Coming in at Number 9 on Rolling Stone’s greatest Grunge Albums is Soundgarden’s 1994 release “Superunknown” featuring guest host, from the Pods & Sods Podcast, Eric Miller. Eric and Bakko talk about the making of the record, the genius of Chris Cornell and go track by track.
Superunknown is the fourth studio album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994, through A&M Records. It is the band’s second album with bassist Ben Shepherd, and features new producer Michael Beinhorn. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger (1991). Superunknown captured the heaviness of the band’s earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences.
Superunknown was a critical and commercial success and became the band’s breakthrough album. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 310,000 copies in its opening week. The album also topped the Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand charts. Five singles were released from the album: “The Day I Tried to Live”, “My Wave”, “Fell on Black Days”, “Spoonman”, and “Black Hole Sun”, the latter two of which won Grammy Awards and helped Soundgarden reach mainstream popularity. In 1995, the album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. The album has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA in the United States, has sold 9 million copies worldwide and remains Soundgarden’s most successful album. In April 2019, Superunknown was ranked No. 9 on Rolling Stone’s “50 Greatest Grunge Albums” list.