Badmotorfinger is the third studio album released by Soundgarden in 1991 with A&M records. It contains such tracks as Outshined, Spoonman, Jesus Christ Pose, and Slaves and Bulldozers. It accurately demonstrates the unique and violent sound that Soundgarden have always been capable of producing. It was also the last album before the release of their most successful album and the ever iconic Superunknown. At the time of it's release, it was their best selling album and was beaten by their next album.
Sound
The album demonstrates many of the band's identifying characteristics including the technical mastery of Kim Thayil on lead guitar and the Glass-shattering screams and high baritone pipes of Chris Cornell. The extent of Cornell's vocal prowess is demonstrated on the track Slaves and Bulldozers where he goes from a low murmuring poetic speech, to screaming at blood curdling pitches in the chorus whilst maintaining perfection in terms of hitting the correct notes. He has a very soulful voice and this is also present Rusty Cage from the very same album. Furthermore, the drumming and bass by Shepherd (who had recently replaced Hiro Yamamoto as the bassist) and Cameron helps to create sound and lasting tracks with a variety of styles in just this one album. Outshined and Rusty Cage found their way onto the billboard 200 and the album was nominated for a Grammy.
Legacy
The legacy of the album among Soundgarden fans is that of an original and deep grunge vibe. Though Superunknown was immensely popular overall, many fans of the band felt that it was aimed at a more mainstream audience and thus many still hold Badmotorfinger as their favourite album by the Seattle grunge rock fathers. Therefore, if you are relatively impartial and enjoy grunge rock and wish to get a feel for the sound of Soundgarden, I would highly recommend listening to this album.
*As always, all images sourced from google images and I own no rights to any images used
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