| Mudhoney – Into Yer Shtik Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I don't think Mark considers himself "cooler" or somehow better than Kurt and Layne because he successfully quit smack and they didn't. There isn't really anything "cool" or superior about being a recovered addict, because that means you were an addict at some point. I think Mark is more disappointed and/or frustrated that they didn't make it. Yes, he can be an abrasive character with little tolerance for sugar-coating and bullshit, and that's bound to rub some people the wrong way. However, he's said himself that without his wife's ultimatum, he'd likely be a dead junkie too. "Cool" is probably about the last thing the members of Mudhoney would ever call themselves, as a group or individually. The verse "made his myth, now he's trapped" refers directly to Layne's self-expressed contentment with becoming the junkie rockstar caricature he drew for himself on 'Dirt'. For as many times as he tried and failed to kick heroin for good, Layne eventually got to a point where he gave up and convinced himself that he was just meant to be an addict. It's very true that Mark considered this attitude pathetic, and a waste. You probably would too, if you have ever spent a significant amount of time watching an active alcoholic and/or addict slowly and deliberately kill themselves. "Why don't you blow your brains out too?" along with that entire first verse, and the title of the song itself, are obvious jabs at all of the copycat 'post-grunge' bands like Candlebox, Bush, Seven Mary Three, Creed, etc. that ripped off the grunge sound for a quick profit. The second verse is about Courtney Love and the Nirvana entourage. I always thought "Susie" was Susan Silver, manager of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains and ex-wife of Chris Cornell. Honestly though, there were (and still are) loads of those self-aggrandized con artists running around collecting paychecks at the expense of the actual performers. |
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| Slash – You're a Lie Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Because Myles Kennedy is involved, this song could easily be a metaphor for drugs/booze or religion. | |
| Metallica – Rebel Of Babylon Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| If this is supposed to be about Layne, it's definitely not a tribute. More of a spitting on his grave, for the way he threw his life away with drugs. The sarcastic line "Gonna die young, gonna live forever" and the last verse really laugh in the face of the grunge generation sympathizing with Kurt Cobain's misinterpretation of Neil Young and "it's better to burn out than to fade away". | |
| Alter Bridge – Coeur D'Alene Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This might be my favorite track from a very solid record. Love the main and bridge riffs contrasting with the more melodic chorus part. Agree with the "coming home" theme. | |
| Chris Cornell – Two Drink Minimum Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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First of all, the lyric is definitely... Thank you for the offer, but you know I MUST DECLINE Meaning? Loss of a loved one, and perhaps a bit of Cornell's struggle to lay off the whiskey for the sake of his voice. |
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| Guns N' Roses – Heartbreak Hotel (Elvis Presley cover) Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This is a fantastic GnR cover that is right up there with Mama Kin and Nice Boys. If you ever find the compilation album (it's called 'Hollywood Rocks!') that has the 1986 demo version, get it. There's a lot of mediocre BS on it, but if you like GnR it's worth it just to get this take on an Elvis classic. The original Hollywood Rose version of "Anything Goes" is on there too. | |
| Soundgarden – I Awake Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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In spite of the simple riff and lack of a solo, I think this is one of the most underrated Soundgarden tracks. I love the guitar sound Thayil gets on the pre-chorus section ("You have a good day!"). The way Cornell sings the lyrics, it comes off like a love song with a massive hangover, lol. |
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| Soundgarden – New Damage Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The band stated in a Dec. 1991 article for Kerrang that this song is subtly critical of George H.W. Bush's presidency, and the remaining vestiges of the shallow patriotism and near-sainthood of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. It is a common theme among bands from the 80s underground to have at least one anti-government/anti-Reagan tune. Some are subtle, but others are much less so (The Crucifucks' "Hinckley Had a Vision"). This is basically Soundgarden's contribution to that tradition, along with early classics such as "Gun" and possibly "Beyond The Wheel" too. |
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| Weird Al Yankovic – Craigslist Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Awesome style parody of Jim Morrison & The Doors. Weird Al even hired Doors keyboardist/organist Ray Manzarek to play the organ parts, so it's dead on. | |
| Soundgarden – Circle of Power Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I'm pretty sure this is just a fun, jokey punk song. In particular, the way Hiro sings lyrics like, "Ol' big bad ass circle of power's comin' to getcha!" makes me draw that conclusion. Soundgarden were trying a lot of different things during this time, getting their footing and figuring out what worked for them and what didn't. This was just their way of having some fun while in the studio. | |
| Mudhoney – Crankcase Blues Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Sounds like it's about drug addicts. In the first verse, they start using ("When the piston goes down, Your blood is sure to poison your mind"). In the second verse, they get addicted ("Fully cranked for weeks at a time") while thinking they still have things under control ("Believin' you're some kind of machine"), and finally, in the third verse, they start whining about how difficult their addictions are when they aren't strong enough to admit their troubles are mostly self-inflicted. Perhaps it's about someone Mark knew, or perhaps it's just generally written. Could be either, really. |
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| Soundgarden – Big Dumb Sex Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This pretty much sums up corny, generic, 80s pop metal in one song. Basic, catchy, "macho" riff, excessive use of chorus effects, double-tracked "high and low" vocals, simple guitar solo that fits the melody and rhythm like a glove, and verses that are laughably suggestive, but never quite say what they really mean. A misunderstood and classic style parody that more people should hear. |
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| Soundgarden – Smokestack Lightning (Howlin' Wolf cover) Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Good cover of Howlin' Wolf's classic. This is how good bands do covers - they make them their own. Soundgarden took this and injected it with some hard rock flavor, and Chris' vocals put it over the top. His highest note in this song does come close, but I'm pretty sure the highest note CC ever hit was the last shriek of the word "poor" on Jesus Christ Pose. To my knowledge, he never hit that note during live performances of that song. |
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| Soundgarden – Let Me Drown Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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In the same interview where Chris talked about the theme of the song, he said he also thought this song was almost too dark/negative for Soundgarden. It's easily one of the more underrated tracks from Superunknown though. |
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| Soundgarden – Get on the Snake Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| At first, I was confused that this was on the same album as "Big Dumb Sex", but the more I thought about it, the more I figured it's just a metaphor for peer pressure in general, and encouraging people to get involved in things they shouldn't ("get on the snake, everyone else is doing it", etc). It could also be another, subtler jab at butt rock, with the way that everyone's dirty mind thinks the title is a double-entendre at first glance, but the actual meaning is different. | |
| Soundgarden – Swallow My Pride (Green River cover) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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The song is, of course, a Green River original, and they wrote it in the mid-80s, during the height of the Reagan administration. It's about this guy who is simply describing how he's sick of his girlfriend's shallow, rabid patriotism. The lyrics state, "Now I wanna go for her THROAT" (not 'throne'), and you get the feeling that he thought she was attractive once, but now he hates her because of how blindly pro-America she is. It was basically a bit of protest revivalism during a time period in the United States when maintaining and following the status quo was once again considered admirable (the 80s). |
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| Guns N' Roses – Sorry Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This could be directed specifically at Steven Adler who, even almost 20 years later, continues to whine about being kicked out of the band and still struggles with his severe drug problems. Axl's like, "Look man, we still love you and we tried to help you, but at some point you need to grow a pair, admit that it's your own fault, and grow up." More generally, it could also be about one of Axl's favorite rant targets, the media. |
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| Soundgarden – Rusty Cage Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Probably my favorite SG song. I love how it starts out fast with a punky attitude and transitions into a deep, Sabbath-like finish with one of Cornell's many great vocal performances. 1991 was truly the year for Chris. | |
| Mother Love Bone – Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I just listened to this album yesterday (came to MLB via the story behind the Temple of the Dog project) and this is about the tenth time I've listened to this song - it's gorgeous. Andrew Wood died well before his time. | |
| Dinosaur Jr. – Pick Me Up Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I don't think I've heard a guitar solo this extensive and rich in at least 15 years. The whole 'Beyond' album is nice, but this is definitely one of the best songs on it. The lyrics are like disjointed, incomplete thoughts, but it sounds like it may be about missing someone you've broken up with and still love. |
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| Mudhoney – And the Shimmering Light Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Such a great song from a great album. Nice to hear a little more from the bluesier side of Steve Turner's guitar skills on this lighter track. To me, they are contemplating the fragility of life. Everything you hold dear is made of glass, and if you screw up (drop it), you can lose it all in an instant. I laughed when I heard the spoken part at the end. We all have those times when words simply can't express our deepest feelings. |
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| Mudhoney – Hate The Police Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| And a fabulous cover indeed! Mudhoney always pours so much ferocious energy into this song and it makes a great concert closer. | |
| Mudhoney – Tales of Terror Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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To me, it's about how no one can explain what we're meant to do in life as individuals, because no one can predict the future. From birth, we're always told we can grow up to be anything, but it's really a crock because, as much as we'd hate to admit it, we're influenced by many different people and things during our lifetime which shape the decisions we make and the direction our life takes. By the time you realize what your true purpose in life was, your time on earth is almost over. Alternately, it could also be a rant about how no one really knows how or why the human race came to pass and what our purpose in the fabric of the universe is. There are a lot of theories that people can choose to believe (various religious traditions, evolution/big bang and other scientific hypotheses, etc.), but none of them have been proven accurate beyond the shadow of a doubt, and most likely never will be. Thus, no one really has any idea why we're here. |
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| Mudhoney – Into Yer Shtik Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This song is great for anger management. :) It's so good in that it applies to just about any person (famous or not) who goes through life with an overinflated ego and/or a 'woe is me/poor me/you don't know what I've been through' mentality (and we all know how many of those types there are out there). But at the same time, you know who Mark Arm was likely directing the message to at the time he wrote it (Courtney Love and various other characters in the Seattle scene whose celebrity attitudes he'd grown sick of). The person who mentioned the current emo/post-grunge drudgery that is being beaten to death on the airwaves right now also had a good point. The overall meaning of the song just fits so many different situations and will always be relevant. |
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| Mudhoney – Generation Spokesmodel Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I've wondered if this was at least somewhat inspired by what happened with Green River. Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard used to be in Green River with Mark Arm and (very briefly) Steve Turner, but the band finally split up over disputes regarding whether or not they should persue a major label deal and refine their sound. Ament and Gossard went on to Mother Love Bone and eventually hit it huge with Pearl Jam, so this almost feels like Arm's response to his old bandmates' thirst for success and fame. However it's written pretty broadly, so it was probably just a general rant about all the Seattle-area bands that chose to sign big contracts and all the media hype and record company attention that surrounded the city's music scene during the early 90s. Arm obviously felt that the superstar aura of a few bands (Nirvana, AiC, SG, Pearl Jam) had ruined everything that was unique about the Seattle scene. Great song at any rate. |
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| Guns N' Roses – Nightrain Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Obviously one of the greatest odes to drinking ever penned. Really embodies the spirit of what GnR were all about at the time - a bunch of party hard, die hard gutter rats always living life on the brink of collapse ("Ready to crash and burn, I'll never learn"). Slash wrote in his book that this is the only GnR song that really makes him want to move around on stage, and with a riff & solos as good as they are, you can really feel why. @hablamaniac: Like Luke787 said, the whole 'walk in the park' thing was probably sarcasm that sounded harmless enough to ensure they stayed on the air, because MTV was filming their performance at the Ritz in NYC that night. Almost every member of the band has confirmed that the song was dedicated to the infamous street wine. According to Slash, he and Izzy had already come up with the riff and they were all out late one night, walking back from the liquor store or something and getting hammered, when someone shouted, "I'm on the Night Train!" The rest of the band followed along, with Axl improvising the parts in-between ("Love that stuff!", "Fill my cup!", etc.). So the song was written pretty collaboratively. |
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