The fall of 1991 may have been a rather frustrating one in the lives of the members of Soundgarden. As the year came to its final quarter, Seattle had quickly become a hot spot in modern music following the release of Pearl Jam’s Ten and Nirvana’s Nevermind and critics were calling the gloomy city the birthplace and center of the new style known as grunge. Suddenly, the city became the focus of attention and in the months to follow, labels and record executives would make every attempt to scour the scene in hopes of finding the next torchbearers of the scene.
Badmotorfinger, the third studio album from Soundgarden, was originally set to be released on September 24, 1991, the same day as Nirvana’s Nevermind, but due to some mishaps, was pushed back a few weeks to October 8. As Pearl Jam and Nirvana ascended to the top ranks of Seattle’s now exploding grunge scene, Soundgarden were also on the verge of helping hard rock and heavy metal return to the focus of radio and MTV. Led by Cornell’s wicked howl, the quartet captured the heaviness of ‘70s hard-rock with more intensity and weight than some of their more immediately successful peers. They also had the clout of being signed to Greg Ginn’s SST. However, following a string of EPs and albums, the band would release Badmotorfinger, their most profound work yet, and the album that would allow them to climb the ranks towards stardom alongside their anointed peers of the Emerald City.
Badmotorfinger sounds like a wrecking ball slowly coming in for the hit. Of course Cornell’s voice also plays a huge factor into the mix and over time he’d be regarded as one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time. On Badmotorfinger, it was in pristine condition. His croon and scream could unleash a toll all their own and prove that the band wasn’t just a hard rock act looking to blow-out eardrums with over screeching guitar, but via Cornell’s wicked howl as well.
“Rusty Cage” and “Outshined” are two back-to-back tracks that kick-off the album with instant power, unleashing their heaviest attributes with full force and are two of Cornell’s most wicked moments on the microphone, his voice in total control, assertive and in command. “Jesus Christ Pose” follows one track later and continues the melodic train, again using gargantuan waves of sound to achieve monstrous results. While the blues-y, metal riffs are sure to raise the hairs on the back of your neck and give the album its metallic charge, the psychedelic, scorching guitar solos that nod towards a more prog-focused approach are what give the record its character. There is as much punk exploration indebted to Black Flag and Hüsker Dü as there is to the no wave feedback of Sonic Youth as there is to Rush. Mark Arm of Mudhoney famously told the band that it was unfortunate how they sounded like the infamous Canadian trio with this album. Matt Cameron’s drumming also pulls tight on the reins and never lets the band stretch out and hit their stride, but rather keeps things a bit more reserved and pulled in to showcase their tight-knit songwriting and exposes their intricately linked sonic dependencies. The rumbling bass and drums keep things firmly on track, allowing Cornell and Thayil to never hyperextend their moments of power, and reinforcing their strengths as an overall unit.
This is a sound much darker and heavier than the more radio-friendly tracks off Ten and Nevermind and in some ways it would stall the success of the group in comparison to the others. Listening to this album now, however, it’s hard to think of it as anything other than a classic sounding rock record. It’s full of huge riffs, banging drum fills, and vocal work that reaches to the stratosphere. And while it sounds great, the production values feel more ragged and still rooted in their punk ethos. Ten and Nevermind sound like produced records that were made for the radio, but Badmotorfinger still echoes with the toughness that the band embodied on the outside as well. Hidden behind locks of curly dark hair, leather jackets, boots, and ripped jeans, Soundgarden were perhaps the ones that presented a sound that closest matched their appearance and the overall looks of grunge. Something that would come full circle when Temple of the Dog would “reunite” to shoot the video for “Hunger Strike.”
Maybe that’s the history talking and thirty years later, the concept and definition of grunge surely feels different than it did in the early ‘90s as the scene was taking off, but like so much else that followed in the wake of these albums, the labels weren’t something the bands created, but rather marks of identification from so much of what they were rebelling against. It wouldn’t be long before listeners would skip the meaning behind the songs, strip them for their parts, and wind up making nu-metal full of toxic masculinity.
Even without the assistance of massive airplay, these tracks would seep into the underground and the influence combined with other heavier bands of the time would go on to influence sludge, doom, and other hard-rock genres to an almost greater degree than some of the bigger stars of the time and would still catapult the band to arena headliners in only a few short years and alongside Vedder and Cobain, Cornell would become an icon of a generation.
After the release of the Temple’s debut earlier in the year, Vedder and the others would go on to form their band and release Ten, eclipsing Cornell’s third album with Soundgarden. Watching his friends form a new group and take off from their debut could’ve stalled many others, especially when remembering that Soundgarden were the first of the groups to get a record deal with a major label, but Cornell knew the time would come. Soundgarden wouldn’t release their fourth album, Superunknown, until 1994 and by then the world was waiting for them. In the time between, Pearl Jam and Nirvana would both release their follow-up records, Vs. and In Utero, to critical acclaim putting grunge at the forefront of modern music. Soundgarden would see their time with the release of Superunknown in 1994, but the groundwork was laid with Badmotorfinger.