10 rock songs that turn 25 years old in 2019
7. Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
Soundgarden was labeled as grunge. They weren't. These guys were too good to be grunge, and Black Hole Sun is an example of why that is.
I always considered Soundgarden to be a very innovative rock band. These guys did things musically that absolutely nobody else was doing before or since. Sometimes metal, sometimes hard rock, sometimes experimental, even sometimes prog. Soundgarden was light years ahead of everyone else. The only reason the grunge label was slapped on them is so more records could be sold.
This is one of those songs where both the song and the video are masterpieces.
Sonically, Soundgarden pretty much never sounds bad. The audio mix is as good as it gets.
Lyrically, the song is dark. My take on it is that it's supposed to convey a sense of depression and insanity, but Cornell himself said the song didn't have any real idea to it. Words for the sake of words, more or less. But those words resonated with a lot of people.
Visually, the video tried to interpret the song as the all the fake plastic junk of the world being washed away by a dark mass in the sky, i.e. the black hole sun.
It's all very cool and done right.
Published 2019 Mar 4
