#18: Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

Soundgarden is maybe the only band ever where I'm convinced that a bass player made all the difference. I suppose I did like post-Paul D'Amour Tool best, but that band doesn't cross my brain much these days. However, I'm pretty convinced that Soundgarden was two different bands with original bassist Hiro Yamamoto and his replacement, Ben Shepherd.

When I went through my original Soundgarden phase my senior year of high school, I stuck to the post-Badmotorfinger era Soundgarden. I'd grown up with songs like "Outshined," "Fell on Black Days" and "Burden in My Hand," so I stayed along those lines. Eventually, I got around to checking out the band's pre-success material, and I remember thinking then, "Hmm, this is why they were never big until later."

Six years later, I still think I'm right. The songs on Louder Than Love, the band's 1989 A&M Records debut, mostly grind by in the style of the lesser Superunknown tracks, while only Chris Cornell seems to have a grasp of what would later become his howling, belt-it-out style. Louder Than Love was the only true LP that Soundgarden would release until Badmotorfinger came along, and even though I've still never been a huge fan of that record, the differences are many. Whereas Badmotorfinger has a few steamrolling songs and a few of the band's most memorable riffs, Louder Than Love is much more of a 'what the hell are we going to do with this rock stuff' kind of record. At fifty-three minutes, it's way too long for a band at this stage of its career, and there really isn't much that indicates the levels of greatness the band would later attain.

For me, as soon as Shepherd came on board to replace Yamamoto, the band really reached its potential. The songs Shepherd wrote, especially Superunknown standout "Head Down" and Down on the Upside's "An Unkind," remain two of my favorite Soundgarden tracks. That's not to say Chris Cornell isn't a tremendously talented songwriter - the dude plays chords I've never even heard of, and could never possibly replicate. When I interviewed him, he said he didn't even know where those chords came from, and I wanted to kick him in the face. Too bad his new solo record blows. Euphoria Morning is about as good as it gets for me, really.

As a document of the band's early history, Louder Than Love serves its purpose, even if it doesn't stand as a solid record in its own right. There's a chance I could get into some of the more droning tunes at some point, particularly the closer "Full On (Reprise)," but I'll likely stick to my post-1991 Soundgarden records. It's cool to hear where one of the more important bands of my youth came from, but Louder Than Love makes it clear that they only broke when they were finally ready. I guess I'm in the minority that thinks that in this case, shorter hair doth a better band make.

"Full On Kevin's Mom" live. Enjoy the eternally varying quality of Chris Cornell's voice live. I'm always terrified to see the guy, because he either absolutely slays or absolutely sucks live.



"Hands All Over" from the same show.