Soundgarden R.I.P.
by Lisa Black
I guess I should have known about Soundgarden before I actually did. Okay, I knew the name--but there were so many band names to remember, and I was only in high school. The only rock stars I knew from Seattle were the couple I went out with (no one famous), Geoff Tate and Andy Wood. Soundgarden was one of those "screaming" bands. I wanted to be wooed, even if the wooing was nothing more than "I wanna be your dog." I know, Iggy Pop, Detroit, but you see what I'm saying? Soundgarden didn't write love (or sex) songs back then--or at least I didn't understand them to be so.
I didn't start listening to Soundgarden until Louder Than Love. By that time I was in Albuquerque and had befriended our lovable graphic buddy Zep. He was in a band called Long Cold Neck at the time, which played birthday parties and Halloween parties--lots of parties. The music wasn't that impressive, but they did a totally cool reggae cover of "Big Dumb Sex" that just set my rocket firing.
"Who wrote that 'fuck' song?" I asked Zep after the first time I witnessed the Dread Zeppelin-ized Soundgarden song.
"It's Soundgarden. You're from Seattle, aren't you?"
"Yeah, but..." was all I really got out since his tongue was down some girl's throat, and I was in need of more beer. It was a party.
So maybe I was blind in the beginning of Soundgarden, but I recognize beauty when it's put right in front of my face--and Chris Cornell certainly has beauty. Oh yeah, the band kicks ass too.
Or did. Matt announced the news after his morning surfing of the web on that fateful day Soundgarden disbanded. And after re-listening to all of the albums a few times, I guess it's okay. Do we really need our bands to last forever? Am I going to pay $100 in ten years to see the Soundgarden reunion tour? I hope not.
I saw the early 80s video for the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" the other day on VH-1 (I'm sorry but we don't have M2 yet, and MTV was playing the new Counting Crows video--something about dying, I think). Are the baby boomers embarrassed about still idolizing a bunch of aging British junkies who can't dance? At least our groups kill themselves before they write future football stadium anthems.
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