Chris Cornell Says 'Superunknown' is Soundgarden's Most Iconic Album

Chris Cornell Says ‘Superunknown’ is Soundgarden’s Most Iconic Album

2014-04-07

Story by Charles Ken

Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell says he’s proud of the band’s ‘Superunknown’ album

Soundgarden are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their successful “Superunknown” album, which took the grunge guys from playing small Seattle shows to arenas around the world. The album went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart and snagged the band chart-topping rock tunes such as “Black Hole Sun,” “Spoonman” and “Fell on Black Days.”

“Superunknown” may be Soundgarden’s most popular album, and according to Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, it’s also an album that makes the guys extremely proud to have in their catalog.

“If you can single out any of our albums as being, like, the most iconic one, it’s obviously this one,” Cornell told Billboard during this year’s South by Southwest iTunes Festival. “I think it’s an accomplishment, and I’m proud we did it. So it’s kind of a cool thing to do and concentrate on.”

Cornell added that when it comes to the songs on “Superunknown,” the key changes offer a unique challenge for playing the album from front-to-back, as they did at the iTunes Festival.

“When you start with the tunings it seems like a more disjoined album than it really is when you play it in order, because each tuning has its own personality,” he explained. “But the whole album seems to flow naturally, but when you look at it closer it seems less fluid in a way.”

In other news, Soundgarden just announced a co-headlining North American summer tour with Nine Inch Nails. That tour kicks off July 19 in Las Vegas, Nev., and runs through an Aug. 25 show in Los Angeles.

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.