But underneath this unpolished inception is an album that prematurely conceived the style that would mold Soundgarden. Head Injury is a great little headrush that very much displays a Sex Pistols-like flare with a cudgeling rhythm. This is one of many songs that properly punctuates their stoner rock groove and penchant for odd time signatures, with lyrics plagued with symbolism relating to life and death; kind of hard to interpret the meaning in the midst of such wild imagery, but its beautiful imagery nonetheless. Their sophomore album, Louder Than Love , released in , was the beginning of a newly constructed sound for the band; they were now composing more enthusiastic melodies in between their metal roots. The song starts out very nightmarish before descending into a murky atmosphere of slow-driving velocity, with that Black Sabbath swagger they were known for.

Outshined (from Badmotorfinger, 1991)


Black Rain (from Telephantasm, 2010)
The best Soundgarden songs are culled from the band's lengthy and rich history, as they formed all the way back in and achieved an incredible measure of commercial success during the grunge heyday in the s. The combination of gnarly riffage, pulsating rhythmic dexterity and Chris Cornell's soaring, soulful vocals set them apart from the hard rock pack and elevated them above "just another band capitalizing on the grunge thing" status. They eventually split, but found their way back together, but even if they didn't, we'd still have an extensive catalog to enjoy. The 10 Best Soundgarden songs are hard to choose for several reasons, but mostly because they have assembled an expansive catalog that transcends the "grunge" tag, since they existed as an entity years before "grunge" was a category and term. They also honed their sound, which allowed them continued success as grunge and all its offshoot bands began to wane in popularity. Check out our list of the 10 Best Soundgarden Songs below:. It reminds us that rock music needn't be complicated or esoteric to be good. Cornell's vocals have a raw, unrefined quality, but here, we get a sense of the powerhouse he'd become.
9.) Birth Ritual
They will always be synonymous with grunge music , but the best Soundgarden songs transcend fads and fashions. If you think so, let us know in the comments section. An early classic and a sure sign of the greater things that would come from the best Soundgarden songs. The experimental Down On The Upside repeatedly demonstrated that the best Soundgarden songs stretched way beyond the constraints of grunge. Its radio-friendly sound helped it sneak into the UK Top
They embodied everything that was great about rock, punk, and metal in a single package. Though Chris Cornell, who passed away two years ago, was the front man and penned most of the lyrics — and would find success later on as both a solo artist and the singer in Audioslave — each member wrote songs or added feedback to compositions that other people brought to the studio. Then came their golden period that ran from to , when they became global stars on the back of era-defining records like Louder Than Love , Badmotorfinger , Superunknown , and Down on the Upside. During this period, Soundgarden released just one new album, King Animal ; a few singles here and there; and a three-disc retrospective compilation, Echo of Miles. Here they all are, ranked from worst to best. A tossed-off rehearsal track that came out years after the fact on the supersized, rereleased edition of Superunknown. Soundgarden was not a band generally known for a sense of humor. Unfortunately, they went all the way in on the joke; both songs are borderline unlistenable cacophonies of hard-to-follow drum patterns, twisted feedback, and some truly hard-to-swallow caterwauling from Cornell.