Song Review: Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden

Soundgarden has a bit more polish than it’s contemporaries. It is more densely layered than Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

In Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun, I am reminded of Alice in Chains: driving, deep, super-masculine vocals, harmonic, dynamic instruments, and a song structure that narrates and navigates us through the story.

The lyrics are brilliant. If Nirvana wrote lyrics to fill the space between the music, Soundgarden writes and sings lyrics with a purpose unto themselves.

I was guardian of a teenager once who wanted nothing else than to play Black Hole Sun on the electric guitar we got him.

I would say if you are not familiar with Soundgarden, give it a try.

Never ever confuse Soundgarden with Savage Garden. I dated a young woman in 2000 whole loved Savage Garden with all her heart, and wow, it was so lame. Boy band lame. Should be labeled Toxic, Do Not Play, Impotent and Lame in All Respects!

At that time in music history, I was flying a lot, and I listened to a huge amount of Brahms and Grieg, usually preferring the more flowing composition that resembled my feelings about flying.

Your host flies a spiffy Cessna 150 named "Old Gomer."
Your host flies a spiffy Cessna 150 named “Old Gomer.”

1 Comment

  1. Great review. Soundgarden is without a doubt the heaviest-sounding band from that period of the 1990s, and it is hard for me to associated them purely with Grunge. BHS is both weird and great, no doubt the best song on an album full of high-density guitar rock.

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