. It still felt quite long but every track was pretty good and I can't remember what I ever considered filler. The three big singles are all still great, obviously, but so is the title track, 4th of July, Spoonman and many others. Really good album!

Really great album. Especially loved black hole sun. Very moody rock. Great listen!

Best dad rock album

Absolutely excels at being super moody. Never listened through the album in its entirety before. Spoonman balls out to be honest. The vocals sometimes dip into a whininess that annoys me in the high register but not enough to pull me out of a song. A lot of the instrumentals do well at blending into the background while still having a noticable and standout sound. Dont know if that makes sense. I would give it 3.5 if that was an option. Good album to work out or drink aggressively to

Great vocals and pretty atmospheric segments! Flows well Highlights: "Let Me Drown", "Spoonman", "Half"

Firstly...what a singer. RIP Chris Cornell. The breakthrough record for Soundgarden, Fell on Black Days, Spoonman, Black Hole Sun, Day I Tried to Live, 4th of July, these are 90s rock classics, grunge but with a heavier, more classic rock approach. The record is well produced and sounds huge through the speakers, vocals, drums, guitars are perfectly in unison to suit the songs, Brendan O'Brien nailed mixing all those big 90s records he worked on. With CDs increasing album length up to 80 minute capacity and becoming the primary format of this era, in the 90s artists started to make the classic mistake that just because there is space it needs to be filled with songs regardless of whether they are up to the standard, and a few weaker tracks that could have easily been cut drag this down a bit. Still a good listen though. 7/10

You really had to pick the 70 min one with Spoonman and Black Hole Sun instead of Badmotorfinger. 2.5 stars because half of it is good.

Not their best but some absolute gems like 4th of July, The Day I Tried to Live, and Like Suicide get it a high grade.

Such a great album. RIP Chris

Bra! Chris Cornell hade en gudomlig röst och hela detta album består av minnen. Fint att lyssna igen.

While, admittedly, a lot of these songs kind of sound the same, it's not bad music. Black Hole Sun is of course a standout, though I'm sure as I'm writing that every single Soundgarden fan is rolling their eyes. It's popular for a reason! The Day I Tried To Live is another favorite for me, along with 4th of July. The guitar in Half is my favorite in the album, but I've always been biased for that kind of thing. Overall, this belongs inside of a generic classic rock radio station, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ich gewinne aus dieser Liste die Erkenntnis, dass ich Grunge ziemlich gern mag 😂

Richtig stark, ist schon lang, aber auch wirklich facettenreich.

Good riffs, bit repetitive at times. Still slaps

Superunknown on Soundgardenin mestariteos ja yksi suosikeistani mitä tulee 90-luvulla julkaistuihin levyihin. Siltä löytyy bändin suosituimmat singlet Black Hole Sun, Spoonman, The Day I Tried to Live ja Fell On Black Days sekä pitkä liuta syvempiä albumiraitoja, jotka ovat vähintään yhtä hienoja. Levyllä kuuluu vahvoja vaikutteita psykedeelisestä sekä progressiivisesta rockista.

hj estou muito hater mas vamos la. meio comercial e sem originalidade. as letras não fazem sentido, a proposta pode ate ser impressionista e abstrata mas não é bem executada, é desinteressante e simplesmente ruim; falta profundidade e o instrumental não compensa, é repetitivo, e alguns riffs legais não são suficientes para mim. se você só quer compor riffs, melodias e whatever apenas faça só isso e pare de tentar compor letras. parece música de uma banda fictícia de alguma série barata da amazon prime. e essa porra tem 15 faixas. vai tomar no cu. quase me perguntei se eu ouvi mesmo o mesmo álbum que a galera do reddit faixas que pareceram menos entediantes do que as outras: black hole sun infelizmente spoonman, alem da letra ser tolerável o instrumental é mais melódico, experimental e interessante, mas não sei se é uma música que eu colocaria por vontade própria ao invés de ela só por acaso tocar na minha playlist de likes e eu decidir não pular. limo wreck 4th of july ⭐️mvp do album, track mais forte ate agora half ⭐️ like suicide ⭐️ segundo mvp do album

So, I decided to finally make use of the infamous "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" list. The first album I roll is not only one that I've already heard, but was actually on my list of albums I need to revisit to properly rate. The universe wants to ease me in to becoming a full-time music snob, I guess. Soundgarden's "Superunknown" might be the most interesting grunge album I've ever listened to. I'm a sucker for less-common time signatures, and I these four guys are too. Almost every song on this album has something weird going on with the rhythm, and a lot of them have multiple time signature changes. Take the megahit "Black Hole Sun," for example. A regular song in 4/4, but with a guitar solo and outro in 9/8! "The Day I Tried to Live" constantly switches between 7/4 and 4/4 throughout its runtime. "Head Down" confuses the listener with constant 4/4 and 5/4 changes. My favorite track, "Spoonman," is in 4/4 and 7/4, and has a whole spoons solo in 3/4! Even ignoring the rhythmic complexity of this album, it's just good grunge. The guitars are heavy, and almost sludgy at times. There's lots of interesting sounds throughout, like the Mellotron on "Mailman" or, again, the spoons solo on "Spoonman." I really like the way they mix grunge with psychedelia on "Half," or how they go a little more punk on "Kickstand." However, this is not an album without its flaws. The songs can definitely blend together at times, especially during the last five tracks. Those last five tracks aren't bad, but when listening to the entire album, it really starts to drag there. The songs begin to blend together after a while, too. I think the album could've been just as good (or even better) if it was closer to 50 minutes rather than the 70 it is now. But that length could also be because this is a rock album released in the 90s, when bands were taking advantage of CDs to have longer albums. Overall, I think this is worth a listen, even if just for the rhythms. ----- #0001 Heard on: 11 Sep. 2026 Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (72 / 323) Favorite track: Spoonman Least favorite track: Fresh Tendrils

It's major depressive disorder in album format.

Chris Cornell was a top-five rock vocalist of the '90's - '00's. Maybe all-time. For my tastes, Badmotorfinger is the better showcase of his vocals and song-writing, and with God knows how many Brian Eno and Nick Cave albums here, there is absolutely room for Superunknown and Badmotorfinger. For the music nerds, Matt Cameron's time changes throughout this album are nothing short of masterful. One of the easier 5-star albums.

ned mis. black hole sun esch super gsi tho

With songs that play like spells, sinking deep, taking you over, leaving no corner unaffected, Soungarden are truelly an amazing band and this album one of the absolute best. With Chris Cornell's vocals that melt my heart and raise my hairs to stand on end alongside the melodic and strong basslines of Ben Shephard, there is no moderation in my love for this band and this album. Would I buy this record if I saw it in the $5 bargain bin - I have already, happily, paid a lot more for this album.

I liked it :))

One real classic on here but the rest a bit samey.

Always liked Spoonman and Black Hole Sun but never had enough interest to look further. Actually listening didnt change my mind.

Let me drown - 4 My wave - 5 Fell on black days - 5 Mailman - 3 Superunknown - 4 Head down - 4 Black hole sun - 5 Spoonman - 5 Limo wreck - 4 The day i tried to live - 4 Kickstand - 4 Fresh tendrils - 4 4th of july - 4 Half - 3 Like suicide - 4

After having a shitty night at work, I came home and reviewed the previous album and saw this was my next pick for the morning. Made me glad to see this album, and I rocked out like I was a teen again. Such a banger

I get the cultural significance of this album but I couldn’t make it past the 2nd song.

Definitely a Classic. Lots of songs I've heard on the radio, but a little played out IMO.

güzel albüm soundgarden dinlerim arada

not for me!!

I loveeee Soundergarden. If I were to pick Black Hole Sun’, the Title Track and ‘Limo Wreck’. Rating: 4/5 GEMV (18.09.2026)

"SPOON MAN! Save me with your hands!" sounds like some weird Edward Scissorhands fanfic performed by a Nickleback cover band. The rest just sounds like uhh bluurr bluuurrrr *headbangs*

I bought this album when it cam out in 94 and I have listened to it many times especially when I was young. There are a lot of great songs and the vocals are amazing. Chris can really sing and he was probably my personal favorite of the grunge singers from this musical era. I'm sure I will listen to this many more times, it's fantastic.

While not my peak preference, I do enjoy the grungy sound of the era and songs like Spoonman and Black Hole Sun are classics

Good album, wouldn't go back to it though but liked Spoonman and Let Me Drown

Solid listen. Obviously black hole sun and spoonman are familiar. Let me Drown, 4th of July and Head Down stood out on first listen, with the back half of the album seemingly more entertaining. But definitely need to give it a few more spins

Every song just hits perfectly. Their best album.

Perfect use of dissonance in a complete and congruent album.

Spoon man!

Che je devi di a n’album der genere. Perfeto.

I like

I enjoyed this; every song is good. I just have never found any Soundgarden songs great. So this is 3-4 for me. Tiebreaker: whether I enjoy the title of 3rd song when I look them up on Spotify. Spoonman. Well, that wasn't helpful. But you know, I did like that specific song. 4 it is.

5-6/10 Все практически однотипное и много повторов в песня, нирванообразные рифы (как в kickstand). Но хочу похвалить вокал. Под соответствие настроение сойдет, но если постоянно такие слушать то начинает тошнить. Хотя я люблю нирвану и вообще нормально воспринимаю гранж!

Не люблю гранж, все однообразно, отсутствует классическая вокальная мелодия и мне это не в кайф. Но альбом монументальный и крутой, но не на мой вкус

I recognised only Black Hole Sun but I liked most of it.

Too harsh top me

Gústame

7.8

Favourite Track(s): Fell On Black Days Black Hole Sun The Day I Tried To Live

Amazing!

Strong start, but started feeling repeatative.

3.5/5. Very solid. A little long for me and the sound doesn’t change much for more than an hour.

couldnt do it

Bunghole sun

this is not really my vibe but the guitar tones are pretty rad. Chris Cornell’s voice is also great Black hole sun is great of course and the main song that i know by them. Won me over a bit towards the end - fav tracks: black hole sun the day i tried to live 4th of July Like Suicide

Angry grunge rock .showcasing Chris Cornell great voice. But “played little to straight a bat”to be anything other than average 90's mainstream rock.

This is an album I bought the day it was released and regularly listen to 30 years later. An absolute classic.

Great album. I’ve never listened to this much beyond spoonman and black hole sun. For what grunge was at its peak, this is right up there with nevermind for me. Really enjoyed this.

RIP Chris Cornell. This was a pivotal record in my early teen years and cemented an impression in me immediately. To this day, I still really enjoy this record. Great mood and harmonies, song sequencing is great, and the songwriting is beautiful. Love this one.

Just not my genre....repetitive and boring. Songs went on too long. It's pretty sad when I prefer the music from the commercials in between this group's songs, but alas it was true.

I liked this album 4 stars for me

Very distinctive sound that is reminiscent of Nirvana. Lots of slow lumbering tracks that set a tone for the distorted grungy guitar that makes it feel like a grimy industrial zone. Only knew one song before hand but will likely save over half of the album to my highlights to get familiar with.

favorite track: black hole sun least favorite track: half underrated track: limo wreck three track run: head down, black hole sun, spoonman

I’m not even really a soundgarden fan, but it’s a solid album.

Good vibe

Absolutely love this album. The last couple tracks feel like a little bit of an add on at the last minute but because there are so many bangers on here I'm willing to forgive it and still give it a 5.

Not the best, not the worst. Ojito con "Black Hole Sun", para mi la mejor del album

This one of the greatest grunge albums out there and Chris Cornell is by a mile the genres best singer.

This is an excellent album, but the hits overshadow the rest of it. You get tracks like "4th of July" or "Mailman" that are excellent, but are more of a mood than standouts. It's a little sludgier than Badmotorfinger, but most of the other songs kind of bleed together because they all hold very similar tempos. I wish I'd heard more than just the hits when this one came out, because the hits have become classic-rock radio staples. My rating: 4/5

Good Friday jams. Album felt less tired and overwhelming as some of the other rock albums of the 80’s and 90’s on this list.

Album #259 Soundgarden: Superunknown One thing that I noticed when reslistening to Superunknown is that if you strip it of all its regional context and aesthetics, of the Seattle grunge scene, it really does just feel like a 70s hard rock album. Obviously the production is a lot better than you would find in the 70s, and there is definitely more metal influence in the instrumentals; but from a song structure point of view these songs are straight up hard rock. This isn’t an unknown thing about grunge, of course, that it was sort of just an amalgamation of rock bands who made varying degrees of rock, mostly deriving from alt-rock/metal and hard rock, but I think Soundgarden, almost as much as Pearl Jam, are the most straightforward in their approach. Now personally, this is actually a good thing, since a lot of the time when people sought out to make ‘grunge’ music, what they were actually doing was a Kurt Cobain impression. I think it is safe to say that Kurt Cobain wouldn’t have written anything on Superunknown, which is probably why Soundgarden stood out from the rest of the grunge pack; they had an identity. Black Hole Sun is the obvious pick here, and it really is a once-in-a-lifetime track, but the album is over an hour of consistently great tracks. Chris Cornell could be the best vocalist of the 90s, and because of that, a lot of these songs are carried by vocal performance alone. Though there is definitely diversity amongst the songs, I do think to a point some of them feel redundant, which holds me back from making Superunknown a consistent listen; I also just think an album this heavy starts to lose weight if overplayed. But as far as 90s rock goes, Superunknown is easily ahead of most of the dull alternative rock that tried and failed to emulate the rawness and edginess of Nirvana. Best Songs: Black Hole Sun, Limo Wreck, Fell On Black Days Worst Songs: Half Score out of 10: 8

It sounds like every other good grunge band because every other grunge band tries to sound like this.

Very much enjoyed this one. So dark and captures the fall of wonder in the face of more examples of hyperreality, and the rise of individual realities while hoping for something to bring balance to get lost in the wonder of the natural world.

Instant flashback to my early teens. Hard to be objective when it's connected with such memories, but it's a good opportunity to evaluate it. Wave = ⅝ time signature. How cool is that? And it's so coherent that when they drop into 4, *that* feels off, like something's missing. I love the raw crunchy guitars and bass-heavy grove. Excellent vocals from Chris Cornell. I wish I knew my music better, to understand where this fits in the line of influences. What lead to this? What came from it later? If nothing else, this is an excellent snapshot of mid-90s grunge/alternative that had edge, felt musically tight, and is still widely accessible. Wish I could give 4.5 stars

I won't pretend: some of this rating is based on nostalgia. But while Nevermind and 10 are good, I think of Superunknown as the quintessential 90s Seattle rock album. Cornell's vocals communicate despair and longing yes, but also bits of joy (E.g Spoonman). The band is well balanced, and you can feel the weight of the riffs without feeling like they're sludgy. Several of the songs run on too long (looking at you, Black Hole Sun), but that can be partly blamed on broader musical trends at that time.

Nit a fan of rock but I listened to it all the the way cause I liked it good

OMG OMG FROM THIS ALBUM IS BLACK HOLE SUN AND I REEEEALLLY LIKE THAT SONG OOOF HEAD DOWN??? omg limo wreck... 4TH OF JULY??? o.m.g i'm definitely relistening to this one!! 4 STARS

Lang

I have only heard Black Hole Sun before and what I got is kind of what I was expecting. A really good voice that stands out while taking longer higher notes. The album is on the slower side of rock but not in a bad way at all. I enjoyed listening through it and will definitely come back to more than a few songs.

Soundgarden if they were into orgasm denial: Black hole son do not cum Anyway this is fantastic. It's so sludgy and chewy. I vastly prefer it over Nevermind for the grunge record. Chris Cornell has (well, had. RIP) a fantastic voice.

I did not care for superunknown... I saw someone say "I bet nickleback enjoyed this", they are so fucking right I've always had an issue listening to this kind of music to be honest. It's just not for me. Black hole sun is a tune, but I dont want to listen to a whole one hour ten minutes of this. Highkey I like when his voice is less "all out" all the time, like on Fell on Black Days vs a song like Let me Drown where it is just grating to be honest TLDR: I see the appeal for those who like this, but it's not for me

Chris was ahead of his time as just about a week ago, scientists discovered a "Black Hole Star" for the first time. But yeah, this album rocks. So many good hits will be making the playlist here. Near perfection. Hadn't listened to the whole album in a while, it was a nice treat for today.

Another amazing album from 1994! Shall we recap? Soundgarden - Superunkown, Green Day - Dookie, Offspring - Smash, Weezer - Blue, NIN - Downward Spiral, Korn - Korn, STP - Purple, AIC - Jar of Flies, Bush - Sixteen Stone, Pantera - Far Beyond Driven, and the list goes on. To properly appreciate the album, I listened to all of Soundgarden’s studio albums, going twice through on this one. The first two are loud and abrasive, developing. By the third they found some melodies you can actually sing along to, and on this, their fourth outing, they found the secret sauce that made it magic. I would say this is their Black album - a big step forward, a maturation, and a turning point in their career marked by huge popularity. Much as Metallica's black album is a favorite of mine, but not _the_ favorite, so is Superunkown. I think in both cases the album sets them up for what will be their peak later in the same decade. Down On The Upside, I feel, is peak Soundgarden, just as Load is peak Metallica (unpopular opinion, I know). Throughout all of Soundgarden’s discography, one thing is certain - Chris Cornell is an amazing vocalist. Fresh Tendrils has been a favorite track of mine for a long time, and every time I listen to the album, they all grow on me a little more. My Wave has become another favorite, and I'm really starting to dig 4th Of July and Like Suicide. I never really took to Black Hole Sun and Spoonman out the gate, which is why I kind of avoided this album, but the rest of it I like a whole lot better, and those tracks are growing on me.

Fantastic!

Love it

It’s was ok

One hit wonders don't make great albums.

Good rock album for an anxious day, didn’t stick with me!

this album is not smart but it is fun!

I've been holding off on listening to this outside the generator because I wanted to go into it with somewhat fresh ears. Back in the day, I played this album into the ground, so I'm very familiar with it, especially the singles I have in my playlist. But what I really want to check out this time is the deeper cuts like Let Me Drown, My Wave, Mailman, Limo Wreck, Fresh Tendrils, and 4th of July (among others). While I generally am loathe to get psychedelic albums from the generator, this album uses the genre in a fantastic way to add a dark eeriness to the music. Stuff like Mailman is just uncomfortable in a good way. Or Limo Wreck and 4th of July with it's more doom metal offerings. And obviously, the hits are hitting. Spoonman being one of the few 7/4 songs to get big. The Day I Tried to Live being one of my favorite lyrical songs from Cornell. Black Hole Sun being the quintessential Soundgarden song. Overall, this is just a classic, amazing album, and one that stands as one of the best rock albums of all time.

Perfect.

Great

It's easy to dismiss grunge (fun sometimes, too) but it's undeniable how much impact this album has had on modern alternative rock music. Had Chris Cornell lost his battle with depression 20 years sooner, Soundgarden would be bigger than Nirvana.

Amazing sound and Connell’s vocals are undeniably epic/raw. My only personal reason for 4 stars is the album is quite depressing

Let Me Drown - 4.5/5 My Wave - 4/5 Fell on Black Days - 5/5 Mailman - 4/5 Superunknown - 4.5/5 Head Down - 4/5 Black Hole Sun - 5/5 Spoonman - 5/5 Limo Wreck - 4/5 The Day I Tried to Live - 5/5 Kickstand - 4/5 Fresh Tendrils - 4.5/5 4th of July - 4.5/5 Half - 3.5/5 Like Suicide - 4.5/5 Soundgarden take a minor departure from their last album, going from mostly grunge-influenced metal to widen their horizons while focusing on the grunge aspect of their sound. And ooooh boy does it hit. While Badmotorfinger was aggressive in a "slaps you in the face" kind of way, Superunknown instead takes its sweet time to immerse you in its grimy and psychedelic soundscape. This truly belongs on the Mount Rushmore of grunge albums along with Nevermind, Dirt, and Ten. Man I miss Chris Cornell. Overall: 5/5 Favorites: Fell on Black Days, Black Hole Sun, Spoonman, The Day I Tried to Live

Is there a better record from the grunge era than Superunknown? Of course: it's Badmotorfinger. While Pearl Jam have always been a cringe rock band and Nirvama were struggling with their superstardom, Soundgarden were pumping out one legendary album after another.

I never got into Soundgarden in any big way when this was new, even though I thought Black Hole Sun was a pretty great song. I feel like grunge kind of comes from two different backgrounds to end up in similar places -- there's the punk and the metal. Soundgarden feels a lot closer to metal, and that might be why I struggle with this a bit. It's quite long at 15 songs and 70 minutes... and takes until track 7 and 8 to get to the best one-two punch of the album in Black Hole Sun and Spoonman. These tracks are still great and would make this a 5/5 album if they were representative of the rest of it. Unfortunately, only Fell On Black Days and The Day I Tried to live are even memorable. The only thing saving this from being drudgery to listen to is Chris Cornell's fantastic voice. I think it's one of the best ever in rock music. That said, I vastly prefer the variety we get in his debut solo album over what we have here. I'm trying to remember anything about "My Wave," "Fresh Tendrils," "Superunknown," etc. and it just blends together. One outlier and easily the worst song in the running order is "Half," which sounds like a Led Zeppelin demo. Can't stand it. Overall, I was hoping to find some hidden gems, but my takeaways are the same songs I liked 30 years ago are still good and the rest is still unnecessary.

No one sings like you anymore.

Couple good tunes Not my thing

Sick riffs, interesting time signatures and freak vocal performance

I don't really like Soundgarden, I never have. It's meh. Whatever.

1. drouun - 1 2. uuave - 2 3. black - 1 4. mail - 1 5. zuper - 0 6. head - 1 7. zun - 3 8. zpoon - 0 9. limo - 0 10. live - 2 11. kick - 0 12. frezh - 1 13. july - 2 14. half - 1 15. zuicide - 0

Not for me. But definitely can see the appeal for grunge.

just not special

A: Hmmm den hade mycket potential men albuet var alltför långt... Trodde ren de sku va mer cool metal instrumental men nää de va ba tråkig perus btch ass rock... Vissa delar var fr bra men liksom bruh de fanns inget behov för det här. 3?/5 (Fanns vissa s-tier men få, mest låg A-tier) D: Bättre än den vanliga typiska rocken men fattar int hur genren tycks vara förhindrad från att överskrida en viss originalitetsnivå. Jag ska nån dag kasta alla rockslbum i en mixer och extrahera all deras nästanbra och producera det bästa albumet som mänskligheten har sett. 4/5

Good album. Chris Cornell is of course a phenomenal singer. But it went on too long and the other songs just weren’t as good as the hits.

A really good collection of rock songs with a number of well-known tracks on it. The popular songs are easily identifiable and the lesser known songs didn’t miss by much. A really good listen.

I have grown to understand what an incredible vocalist Chris Cornell was. Truly one of the best to ever sing rock. This is an iconic 90s album littered with hits.

A band I shamefully overlook, I remember Chris Cornell far more readily. Which I make little excuse for, Chris Cornel was a generational talent, the power and clarity of his voice are without equal. However, Soundgarden absolutely rocked. More hard rock than grunge, but being from Seattle they hitched a ride on that wave and fit in just with those bands. So many bangers on this album. So happy this came up today, true joy to revisit. Above all, Soundgarden are pioneers in featuring the spoon as an instrument. Rarely used outside Disney Jug bands, Soundgarden were innovators incorporating the spoon sound with hard rock! Now excuse me as I finish my bowl of cereal and crank out a ripping spoon solo.

Some of the best grunge you'll ever hear. RIP Chris Cornell. 4.5 bumped up to 5.

I’m above a 5. Not quite a 10, but that’s a damn good album regardless. Going in, my hope was simply that the rest of the tracks would live up to the expectation set by “Black Hole Sun”, and outside of a few filler-y tracks, they all basically do. Honestly, there’s not that much to say as a result, at least in terms of insights that the rest of the world hasn’t already acknowledged a thousand times over. Chris Cornell’s voice feels like the epitome of pain here, channeling something that feels like an inflection point between Jeff Buckley & Eddie Vedder, letting his passion ride the waves of some fantastically heavy instrumentation. The guitar & drum work here is off the charts, managing to reach high peaks throughout this album. The drums are perhaps more subtle as the seasoning for the guitar, but when they want to go off, they fucking go off. This is an album where lyrics play a huge part in fully comprehending the tracks, but they barely matter in terms of *feeling* these songs. The energy pouring out of everything here is what matters. With Chris’s varied delivery & some extra enunciation on the lines that matter most, it’s a perfect storm that keeps your attention on everything at the same time. When you feel this album out, it’s impossible to not get some sense of the struggle & tension that underlines this album. At the same time, it’s almost like a catharsis for whatever mirrored tension has been built up in your brain. If it’s in there, Chris is the messenger to try and get it out, and he does one hell of a job at it. Yes, this is dark, drearier, and a bit heavy, but it’s delivered with a desire to lighten that load for whoever’s listening. Take “Superunknown”; it’s a track about fighting back against the most negative aspects of self-doubt, with Chris’s longer held notes lifting out some of that tension. It’s positive reinforcement coated in a darker soundscape, and that ethos applies to a lot of the album. “Black Hole Sun” is the same thing, though with more of a defeatist attitude towards eliminating everything as a whole to start over & create a better world to live in. I suppose that’s his way of washing the rain away. Overall, I think the only thing you could really knock on this album is that it’s a little bit long at 70 minutes. There’s a few overlapping tracks in terms of the subject matter, a few that go a bit long, and a few filler-y ones that don’t quite fit the tone of the rest of the album (looking specifically at “Spoonman”, which is good & “Half”, which is... there). That’s why I’m not at a full 10 here, but the highest highs of this album stand up with the Seattle-based grunge greats of the first half of the 1990s. It’s that damn good. It’s somewhere above a 5 for me, and I’m so very glad to have finally heard it. Rest in peace to Chris Cornell.

Loved it. Banger after banger.

recently came around on this one a bit

Sick

- 2-3 bc some songs I did not like at all

This is one of four or five albums that I consider core grunge. Ultimate complement for me

Fantastic album with lots of great songs, even forgiven for its length, overall absolutely belongs here

I don't remember "Spoonman" from the '90s, but I very much like it now.

I just don’t really care for it all that much

Tosi hyvää hard rockia. Sopii raivokkaaseen tekemiseen. Pitkä levy, 1h 10min.

not my fave grunge

++: Let Me Drown, Fell on Black Days, Mailman, Superunknown, Head Down, Black Hole Sun, Limo Wreck, The Day I Tried to Live, Half, Like Suicide +: My Wave, Kickstand, Fresh Tendrils, 4th of July +-: Spoonman 8,8/10

1000 stars!!! RIP Chris Cornell, you were a legend!

The only Soundgarden album I possesed was the A-Sides, which was basically greatest hits, most of my favorites are not from this album and that's probably because of radio overplay, because BHS, Spoonman and FOBD where huge and inescapable in the 90s. But the album is great, so many deep cuts and lower hits like My Wave, the title track and TDITTL. This was much more radio friendlier than Nevermind and Ten I think, it has metal and alt appeal all over the place. Kickstand and other late songs hold the album from finishing out great as it starts, but still top tear just below of Ten and Nevermind in the grungy pantheon.

I really like their sound - thick and naturally heavy (does that make sense? It's not a forced "give me the heaviest riff you've got" kind of heavy), and the vocals are fantastic. I was just a little disappointed there weren't more songs that really grabbed me. Maybe it's a bit of a grower.

Very solid. Spoonman and Black Hole Sun are great. The other tracks are good but dont wow me

Me pareció muy bueno como cada instrumento, pues tiene su protagonismo como mezclan las melodías, aún siendo bastante pesado, me gustó

I never really understood grunge back in the 90s. To me, it just sounds like 1970s hard rock with baggy jumpers and greasy hair, and certainly not a worrying youth trend that warranted a moral panic about cob nobblers and lame stains. I remember playing Black Hole Sun on Rock Band and enjoying it, but there’s nothing really new here. The only difference really is that the lyrics tend to be somewhat more introspective and depressing than their 1970s counterparts, which is I guess the root of their appeal. Sadly lead singer Chris Cornell was another victim of the rock lifestyle who struggled and didn’t get the help that he was crying out for judging by his songs.

The peerless black hole sun elevates this from the ordinary. The rest of the sings are listenable if a little turgid

Bien.

Wouldn't listen to it but it was good metal. Black hole sun is always a banger.

Spoonman is great. I like my wave. Cool guitar riffs that repeat and I like when they play with time. Put it on the playlist

The album is an acquired taste. I liked a few songs, but most of them didn’t do much for me. It’s just not my style. I’d rate it 5/10

I actually only know this band because they opened for Neil Young in 1993. Some songs from the album made the charts, but that didn't interest me at all—neither then nor now. I don't recall Soundgarden's songs getting much airplay on the radio (in Germany). The ballad "Black Hole Sun" is well-known, of course. They play a heavy, sometimes dark style of rock. A true grunge band.

Quality grunge. 4.5

Considering it’s a fairly generic rock album, it still sounds original and fresh. The drums sound great too

Настя бы сказала недостаточно козлиный голос, не верю)) кроме блэк хол остальные очень тяжёлые

Great 90s sound. Start to finish, very good.

Cant't believe this was my first full listen through. I have listened to multiple songs individually but not as a full album. RIP Chris Cornell. God tier vocals throughout and amazing riff to go with it

I liked this. May listen to more. Probably not heard their music previously.

To my mind Soundgarden are the only band from the grunge era who even come close to Nirvana when it comes to imbuing the edgy, thick, psychedelic fuzz with genuine cool and pathos. Pearl Jam had an urgent, anthemic quality but Eddie Vedder and co. were just a little too preachy (this coming from someone whose very first gig was a Pearl Jam concert). This album rocks. Chris Cornell (RIP) had an incredible voice, and a sex appeal that every fuck boy in a flannel shirt has tried to emulate ever since. The grooves here are tight, with nervy guitar licks winding around fat and insistent basslines. All up, just great "I was born in the wrong era" 90s rock.

Not really me thing

There was a long period of my life where I would have called this my favorite album of all time. I have since matured and come to realize that such superlatives are silly when it comes to music. But still, this is a great fucking album.

Wow. I've never listened to this album before. In 1994, it felt like Black Hole Sun and Spoonman were ubiquitous and inescapable, and I liked neither. So, me no listen. Turns out, I still don't like these songs, but that's probably vestigial distaste, because the rest of the album is excellent.

Excellent stuff. Songs sounded a bit similar after a while, but all good. I do think some of the additional elements, like brass in the background, are why I like Cornell's "You Know My Name" (main song from Casino Royale) so much. Some wrenching song titles in here, given Cornell's later death.

5/5 - This is so damn good. Hardly a wasted track.

15 songs Man, Chris Cornell had one of the most hauntingly beautiful voices ever. A few filler songs, but the great songs, general atmosphere of the album + Chris's voice more than make up for it.

8/10 For this, Soundgarden’s fourth album, the band began to broaden their sound palette. While it has a foot in the grunge scene, it takes in influences from metal, psychedelic rock and even a touch of prog to spin something wide-ranging and expansive. They write some tremendous riffs and deliver them with weight and power, with rhythms that pound and groove in equal measure. But they also tinker with more psychedelic tones, perhaps most apparent on the albums most notable hit, Black Hole Sun. From a structural point of view, they spend quite a bit of the album coming up with sequences and patterns that eschew common sequence lengths or dive into less frequently used time signatures, something that can be jarring if not carefully managed. Fortunately, they deal with those aspects of the song writing admirably, and their use of these techniques feels both natural and engaging. The obvious standout of Soundgarden’s sound is Chris Cornell, one of rock music’s great vocalists, and he’s on fine form here. He shows his broad range with passages displaying subtlety and nuance, to those that soar and shine above the weight of the band below him. It’s pretty spectacular stuff. But the rest of the band should not be underestimated in any way. There is some really excellent drumming, with tracks like Kickstand and Like Suicide highlighting the strength of Matt Cameron’s talents, while Kim Thayil has some great moments too, with Superunknown and, again, Like Suicide offering some standout moments. I would say that Ben Shepherd’s bass is tight and controlled, but it doesn’t feel like he’s given as many moments to stand forward as the other band members, but the weight and control of his work alongside Matt Cameron do a lot to shape the tone of the work. So all in all, it’s a solid blend of talented musicians. For me, I feel like the album does take a little while to get properly moving and, while the aforementioned growth and development of sound adds great value to the record, it’s probably part of the reason that it falters ever so slightly. Frankly, it’s too long. You could probably get away with chopping out, or at least shortening, a few of the early tracks, because when the album hits Black Hole Sun, it goes on a run of the highest quality. It’s a shame really, because, there’s probably a near perfect album in here, but it’s a bit bloated and unfocused, due to the sheer amount of material. Blame the 90s and CD storage lengths, I guess, but if they’d been a bit more brutal with their edits, this could have gone from being an very, very good album to a brilliant one. Let Me Drown - A great riff to kick us off. It’s weighty and driven, and develops really nicely into the chorus. Chris Cornell’s vocal starts strong and then absolutely soars. It’s powerful stuff, but he also throws in moments of subtle control too. I thought things might get a bit repetitive with such a prominent riff, but they play around it nicely to give extra range and takes on that core idea that keep things pretty fresh. My Wave - Soundgarden were always the grunge band most comfortable with uneven meter, and this is a great example. They deal with it so smoothly that it’s not altogether that obvious, which is always a sign of good songwriting. It’s a great riff that continues to display weight and power. The chorus is a little meandering, but brings in some nice stuff in the higher register. It’s not one of their strongest songs, but there’s some great stuff and some interesting experimentation in there regardless. Fell On Black Days - A nice bit of 6/8 now, and it’s a great groove and a cool, wandering riff. This is quite a slow, thoughtful song that has some really nice moments, but does become a little bit repetitive in places. They liven it up with extra instrumental work and some breaks into pieces of higher intensity, but I think it might just be a bit on the long side. Mailman - This feels like a half way house between Alice In Chains and Queens Of The Stone Age. It’s sludgy and heavy with another solid groove, again offset by Cornell’s soaring vocal. The Mellotron strings on this are a little jarring for me. The power in this definitely comes from the vocal, which increases in intensity brilliantly as the song progresses. Another solid effort. Superunknown - Chris Cornell gives it from the start here. The interplay between the different guitar and bass parts is great, and the instrumental variety gives this more life and energy than the last couple of tracks. There’s still an edge of that repetition in there, but they work around it and expand on it to give it more room. Again, the lead vocal shines, but is ably backed up in sections to give things extra depth. Cool guitar soloing too. Head Down - Now they lean a bit more into the psychedelic side to their sound. There are some interesting harmonic choices at play between the lead guitar and vocal, which gives a slightly unsettling feel. The juxtaposition between the weighty main part of the mix and the more subtle acoustic work is nice and adds an interesting texture. There’s a floaty quality to this that I quite like too. Black Hole Sun - And now they take that psychedelic sound from the last track and spin it around a melodic hook that presents this as the most accessible example of the bands work. It’s beautiful work that toys subtly around that melody through the verses and then drops a massive weight into the chorus. It’s gritty and heavy, but the central melodic premise is so well delivered with that trademark build of intensity that Cornell is capable of that it manages to be both heavy and poppy in equal measure. Lovely stuff. Spoonman - And off the back of such a great track, we get another brilliant one. It’s very different, but possibly even stronger: Powerful, full of killer riffs, and Chris Cornell sings at his fiery best. Oh, and the verse has three bars of four and then a bar of two, just for fun. The drumming is excellent here too and gets a great section to showcase it. Everything about this track is absolutely epic. No notes. Limo Wreck - Back to something slower paced and almost early Sabbathy and sludgy here. It’s always raised out of the murk by Cornell’s soaring vocal which shines (again!), but there’s a lot of great guitar work across this track too. There’s loads of range to the parts, plenty of weight in the bottom end, but enough going on elsewhere to keep sonic interest throughout. Another great track. The Day I Tried To Live - A lovely slow build of a track now. There’s so much groove and thrust to this. I’ll stop calling out time signatures soon, but a bar of 7 and a bar of 8 in sequence is pretty decent stuff. The vocal is absolutely stunning, and the rest of the band really hit it out of the park with nuanced playing where required and weighty punch where it counts. That little vocal trill on “I tried” is so, so good. More absolute quality. Kickstand - Is this the least “Soundgarden” track on the record? It’s got a lot more pace than is typical of them, but they tackle it really well, The drumming on this is of great quality, in particular, but the whole band give it the beans and it’s done in an instant. More to love. Fresh Tendrils - Another great groove. Chris Cornell rightly gets a lot of the plaudits when people speak of Soundgarden, but the rest of the band are excellent, nuanced players too. There are some great riffs here, and the textures of the guitars against one another and the clavinet create an interesting flavour compared to what’s come before. It’s not the most exciting of tracks, but it’s still decent. 4th Of July - This is such a dark, gloomy track that leans even more into the sludgy, stoner rock sound that they’ve toyed with here and there. It’s got a good groove and the vocal floats above the murk as always, but it does drag a tiny bit and the mix is on the muddy side. That’s probably what they were going for, but it’s a bit too much of a dirge for my tastes, at least this far into quite a long record. Half - A nice use of strings here and again, it’s interesting for them to throw a bit of sonic range and variety into the mix. It’s a cool track and it’s short enough to earn its place as a textural break, but on a 70 minute album, as the second last track, it feels oddly placed. Like Suicide - A slow, wide-open and, in places, delicate track to close things off. It builds well as it goes and there’s more great playing from the band. Matt Cameron, in particular, does a lot of great stuff on the drums and this, yet again, showcases the soaring heights of Chris Cornell’s vocal work. Kim Thayil gets to let rip with a long bit of soloing too. It’s a really decent closer, but in all honesty, the album is just too long and closing with an, admittedly very good, 7 minute song, really emphasises that point.

I owned this when I was 15ish. So there's some nostalgia here and, overall I had a decent enough time with Superunkown. Chris Cornell does suffer from the silly American alt rock voice that a lot of singers at the time used although it doesn't annoy me as much as Eddie Vader or the guy from Alice in Chains. The album's also a bit too long and could do with a couple of the tracks, of which Black Hole Sun is the only real standout, cutting. Overall, while I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, I don't really think there's enough here to give a four, although it's close.

This was okay. 3/5. I didn't get Spoonman

Even better than I thought it would be. After years of skipping Black Hole Sun from overexposure, this is a real surprise with great depth and variety (for what it is) By the time BHS rolls around it feels like it fits right in. Although it's a little depressive the music and vocals are outstanding. 8/10

The farther I get away from grunge the less I like it. Not enough melodic sensibility for me. These are decent songs but nothing I would go back to.

Black hole sun was the stand out everything else to me was meh might, but I might enjoy it more the more I listen to it or other albums.

For a person who doesn't listen to rock that much, I actually liked it. Added 3 songs to my playlist, guess that's good!

Only one of the greatest albums of all time

Fascinating album, didn't recognize the band at first. Always something fun and new

Fell On Black Days is such a good song. Lots of gems, distinctive sounds

meh

This album rips. It's got so much soul. You feel every word. Chris' voice is so unique - it's the only voice that can pierce thru that type of band. Which brings me to my next point. This album is LOUD. Like just so much noise. I'm all for distortion and I understand how it plays into 90s grunge but I feel like some of the chords just get so muddy it's hard to follow. It's my only knock against a great album. Highlights: Black Hole Sun, Fall On Black Days

Typical grunge. Interesting only as an album of its era.

Throughout this project I’ve realized that grunge just isn’t a genre I like much (despite a general enjoyment of Nirvana and Pearl Jam). This was better than some grunge but overall it was too long and sludgy save for a few tracks (Superunknown, Black Hole Sun, Spoonman)

Sounds like nirvana but it's not cuz it's soundgarden and the singer sounds 60 years old, great stuff

soundgarden more like ive heard better sounding stuff (couple good songs tho)

divorced dad core

1 hour and 10 minutes of great music, singing, and killer rhythms plus some of the songs are classic: Fell On Black Days, Superunknown, Black Hole Sun, Spoonman, and the album never really disappoints. A classic banger from Seattle with love. 5 "can't get enough of Chris Cornell's voice" stars.

One of the best grunge albums ever. Has all of the best aspects of that sound while injecting a lot of other influences to set itself apart from the pack and, in turn, create some of the best songs that the genre has to offer. And, of course, Chris Cornell's voice is absolutely unreal here.

Very familiar with this album! Many songs off of this have been favorites of mine in the past, 4th Of July and Black Hole Sun were both absolutely foundational to my music taste as a teen. Phenomenal album.

Chris Cornell's got an amazing voice, there's a few songs on here that are great especially towards the front and back, Black Hole Sun is great. Also this album is a nightmare of compression artifacts and sounds awful.

Good grungey rock. Not bad at all

might be a tad bit overrated 3.5

Grunge nirvana on this one (pun intended). It flat out rocks and these guys were firing on all cylinders on this. "Black Hole Sun," "Fell on Black Days, " "Spoonman," "The Day I Tried to Live," so many great songs. It's too long by a few songs, could have used a little editing, but I'd put this up there as one of the better rock albums of the 90's.

A great grunge record, one of the best ive heard not by a band named Nirvana. Cornell's voice was incredible, and he had an interesting voice as a songwriter too (pretty bleak one though). Lots of diversity in the sound too. I don't love every single song but still admire it as one of the great albums of 90s rock

Creo que no lo pillo. Buena sorpresa cuando llegó Black Hole Sun pero poco más. No le veo distinción entre otros del género.

Generic sounding metal album

Maravilloso, genial, increíble.

really enjoyed it

No lo había escuchado antes, tiene buenísimos bangers y al mismo tiempo es consistente durante todo el disco, con un sonido Hard rock puro. Es ahora uno de mis discos favoritos de este género, solo debajo de "Back In Black" de Ac/Dc. 4.0

Chris Cornell? You mean the goat? The spoon man himself???

If his voice was a person... drooling.....

In itself the music is very good, love that the rock is leaning towards grunge, but i feel like the album is kinda missing personality. I think this is what pop listeners hear when somebody plays them a rock or metal album. The music is good it just sounds extreamly generic, its the type of songs that you would have on your playlist and the playlist would totaly rock, but you would never pay more attention to these songs or even remember their name and author. Spoonman and my wave kind of stuck out to me tho.

QUel banger !!!!

I honestly could not finish this album for the life of me. I got 8 songs in before calling it quits. They all sounded the same and I had lost all hope of any of the remaining songs sounding even remotely unique. I just don't think that rock, as a genre, is for me. That's not to say that there aren't rock songs that I enjoy, but they are few and far between - especially in comparison to other genres. 'Black Hole Sun' was the only song I actually liked, and that's because I saw it used in an edit of Dark Souls 3.

I REALLY liked this album. Everything is really strong. It is like grunge, but heavier? But also has like complex/prog aspects. It is a lot of fun. Obviously "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman" are absolute bangers. Actual rating...4.5 Liked Songs: "Let Me Down" , "My Wave" , "Mailman" , "Superunknown" , "Head Down" , "Black Hole Sun" , "Spoonman", "Limo Wreck" , "The Day I Tried To Live" , "Kickstand" , "Fresh Tendrils" , "4th Of July" , "Half" , "Like Suicide"

Sounds a bit like Creed

I don't think there was anything here I disliked, but I also didn't find this particularly innovative or exciting. I could happily listen to any of it, though it's maybe a little boring when listening to the whole album in one sitting - not helped by the fact it's quite long. The vocals are good, and the backing has moments. Decent in it's own right, but nothing particularly special.

I'm disappointed with this album. It's called SuperUnknown by Soundgarden, it just sounds like I was in store for a ton of interesting effects and stuff I'd not heard before. Instead it just sounds like bog standard grunge.

Spoooooonman!!! Nuff said!

4.5/5

HO ASCOLTATO LA PRIMA PARTE DI QUESTO ALBUM IMMOBILE CATATONICO SUL LETTO, MENTRE LA SECONDA PARTE DURANTE UNA BELLA PASSEGGIATA. QUESTO POTREBBE SPIEGARE COME MAI LA SECONDA PARTE MI SIA PIACUTA MOLTO DI PIU'. "HEAD DOWN" E "BLACK HOLE SUN" LE MIE PREFERITE. DO 4 STELLE PER RICORDARE AL ME DEL FUTURO DI RITORNARE. 4/5 EDIT: RIMANE 4, MA “HEAD DOWN” CHE MINA È.

This is one of my favorite bands, so I wasn’t exactly coming into this one unbiased. Still, Superunknown earns the 5. It’s heavy, strange, psychedelic, and somehow still packed with songs that were big enough to live on rock radio forever. Soundgarden could make something ugly and disorienting without losing the melody, and Chris Cornell’s voice could carry just about anything they threw at him. “4th of July” starts off with this slow, filthy sludge sound that reminds me of Acid Bath. That riff feels like it’s dragging itself through mud. Then you get something like “Half” with that Eastern sound, which is weird as hell but fits the album perfectly. It never stays in one place for very long. “Fell on Black Days,” “Spoonman,” “Black Hole Sun,” and “The Day I Tried to Live” are all bangers, of course, but the album is a lot deeper than the singles. The whole thing has this dark, uneasy atmosphere that never lets up, even when the songs get catchy. No bad tracks, no wasted space. One of the best albums from one of the best bands of the 90s. Favorite song: “Spoonman”

I am a fan of 90s alt-rock and once I got past the initial songs I really settled into this melodic grunge opus.

Better than Nirvana Worse than something that would be on my playlist

True Grunge. RIP Chris Cornell

I enjoyed it musically, and I dig his voice. I didn't always love the lyrics, but not enough for me to give a low rating. Black hole sun and fell on black days still are great!! I also wasn't expecting to like 4th of July, but I did!

First of all, what a great band name. I wish they lived up to it. The vocalists' vocal range is great, and distinct. But the rest just feels so generic. And the songs are the same sound with slight timing differences. For over an hour. The singles that I recognized did add some nostalgia.

Top 1000, Top 100, Top 10!!! Epic album!

I've always only sorta like Soundgarden. They're good but never grip me. Unfortunately -- sorry Ted, please don't maul me -- this reenforced my 'eh, ok' opinion.

I was expecting more from this album. Though I'm not entirely sure why. I've heard Black Hole Sun about a million times, and it an exemplar what this album delivers. The longs are generally longer than necessary and pretty repetitive. The album art always makes me think of Bat Boy from Weekly World News.

not my type of music, but bangers are bangers

I detest grunge tbh

SuperUNCknown

Super jammy and loud but fun

I’m 10 boring songs in and there are five more to go. They had no business making a 70-minute album. Every song sounds the same, has a predictable chord and lyric progression. Meh. 2 stars.

This is the record where I kinda jumped off the Soundgarden wagon. Badmotorfinger was just the right mix of sounds for the garden. (See what I did there?) That album still retained a punk rawness with the mix of metal, alternative rock and grunge. On Superunknown the edges were sawed off to make it more palatable for radio and that worked - Black Hole Sun, Spponman, Fell On Black Days and My Wave were played constantly. KROQ must have played these songs 20x per day. I’m not knocking them as songs. But they felt kind of manufactured and taken as a whole the record is a bit aimless as the introduction of new sounds in my opinion took some of the liveliness from the recording. Live versions from the period bear this out as they retain the heaviness but with a punchier, more punk rock leaning, edge. Cornell, as a singer, is powerfully on display throughout the recording but I would have liked to have seen some restraint on a couple of songs, specifically My Wave. Unpopular opinion, but you can have too much Cornell on a song. I blame the producer for not reining in the band a bit, but I’m probably in the minority with this take. Hard to deny this record sold a shit ton. Some people are still playing this record so it has had some legs. 3.5/5

7.0/10

There's so much to love about this record. The distorted guitars, heavy drum beats and iconic vocals are utterly fantastic, the latter in particular coming through amazingly well on this album. From a songwriting perspective it's also great, with the majority of the tracks maintaining a strong presence. There are a few tracks in the middle that don't quite hit me the same, but overall this is a very good listen.

terrible commercial rock

It’s good, but it’s like there are better versions of this in other bands?

I don't feel it's a perfect album, but man it's close. In the absence of a 0.1 (or even 0.5) rating granularity, a 5, but, really, high 4s.

it's good maybe I'm feeling cynical about this list because yes, this is good grunge, but I am hoping I still get more variety and can actually learn about other than being mostly music my dad listened to in the car when I was young but that's not Soundgarden's fault

Me recuerda mucho a mi novio, lo amo <3 Aun así, no suelo escuchar mucho grunge, sin embargo, admiro la atmósfera que es capaz de crear con algunos sonidos de guitarra

Not sure I ever listened to the whole album before only the hits but it was a good break from my standard listening. A bit nostalgic.

I'm not a huge grunge guy but this was pretty good. As far as a single track goes, Black Hole Sun is up there as top track of any album so far (maybe other than My Sweet Lord from the George Harrison album). Leaning high 3 for this one.

I've never been a fan of Soundgarden. I don't like Chris Cornell's voice. He's too yelly. I do like the music video for Black Hole Sun, and I don't mind that song. I recognized a couple other songs on the album: Fell on Black Days and Spoonman.

I would have liked to hear more variety but among the baritone 90s rocker style, this band did it better than most.

Chug-a-chug goes the guitars in the grungy era.

Great at the time, not aged as well as other records seem to have.

It's nice, not really my type of thing tho🥹🙏

One top 40 song but not my style of my style of music

Grunge at it's best.

one of the best from the 90's

Chris Cornell offered me my favorite song of all time : Black Hole Sun. From its release in 1994 to the present day. Fell in love with his voice at the second i heard him.

Near Perfect. 4.1

glad I finally got around to listening to this grunge classic. can't really say I see myself coming back to it, but it is a solid record.

I have definitely never tried to listen to a whole Soundgarden album. Too hard for sensitive lil old me, sorry!

Listening to this album for the first time in about 25 years, it's pretty much exactly how I remember it. There are some really good and underrated tracks that never got the attention they deserved, and then there are songs like "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun" that I had to skip altogether. Let's just say that if I described those songs as overplayed and burned out, that still wouldn't do justice to how many times I've heard them. This album came out in 1994, and I was already burned out on those songs by 1996. Anyways, for anyone from a younger generation who's going back and exploring 90s grunge, this is definitely an influential album to check out.

i love black hole sun but thats it

Ah it’s alright, just found it quite boring really. It’s the kind of music that the weirdo in year 7 was into, that later turned out to be a nonce

5/10

4/5

Ég skil af hverju þeir voru vinsælir í níunni.

Good sound and album. Enjoyed it, but it didn’t blow me away. Walked away with Black Hole Sun, the single I was familiar with before, still being the standout.

there are albums that i dislike, but know are palatable. there are albums i like, that are not palatable. this is one of them. the sound and vibe of soundgarden is not for everyone. but if this scratches that itch- they do it so well. black hole sun is definitely one of the greatest songs ever Would I listen again: Yep Deserves to be on this list: yes 4.2

5/10 - reminiscent of a cheap Foo Fighters/Queens of the Stone Age, begins to drag and sounds the samey towards the end

Irony that we get here from Mudhoney. Chris Cornell did not have a flawless discography, but certainly everything he touched between Temple of the Dog and the first Audioslave was top tier. Most important vocalist of the 90s, arguably of any genre. If Superunknown is not my favorite album of this span, it is nevertheless the most important, because it establishes everything that makes Soundgarden Soundgarden. You can find all of the heavy riffing that defined the band earlier, along with the snaky leads, the weird tuning, the banshee wail. But by the time you get to Fell on Black Days, you sort of know there's something different going on here. You don't hear Cornell that soulful on previous Soundgarden albums. He's flexing his songwriting and vocal abilities. I mean, Black Hole Sun is all of that… all the darkness and creepiness, the lower register taking point but still having the screams of the damned in the backing track, that heavy solo riff (and complimented by a chaotic solo). Or The Day I Tried to Live, which is probably one of the greatest songs of the era, but really plays with dynamics. You don't really get what feels like “classic” Soundgarden until the title track (and then they pull back immediately into “Head Down”) And that's really the story of this whole era for Cornell. It's the story of so much of what I love musically. This is the culturally significant milestone, but I think Down on the Upside is even better precisely because this album broke open every side of the band, and DotU decided to build out from the broken walls instead of create new ones. This is an album that absolutely always sounds like the same band, but it refuses to be predictable. It also starts the band really wandering out into each member's own interests. That's the sort of music that drew me in the most, that still does. I've listened to lots of great albums that find one groove and kind of locks into it but it's a good enough groove that you never really feel bored. But the ones that make me glad to be alive to hear music don't get so rigid (and the ones that make me wish I could never hear music tend to be so banal that even 100 changes couldn't liven it up). Anyway, this is a formative album for me as much as any album is. It's honest and creative and it very frequently rocks but also very frequently makes you confront a spoon solo or whatever “Half” is. It's part of what made the 90s, artistically, feel like it had no real boundaries, in a way that meant you could get anything instead of the modern way, where everything just has everything else shoved into it like a fast casual foodslop bowl. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love the 1990s, but this journey has illustrated to me that the music in that decade just wasn't that great. There, I said it. Whenever I see an album from another popular '90s artist, I expect to hear a legendary album, but I'm disappointed nearly every time. Perhaps if I generated this album just eight days earlier, I would at least have an interesting little coincidence to boast about, but unfortunately, it's mid tier straight white boy Alternative Rock music. Favorite Track: "Black Hole Sun".

Welcome to the Chris Cornell show. What a vocal talent he was; on full display here. While the album drags a little long and gets a bit repetitive (feel like it could have shed a couple songs in editing) it’s buoyed by the heights of the singles: black hole sun, day I tried to live, and Spoonman, the latter of which is an eternal banger. It’s a dark, moody, grunge-at-it’s-finest album. The strongest 4.5 stars I can give. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This must be a list of 1001 albums I hate.

soundgarde da hora. Acho mesmo que nunca tinha ouvido esse disco todo.

7/10

Oh yeah I have good memories of this record. My kid was in junior high and I’d drive him over there every morning and we’d listen to the grunge CDs of the moment. This reminds me of sitting in DC traffic at 7:00 in the morning, headbanging with my kid. Some of it is a bit much, but I always liked the bassline.

A favorite since I was a young teen

3.5

So many quintessential grunge/alt rock tracks on this album alone, and it sucks that the only song getting radio airplay these days is "Black Hole Sun". It may be one of, but not the best song on here. The eight song stretch from "Fell On Black Days" to "The Day I Tried to Live" (the latter if which is my all time favorite Soundgarden song) is absolutely flawless, an absolute masterstroke. It seems like every time I listen to this album a different song really pops out at me and on this listen it was "Head Down" with its additional percussions tracks really drew me in. And the original US tracklisting had it right ending the album with "My Suicide" which is probably my second favorite song on the album (or maybe "FOBD"), but it ends the album with a proper somber note that "She Likes Surprises" doesn't capture. Couple songs here and there keep it from a full five star status for me, including the opening track, but this it truly Soundgarden's masterpiece. (9.8) ★★★★½

One of the best grunge albums I have heard. 4.5 stars

This album is an essential entry from the grunge era. I think the band really is firing on all cylinders here. Strong songwriting from all four members, great playing from Cameron and Shepard, super inventive guitar work from Thayil and Cornell, and Chris Cornell's best vocals. It's perhaps a bit long, and I think most of us have had our fill of "Black Hole Sun", but there are so many excellent tracks here -- "My Wave", "Fell on Black Days", "Spoonman", "The Day I Tried to Live", "Head Down", and "Like Suicide". It kind of seamless blends punk, metal, hard rock, and alternative ethos. 5 stars.

One very great song in Black Hole Sun. Another pretty groovin song in Spoonman. The rest tends to be superaverage. Better off having some Savagegarden on here instead. Wash away the rain like a chic-a-cherry cola.

A bit repetitive at points, but this was an album very much of it's time from a pure rock perspective. Chris Cornells voice is absurdly good, and at their best it's a simply excellent album.

Little more rock than I wanted I think?

Banging. 5* no notes

Thank God my garden doesn’t sound like this. I can’t believe all the reviews praising this guy’s singing.

4/5. One of the 90’s grunge classics, Superunknown saw Soundgarden take the hard-rock of their previous record “Badmotorfinger” and make it a bit slower and moodier, though there are still high energy songs to be found like the opener “let me drown” or “spoonman.” On that slower/moodier side though is what has become the bands defining song “Black Hole Sun” which is one of the best rock cuts of the 90’s. Chris Cornell was also an amazing vocalist, probably the best of the grunge scene and he really shines on this album.

Nice

To me, sounds like a GTA radio music. Soundgarden works in that kind of scenarios but I would never really reach for them when searching for what to play.

One of the all time great grunge albums, but one that doesn’t stick with me much outside of the singles. It’s a lot of that macho hard rock energy updated for the brooding ‘90s. Chris Cornell was an excellent frontman, but the songwriting can get a bit samey for me. I like this one, but I’m always going to reach for Nirvana or Alice in Chains first.

Kende alleen Black hole sun, maar de rest was ook aangenaam...

Banger but a bit boring after a while, the riff of 4th of July pulled me back in

Every interminable intro was painful. Not my jam.

Superunknown was always gonna be a 5 star album and that was even before Black Hole Sun came on. I mainly just know this album for some of the singles like the aforementioned Black Hole Sun as well as Spoonman and The Day I Tried To Live. It is great to know that every single song on offer is absolutely great. The guitar riffs are some of the finest i have ever seen, Chris Cornell's vocals are absolutely amazing, the lyrics are solid and in general, this album had everything i could ever want from a grunge album. I also didn't even mind the length as the songs were all so enjoyable throughout, This is easily one of this list's best albums. Best Song: Black Hole Sun Worst Song: Head Down

Rad 🤘... not sure I still have the attention span for this. Fell on Black Days hits different now.

I don't like Chris Cornells voice. I never have been able to get past it. His lyrics are great and sometimes the guitars leave the bluesy place they usually live at- otherwise I just can't. I really tried. When I was in middle school I was obsessed with "grunge" and would watch the movie Hype! Like everyday. I just couldn't ever get into Soundgarden. If I was at a show and the next band on sounded like this - I would go smoke.

Ok. Here it is. Album 331. It was only a matter of time, and still when I clicked “Save” on the previous review, the album art today hit me like a flash bang. There are a few artists I hold in EXTREME regard, and of all of them, Chris Cornell I hold the very highest. He was one of the most talented musicians of all time, and very well may have been my all time favorite. This book NEEDS Badmotorfinger, Audioslave’s self titled album, or any amount of solo Cornell stuff. Screw it, just give me anything else by him. Anything will do, they’re all good. The few examples and high reviews of a good majority of Grunge on the site are evidence enough that the people want more of it. Hi, it’s me. I’m the people. I don’t know how to realistically begin this review without just speaking about how important the artist is to me, but I guess I’ll try. Some albums just have a sentimental hit on me that make me want to speak more about my profound love for the artist more than the album itself. Regardless, this is a 5 star album from top to bottom. I might have said this maybe a few times before, but giving this a 5 was the easiest decision of my life, and this very well may be my favorite album in the entire book. This time, I actually mean that. It’s going to be really, REALLY hard to beat. I have a playlist on Spotify of my all time favorite 10 songs, and 2 of them prominently feature Cornell. One of them is “Cochise”, featured on Self Titled by Audioslave, and the other is “Spoonman”, from Superunknown. So, as much as I love this album, it’s at least easy enough to tell you that “Spoonman” is my favorite song on it. I could write a passionate individual review for each song on this album as if I were talking about freaking Abbey Road by The Beatles, but I’ll simply say that this album has 0 songs I would ever skip. It feels like fate that the song “4th Of July” would get rolled as my weekend album, playing through the 4th of July. This isn’t even my favorite Soundgarden album, but dude, seriously. The hits. It’s the most accessible and the album with the grand majority of their hits, and they’re all good. Again, saving some time, it would take up a ton of space just to write the songs I think are the best, because it’s all of them. The killer guitar playing, meaty drum hits, and of course, Chris Cornell come together to just kill every single song on the album. Again, I could go on and on talking about this one for days at a time. I was waiting for this album since the very beginning. I feel so sorry for whatever follows this album, it’s going to need to be perfect as well, or I might rate it a bit harsher than usual for simply not being Chris Cornell. Well, that’ll do it for my review on Superunknown. There is a HIGH possibility this wins top of the class for me personally. I love this freaking album, and I’m still sad about Cornell passing. Before he went though, he gave us a lot of good stuff, and I will always enjoy it deeply until it inevitably becomes my own time to shuffle off this mortal coil.

Soundgarden – Superunknown (1994) On Day 190, I dove into an album that delivered a great, highly impressive listen, defined by a distinct and wonderfully weird style. What stood out to me above everything else was Chris Cornell's incredible vocal delivery his performance across this record is a total masterclass, especially on tracks like "The Day I Tried to Live" and the closer "Like Suicide," as well as on "Fresh Tendrils." The guitar work carries a fascinating style, dropping in crumbs of heavy metal but keeping it firmly rooted in grunge for the most part. On a track like "Like Suicide," those heavy, shifting riffs strongly remind me of the legendary energy of Led Zeppelin. While a few songs occasionally drifted off because of the experimental guitar interplay, the project as a whole made a massive impression. The tracklist is incredibly deep and packed with highlights. "Let Me Drown" and "My Wave" kick things off with fantastic energy, leading into the immersive moods of "Fell on Black Days" and the title track, "Superunknown." "Black Hole Sun" is an absolute banger, "Spoonman" keeps the momentum perfectly intact, and "Limo Wreck" stands out for having so much to offer across its impressive vocal and production range. "The Day I Tried to Live" is my definitive standout track of the entire session, backed up beautifully by the short but completely on-point punch of "Kickstand," the excellent grooves of "Fresh Tendrils," and the brilliant execution of "Like Suicide." A truly great experience and a definitive 4/5.

Any album with black hole sun on it automatically gets at least one more star than it would otherwise have. Also, coincidence I got this on the 4th of July with a song called the 4th of July on it? Survey says no idea, but fun either way.

Turn it up to 11.

7/10 Divertido, movido, buenos ritmos y la voz acompaña excelente

9 / 10

jut not into these guys

Overall a bop. Like in a good way. Like this music will always be my #1 escape. Reminds me of my dad and I (i was like ??? 2-5?) riding around in his stick shift tinted the fuck out early 2000s maxima.

Sucks ass from start to finish. Total chodes

Not my style