Soundgarden - Musical Style and Influences

Musical Style and Influences

Soundgarden were pioneers of the grunge music genre, which mixed elements of punk rock and metal into a dirty, aggressive sound. Soundgarden's sound during the early years of the Seattle grunge scene has been described as consisting of "gnarled neo-Zeppelinisms." The influence of Led Zeppelin was evident, with Q magazine noting that Soundgarden were "in thrall to '70s rock, but contemptuous of the genre's overt sexism and machismo." According to Sub Pop, the band had "a hunky lead singer and fused Led Zeppelin and the Butthole Surfers." The Butthole Surfers' mix of punk, heavy metal and noise rock was a major influence on the early work of Soundgarden. Soundgarden, like other early grunge bands, were also influenced by British post-punk bands such as Gang of Four and Bauhaus which were popular in the early 1980s Seattle scene. Soundgarden broadened its musical range with its later releases. By 1994’s Superunknown, the band began to incorporate more psychedelic influences into its music. As a member of Soundgarden, Cornell became known for his wide vocal range and his dark, existentialist lyrics.

Soundgarden often uses alternative tunings in its songs. Many Soundgarden songs are performed in drop D tuning, including "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", "Spoonman", "Black Hole Sun" and "Black Rain". The E strings of the instruments were at times tuned even lower, such as on "Rusty Cage", where the lower E is tuned all the way down to B. Some songs use more unorthodox tunings: "My Wave" and "The Day I Tried to Live" are both in a E–E–B–B–B–B tuning and "Burden in My Hand", "Head Down" and "Pretty Noose" in a tuning of C-G-C-G-G-E".

Soundgarden also uses unorthodox time signatures; while such songs as "Jesus Christ Pose", "4th of July", and "Blow Up the Outside World" are in typical 4/4 time, "Outshined" is in 7/4, "My Wave" is in 5/4 and 4/4, "He Didn't" is in 5/4 and 6/4, "Black Hole Sun" is in 4/4 and 9/8, "The Day I Tried to Live" is in 15/8 for its verses and switches to 4/4 for the second half of its choruses. "Fell on Black Days" and "Somewhere" are in 6/4, "Never the Machine Forever" and "Black Rain" are in 9/8, "Beyond the Wheel", "Get on the Snake" and "New Damage" are in 9/4, "Face Pollution" uses 9/8 and 6/4, "Rusty Cage" is in 4/4, 7/4, and 19/8, "Ugly Truth" is in 4/4 and 6/8, "Limo Wreck" alternates between 12/8, 15/8, 9/8, and 6/8, "Half" is in 5/8 with a measure of 11/16 before a 4/4 section, and "Spoonman" alternates between 7/4 choruses and 4/4 verses with a section in 6/4. Thayil has said that Soundgarden usually did not consider the time signature of a song until after the band had written it, and said that the use of odd meters was "a total accident." Thayil also used the tempos as an example of the band's anti-commercial stance, saying that if Soundgarden "were in the business of hit singles, we'd at least write songs on 4/4 so you could dance to them."