Release and Reception
Because of some of the song lyrics, most notably on "Hands All Over" (the "kill your mother" line) and "Big Dumb Sex", the band faced various retail and distribution problems upon the album's release. Louder Than Love peaked at number 108 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1990. It was the band's first album to chart on the Billboard Top 200. Louder Than Love spawned the Loudest Love EP and the Louder Than Live home video, both released in 1990.
Rolling Stone staff writer J.D. Considine gave Louder Than Love three and a half out of five stars, saying that "Chris Cornell has the sort of soaring, muscular voice Ian Astbury can only dream of, while guitarist Kim Thayil comes across like The Edge with an attitude." He stated that "the songs on Louder Than Love are mean, lean and fighting fit." However, Considine criticized Cornell's lyrics, observing that "much of what the band has to say is clichéd, confused or generally incomprehensible." He ended his review by saying that "even when his lyrics are as dumb as rocks...Cornell delivers them with such full-throated intensity that they actually sound impressive." Allmusic staff writer Steve Huey gave the album three out of five stars, saying that "too much of the album drifts along without focus or variety." Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a C+, stating that it is "covertly conceptual, arty in spite of itself, and I bet metal fans don't bite."
Two singles were released from the album, "Loud Love" (1989) and "Hands All Over" (1990), each with accompanying music videos. "Get on the Snake" was featured in the 1989 movie and soundtrack, Lost Angels. Guns N' Roses covered "Big Dumb Sex" on its 1993 album, "The Spaghetti Incident?", as part of a medley with T. Rex's "Buick Mackane".
In 2001, Q magazine named Louder Than Love as one of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time."
In 2010, Soundgarden released a music video for the song "Get on the Snake".
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