First it steals your mind and then it steals your... your POLL: SUPERUNKNOWN

Surprised myself a bit by going for Head Down. I've been coming back to it a lot these past few days.

am about to spin a coin to decide on "Limo Wreck" or "Head Down"

("Head Down" is tails, obv)

Limo Wreck wins.

Best of three?

Too late. If Head Down finishes one short of or tied with Black Hole Sun then I'll repent.

"Limo Wreck" is the only song on here that I can't instantly recall how it goes by reading the title ("Mailman" took a second but I got there).

"The Day I Tried To Live" heavy in the best way.

Great record but I prefer Badmotorfinger...they hadn't yet tipped into such seriousness yet, were still kinda "fun" on the heels of the Cheech & Chong/Spinal Tap goofs...but anyway yeah this is a good one if about 15 minutes too long

This is a really consistent album - in a pinch I could cut a couple of things, but most of it is great songs on an equal playing field. I think I'll throw my vote to "Let Me Drown" just because I don't think it'll get too many picks here and it starts the album out very nicely, kind of a blueprint for everything that follows.

The really underrated song that deserves more votes than it's gonna get is the title-track. I would say the same for Like Suicide but never underestimate the lurker vote.

fwiw, the title track edges past the US singles to make my top three along with The Day I Tried To Live and 4th of July.

The singles all kill though. Even Black Hole Sun, which probably gets shafted here on account'a getting played to death and beyond.

I really like Black Hole Sun! But I think it'll do better (lurker-vote-wise) on account of being a huge single, not worse.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Huh, glad "4th of July" placed as high as it did.

Mailman got shafted methinks...

"Fell on Black Days" is probably their best song, even if i voted for "Spoonman."

i voted 4th of July and am pretty comfortable with that choice...

+1 je ne regrette rien but country matters otm

Ugh.. I would've voted "Let Me Drown."

I can't believe "Mailman" got no love. (Didn't see this til today or I woulda voted for it.)

Mailman"My Wave" got shafted methinks...

ok does anyone besides me LOVE "Fresh Tendrils"?

Am utterly confused by how unremarkable album track "Fell On Black Days" has won this tbh.

It's a groovy track. I like how the bass builds.

It's a great track. Was terrific live too.

yeah, it doesn't rock as hard as some of the other tracks but it's a really great composition.

Hard to believe Cornell wrote that ridiculously killer top 5 on his own, given his soon-to-be-crapitude.

would have voted head down, had i seen this poll. the whole album is golden though.

Am utterly confused by how unremarkable album track "Fell On Black Days" has won this tbh

i guess it wasn't a single in the UK but in the US it was one of the album's biggest hits

it was a single in the UK. but yeah, its probably my least favourite - not a bad song, but outclassed, to me, by its brethren.

I've heard girls describe that song as "sexy.." The video def got played a lot, around the same time as "Buddy Holly" and "When I Come Around."

cuz i fell onnnnnnnnnnn black gays

man i've been wanting to listen to this album again ever since this thread but hadn't gotten around to it, then walked into a record store yesterday and they were playing "Mailman." shit sounded so good i was seriously considering just browsing while the whole album played, but when "Black Hole Sun" kicked in i had to run to the register. i don't know if there's any song in the world i'm more sick of at this point.

I can't believe "Mailman" got no love. (Didn't see this til today or I woulda voted for it.)

this, me, too.

I thought I was sick of Black Hole Sun, but re-listening to this recently it's actually a decent song that works well in the context of the album.

im still sick of it. I have to skip it.

chap is totes otm

it's a great song, but I cant bear to ever hear it. Cable tv hitting my town coincided with the video being released and it completely ruined it for me. It was inescapable on mtv/the box etc.
Thankfully when I saw soundgarden, cornell did a solo acoustic version of it, so it at least was different. I think i'll have nightmares about that video.

i don't think i've ever seen the video

damn kids

I'd forgotten how nice the guitar tone in the verses is.

I was utterly convinced it was a steel drum for like the first 6 months after the album came out

leslie ftw

classic pretentious grunge video (see also: Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box, STP's Vaseline...)

Really grooving on "Like Suicide" today, although as a non-metal-head I sort of tune out the long long solos and so on - but it's one of Cornell's best melodies and some great lyrics too. "Safe outside my gilded cage, with an ounce of pain / I wield a ton of rage." Not sure what he's talking about but it sounds so great.

This is my favorite rock lp. Probably my favorite drumming on a rock record too.

Love how how his vocals go past red on Mailman when he sings "RIDIIIIING", like they just cranked it over the top to give it that hair-splitting crackly edge.

Def Cornell's best vocals on this album.

"but it also sounded really muddy"

Nah, this has always been my go to record for testing speakers/headphones. Its exactly how I want my big budget rock records to sound. For how much is going on underneath, there is plenty if distinction and space imo. The vocals aren't overly prominent, which was probably hard as Cornell was at his peak. Badmotorfinger sounds really tinny though, could stand a re-master.

xp

His vocals are perfect. Not many that could/can do the things he does on this record. Hard to even pick like one song that stands above another, as far as vocals go.

some dude otm in this thread, even down to his love for Fresh Tendrils. Love the intro on that, and the coda, and the bass, and that little horn stab when it kicks back in after the breakdown.

So many details on this album, I still get genuine excitement when I settle down to listen to it.

"fresh tendrils" is my favorite soundgarden song. it's so knotted up in itself you can lose track of it.

Let me drown > my wave is a hell of a twofer to open an album

I like to start on track 3 and skip over “spoonman”

CC’s scream after the bridge on “drown” is so epic

Would still rather have Giannis

also 30 years old today

still really long