Soundgarden "Superunknown" 1994*****

Chris Cornell's death at 52 (by his own hand, as it turned out) was one of the year's most shocking yet, proving that 2016 -an annus horribilis of rock music- had some strong afterquakes in store for us. The erstwhile leader of Soungarden and Audioslave was a worthy successor to the Classic Rock era greats like Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey. It's no coincidence that when James Bond producers went looking for a suitably "strong masculine voice" for the first film to feature Daniel Craig as James Bond, it was Cornell they approached. His was indeed one of the greatest voices of his generation: powerful and expressive, alternately soothing and menacing, it will be sorely missed.

When grunge appeared as the 80's came to their close, it took the music business by surprise. It was taken as granted that the music industry and MTV (at their apogee in those pre-MP3/youtube days) would naturally tell the kids what to like. And tell the artists how to dress, sing and move. Who could have guessed that a bunch of scruffy looking hippy-punk types from godforsaken Seattle would be the next big thing? Pretty soon of course the establishment fell all over them. The first bands to get signed to a major label were Chris Cornell's Soundgarden and Andrew Woods' Mother Love Bone (also featuring future Pearl Jam-ers Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament). The two young singers were roommates and best friends, but Woods would never live to see his music embraced by the mainstream as he died of overdose before the release of his album, at the age of 24 - a fact that Cornell admitted always haunted him. The camaraderie between Seattle bands was exceptional in rock music, which makes the fate of their frontmen even more tragic: from Woods to Kurt Cobain, and from (Alice in Chains') Layne Staley to (STP's) Scott Weiland to Cornell, a bunch of friends who also happened to be the best voices of their generation have fallen silent. Only Eddie Vedder and Mark Lannegan are left standing now. Back to 1994, the "revolution" had won and the world was completely grunge-ified: fashion designers had their models prance the catwalks dressed in flannel shirts and torn jeans, magazines advised kids on how to be grunge, and music agents scoured the streets of Seattle for the last unsigned band. Far from slowing the grunge movement's momentum, Kurt Cobain's suicide gave it an ultimate romantic hero. That year saw Nirvana sell millions with the posthumous Unplugged In New York. So did Pearl Jam with Vitalogy, Alice In Chains with Jar Of Flies, Stone Temple Pilots with Plush and Hole with Live Through This. And that's just Seattle bands. From California, Green Day and Offspring had their great commercial breakthroughs with Dookie and Smash. Despite such competition, Soundgarden's Superunknown stood out, winning Best Hard Rock and Best Metal Grammies and getting nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album which they only lost to such sacred cows as Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones. Compared to their powerful but rough earlier efforts, the compositions and recording here show real workmanship. Brute force is offset by melody and the Black Sabbath obsessions are complimented by 60's influences like The Beatles and Doors, while psychedelic effects and other production tricks add extra depth to their previously monolithic sound. "Black Hole Sun" is the ultimate example: Easily one of the decade's highlights, this psychedelic ballad betrays the influence of Sgt.Pepper-era Beatles and features an improbable Sinatra-like croon by Cornell. The other stone-cold classic here is "Spoonman", a direct heir to metal progenitors Sabbath and Zeppelin with heavy riffs, muscular vocals and...spoons courtesy of the man who inspired this song, Seattle street performer Artis the Spoonman. And these two huge tunes aren't all. Amazingly for a double LP, this is the proverbial all killer, no filler album every band wants to make but few achieve. Groovy hard rocker "Let Me Drown", for example, could be the centerpiece of any other album, but here just opens the proceedings to be immediately superseded by the two superb tracks following it: "My Wave" combines trademark heavy guitar with almost Wire-like staccato riffs. And "Fell On Black Days" is a dark folk song with a melodic and expressive vocal. Both were released as singles, as well as "The Day I Tried To Live" which reminds me of Nirvana with its typical Quiet/Loud/Quiet dynamic. Almost as good are the fast, almost punk rock-paced "Superunknown" and "Kickstand", Eastern sounding "Half", Beatles psych of "Head Down" and "She Likes Surprises", and the Doors-y "Like Suicide". With hindsight the latter sounds more poignant than ever. But, as Cornell said about his friend "When Andy died, I couldn't listen to his songs for about two years after that, and it was for that reason — his lyrics often seem as though they can tell that story. But then again, my lyrics often could tell the same one". So just disconnect the drama from the work of art and accept it for what it is: probably the last great Classic Rock album of the 20th Century.

***** for My Wave, Fell On Black Days, Superunknown, Black Hole Sun, Spoonman

**** for Let Me Drown, Head Down, The Day I Tried To Live, Kickstand, Half, Like Suicide, She Likes Surprises

*** for Mailman, Limo Wreck, Fresh Tendrils, 4th Of July