Confession: I’m a huge Soundgarden fan. Soundgarden were part of a musical awakening for me in the 1990s. As a teenager I voraciously consumed their entire catalogue, falling in love with their use of irregular time signatures, raunchy basslines and of course, Chris Cornell’s voice.
And then in 1997 Soundgarden broke up (The teenaged version of me was devastated, of course not realising that they would eventually get back together).
Fast forward to today with the good news that Soundgarden would be re-releasing their first studio album, Ultramega OK! From the horse’s mouth:
On March 10, @subpop will release the remixed & expanded reissue of Soundgarden’s #UltramegaOK. Pre-order at https://t.co/a1lTwl2dYx pic.twitter.com/17gK23pVKP
— Soundgarden (@soundgarden) January 18, 2017
Ultramega OK was a darker and heavier album than others in the Soundgarden discography. Compared to later albums, Ultramega OK had more obscure songs, and even included a ‘cover’ of John Lennon’s “Two Minutes Of Silence”. But it was pure grunge, and not made to be radio friendly. We were never going to find a “Black Hole Sun” or a “Pretty Noose” on Ultramega OK.
The Soundgarden line-up at the time included Chris Cornell (vocals), Kim Thayil (guitar), Matt Cameron (drums), and also Hiro Yamamoto (on bass & vocals), who later departed, with Ben Shepherd taking over on bass.
So given that today’s Track Of The Day had to be from Ultramega OK, I chose one of my favourites, “All Your Lies”. “All Your Lies” does a good job at capturing the things I love about Soundgarden in one great song.
Have a listen (Teenage me says “hello”).
