Something was in the water on March 8, 1994 as Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails every launched groundbreaking albums on the identical day.
Both teams had began to slowly infiltrate the mainstream years earlier. Soundgarden was considered one of the first grunge acts to signal with a serious label, taking their heavy, gloomy sound to a wider viewers starting with 1991’s Badmotorfinger. That LP gave the band their first small style of radio airplay, as “Outshined” reached No. 45 on the mainstream rock chart.
Meanwhile, Nine Inch Nails had fared just a little higher with their debut album, Pretty Hate Machine. The 1989 LP spawned a few singles – “Down in It” and “Head Like a Hole” – that reached No. 16 and 28, respectively.
In these early years, each acts had continued constructing fervent fanbases due to their electrifying stay exhibits. Their careers would eternally change due to albums launched on March 8, 1994 – nonetheless they happened their trailblazing LPs in very alternative ways.
How Soundgarden Turned Tense Recording Sessions Into ‘Superunknown’
By the summer season of ‘93, Soundgarden had seen their Seattle contemporaries Nirvana and Pearl Jam rise to superstardom. While being happy for their friends, the Chris Cornell-led group also had a sense of “why not us?” The band hit the studio determined to evolve their sound. To that end, they opted for a producer they’d by no means labored with earlier than, Michael Beinhorn. Almost instantly, they started butting heads.
“I’m quite positive that these guys didn’t really see the process of making the record from the same perspective that I did,” the producer recalled to Spin. “And I think that caused a lot of friction.”
“I think Superunknown had more tension than some of the records because it was a new guy we’d never worked with before who seemed to be really interested in trying to reinvent the wheel at every turn,” Cornell countered. “We were never a band that particularly needed a producer, anyway. We were always capable of making our own record.”
READ MORE: Top 30 Grunge Albums
Beinhorn challenged Soundgarden in each side of the writing and recording course of. His strategies rubbed the musicians the incorrect approach – screaming matches in the studio have been commonplace – however additionally they bought outcomes.
“It forced us to not rely on someone else and to become even closer-knit as a band and take responsibility for what it was we were doing,” Cornell admitted. “I think it might have more to do with the fact that we had this necessary adversary in the studio to pull us together as a group.”
Every member contributed to the songwriting on Superunknown. Cornell was credited on the most tracks with 9, however guitarist Kim Thayil (4), drummer Matt Cameron (3) and bassist Ben Shepherd (2) all made their songwriting presence felt.
“There were songs still being written during the recording process, so we were always tracking and learning new songs while we were working on other ones,” Cornell advised Guitar Wold in 2014. “That process allowed us to experiment in the studio and tap more into that Pink Floyd side of the band. We were adding different things in different layers, and one of the things about Soundgarden is that everyone in the band is allowed to do that.”
Watch Soundgarden’s Video for ‘Spoonman’
Inspiration got here from quite a lot of locations. “Spoonman,” initially written for the 1992 movie Singles, was a few regionally well-known avenue musician. Cornell delved into his interior psyche for “The Day I Tried to Live,” a tune about his want to be “closed off and reclusive.” Still, one observe felt elevated from the relaxation.
“‘Black Hole Sun’ was written in a car when I was driving home from the studio one night,” Cornell recalled. “Pretty much everything that you hear was written in my head.”
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful song,” Beinhorn noted. “I remember when I got the demo for it. I got an immediate visceral reaction from it, like it just hit me. I felt like a house had dropped on me. I thought to myself, “This is the kind of thing that a person in my position waits years and years to basically have dropped in his lap.”
The rest of the band agreed. Shepherd likened the eclectic nature to Stevie Wonder and recognized it as a turning point for the group. “It was like, now we’re really diverse; now we’re really stretching our abilities and styles,” the bassist explained. “We’re not just this one stupid fucking grunge band.”
Watch Soundgarden’s Video for ‘Black Hole Sun’
Superunknown debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, promoting 310,000 copies in its opening week. It would go on to promote greater than 6 million copies in the U.S. and earn Soundgarden two Grammys. Meanwhile, “Black Hole Sun” turned the largest hit of the band’s profession.
“A lot of it was just timing,” Cornell later assessed. “Everything was changing at the time– radio was evolving and the perspective of the listening audience was changing. The age of the audience too – a new generation was maturing and was ready for a band like us. So I think it was the perfect time for that record.”
When Nine Inch Nails Took Depravity to the Mainstream on ‘The Downward Spiral’
While Soundgarden was peddling their wares in Seattle, Trent Reznor had set up shop in a far different locale. The Nine Inch Nails leader moved into the Los Angeles home where actress Sharon Tate had been murdered by members of the Manson Family in 1969. There, he crafted material for what would become The Downward Spiral.
“It was a breeding ground for ideas,” drummer Chris Vrenna recalled to Metal Hammer. “It took a long time, but everything flowed naturally and we knew we were on to something. Our producer Flood was living with us, we were in Los Angeles, and we were able to explore the whole scene and do rock star stuff.”
READ MORE: Top 30 American Classic Rock Bands of the ’90s
Reznor’s imaginative and prescient was an album that coated such darkish matters as dependancy, despair, nihilism and sadomasochism. The album was to showcase its maker in the rawest state doable.
“The Downward Spiral was a descent,” Reznor later defined to Kerrang, “shedding skin, taking a layer off and analyzing it.”
Considering the subject material, business success was removed from Reznor’s thoughts. The rocker, who had been hailed as the chief of a brand new sub-genre dubbed “industrial,” simply needed to make one thing shickingly sincere.
Listen to ‘Hurt’ From ‘The Downward Spiral’
“I thought I quite intentionally may have shot myself in the foot commercially,” he admitted. “I didn’t do that just to fuck myself up, either. It’s what popped out of my head and was the strongest statement I could make.”
Using David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy and Iggy Pop’s The Idiot as a information, Reznor delved deep into his core. Even when the rocker created one thing with the potential for mass enchantment, he discovered a solution to pervert it.
“We were all working on something one night and Trent came in the next morning and showed us the lyrics of ‘Closer’ for the first time,” Vrenna recalled. “Our producer, Flood, and I looked at each other and I told Trent, ‘Well, you had the pop single for the record until you said ‘fuck’ in every line of the chorus.’ Trent started laughing and he said, ‘I know.’ He did it on purpose because he didn’t want, necessarily, to have such an overt pop song.”
Watch Nine Inch Nails’ Video for ‘Closer’
Then, the most unlikeliest of issues occurred: The Downward Spiral turned a success.
Drawn to the album’s craftsmanship, technological wizardry and unrelenting energy, audiences flocked to purchase it. The LP debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, behind solely Superunknown. Meanwhile, “Closer” turned a worldwide hit – this regardless of Reznor’s assertion that the album had no “apparent radio and MTV songs.”
“I actually like The Downward Spiral,” the singer later remarked, looking back on his masterpiece. “It was arduous to do and it beat the shit out of me, however I’m happy with it.”
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