Badmotorfinger

by Soundgarden

Overview

Bidding for a popular breakthrough with their second major-label album, Soundgarden suddenly developed a sense of craft, with the result that Badmotorfinger became far and away their most fully realized album to that point. Pretty much everything about Badmotorfinger is a step up from its predecessors -- the production is sharper and the music more ambitious, while the songwriting takes a quantum leap in focus and consistency. In so doing, the band abolishes the murky meandering that had often plagued them in the past, turning in a lean, muscular set that signaled their arrival in rock's big leagues. Conventional wisdom has it that despite platinum sales, Badmotorfinger got lost amid the blockbuster success of Nevermind and Ten (all were released around the same time). But the fact is that, though they're all great records, Badmotorfinger is much less accessible by comparison. Not that it isn't melodic, but it also sounds twisted and gnarled, full of dissonant riffing, impossible time signatures, howling textural solos, and weird, droning tonalities. It's surprisingly cerebral and arty music for a band courting mainstream metal audiences, but it attacks with scientific precision. Part of that is due to the presence of new bassist Ben Shepherd, who gives the band its thickest rhythmic foundation yet -- and, moreover, immediately shoulders the departed Hiro Yamamoto's share of songwriting duties. But it's apparent that the whole band has greatly expanded the scope of its ambitions. And Badmotorfinger fulfills them, pulling all the different threads of the band's sound together into a mature, confident, well-written record. This is heavy, challenging hard rock full of intellectual sensibility and complex band interplay. And with their next album, Soundgarden would learn how to make it fully accessible to mainstream audiences as well. ~ Steve Huey

Product Details

Release Date:	10/08/1991
Label:	A&M
UPC:	0075021537422

Tracks

1. Rusty Cage
2. Outshined
3. Slaves & Bulldozers
4. Jesus Christ Pose
5. Face Pollution
6. Somewhere
7. Searching with My Good Eye Closed
8. Room a Thousand Years Wide
9. Mind Riot
10. Drawing Flies
11. Holy Water
12. New Damage

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Soundgarden   Primary Artist
Brian May   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Ernst Long   Trumpet
Scott Granlund   Saxophone
Ben Shepherd   Bass
Matt Cameron   Drums
Kim Thayil   Guitar
Chris Cornell   Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

Damon Stewart   Narrator
Efren Herrera   Assistant
Chief Sealth   Composer
Scott Granlund   Drawing
Terry Dale   Producer
Mark Dancey   Design,Cover Art
Chris Cornell   Composer,Producer,Mixing
Larry Brewer   Assistant Producer,Production Assistant
Ron Saint Germain   Mixing,Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant
John Jackson   Assistant,Mixing Assistant
Hunter B. Shepherd   Composer
Soundgarden   Producer
Tony Iommi   Composer
Terry Date   Engineer,Producer
Bill Ward   Composer
Joe Hadlock   Engineer
Ben Shepherd   Composer,Group Member
Geezer Butler   Composer
Denney Goodhew   Drawing
Matt Cameron   Composer,Group Member
Ozzy Osbourne   Composer
Michael Beinhorn   Producer
Bryan Huttenhower   A&R,Sound Advisor
Adam Kasper   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Kim Thayil   Composer,Group Member
Brian Foraker   Engineer,Audio Engineer