Records: Soundgarden's A-Sides

By Dan McGarry

Near the banks of Lake Washington in a large park in Seattle sits a sculpture titled "The Sound Garden." On a high piece of land, rising above the surrounding marshland, the lean, metallic sculpture spins its horizontal arms at the wind, which plays a dissonant symphony on the pipes found on each winged arm.

In 1984, "The Sound Garden" inspired the name of a new band forming around Chicago transplant and guitar-master Kim Thayil. The rest, as they say, is history. Kim went on to prove himself at the top of his league, bringing a new level of innovation to big rock guitar, from his heady roots in punk and speed-metal. The rhythm section eventually settled in as Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron, and formed one of the most taut drum and bass corps in the business. The incredible voice of Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, led this band in a charge attack on convention that led from the swamps of Poison-era glam rock to the then-uncharted heights of an alternative sound later identified with the"Seattle scene."

Something as good as the music of Soundgarden and fellow Seattle über-bands such as Alice in Chains, Temple of the Dog, and Pearl Jam couldn't stay alternative for long however, and that's why you've heard Soundgarden even if you haven't actually heard Soundgarden. Yet through the proliferation of imitators and the adoption of "alternative" by the MTV mainstream, Soundgarden remained a singular force, churning out an amazing catalog of the meatiest AOR to actually sell a fair number of records this decade.

A-Sides explains how Soundgarden achieved this popularity, charting the band all the way from the sinewy confusion of "Nothing to Say," off their first release, to the chill accusation of "The Day I Tried to Live," representative of their later work. A-Sides is a compilation, and in this case the product is an unassailable body of singles almost too powerful to be gathered in such a tight space.

But A-Sides is also the last word, a eulogy of sorts to a band that doesn't exist as of April 1997. For us diehard Soundgarden fans, who may have just been getting over the shock of such a grave loss, A-Sides is a bittersweet joy, reminding us of what we will be missing in the years to come. The last song from the last album, the divine "Boot Camp" on Down on the Upside, is just one proof of the theory that Soundgarden left the game at the pinnacle of their art--arguably the best level from which to leave. Luckily, a shrine already exists on the shores of Lake Washington to receive our homage.

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