Apprendre à jouer l'album : Superunknown

Learn to play Superunknown

Superunknown represents the fourth opus of the American grunge group Soundgarden. Released on March 8, 1994 under the A&M Records label, the album was shaped by the collaboration between Michael Beinhorn and the group, recorded from July to September 1993 at Studio Bad Animals in Seattle.

This project marks Soundgarden's second album with bassist Ben Shepherd. Superunknown's initiative was born following tours linked to their previous album, Badmotorfinger (1991). It stands out as a significant evolution of the group's previous recordings, revealing a desire to explore a diverse palette of musical influences.

Musically, Soundgarden adopts a more polished and accessible sound compared to its previous releases. Chris Cornell offers a more subdued interpretation while signing most of the compositions, giving the album an artistic and thematic coherence. Themes such as suicide, drug addiction, depression and dark humor fuel the substance of the lyrics. Some tracks, such as “Black Hole Sun” and “Head Down,” draw heavily on the Beatles, while others incorporate oriental sonic elements, such as “Fell on Black Days” and “Half ”.

Superunknown stands out as Soundgarden's major commercial and critical triumph, both in the United States and internationally. It made a remarkable debut at first place on the Billboard 200 and reached peaks in the world rankings. The singles “Black Hole Sun“, “Spoonman”, “My Wave”, “The Day I Tried to Live” and “Fell on Black Days” enjoyed significant radio and television airplay. In 1995, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Rock Album category.

Originally conceived as a demo for Cameron Crowe's 1992 film Singles, “Spoonman” is part of the EP by Cliff Poncier, a character played by Matt Dillon. Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament named the song in homage to Artis the Spoonman, a Seattle street artist.

In 2003, Superunknown was ranked 336th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 38th in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1990s (also from Rolling Stone), and 5th in the list of albums guitar from Guitar World magazine in 1994.

The origin of the album's name goes back to an anecdote from Chris Cornell: "I saw a video cassette called Superclown but I read it Superunknown, which seemed like a good title. I had never heard it, never seen it before and it inspired me. » (Pulse!, March 1994).