Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 02:00:01 -0400 Subject: SOMMS Digest - 10 Aug 1997 to 11 Aug 1997 There are 25 messages totalling 1245 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. if you guys remember this i will love you forever (5) 2. fave SG member (2) 3. Feel the Wrath of a Vengeful Vermin 4. Favorite Song Lyric 5. FAVOURITE LYRICS 6. Movie clip of SG (2) 7. got another one 8. guess those lyrics.... (3) 9. Warning!! Read OFF-LINE.. or something.. heh. 10. Ohh Yeah! 11. Favorite song lyric 12. The Ben machine 13. Soundgarden/Billy Corgan 14. STAGE PRESENCE 15. everyone get out your calendars!!! 16. SCREW THESE GUYS! 17. Time and Season for SG? or not? To UNSUBSCRIBE from SOMMS, send email to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU with the following in the body of your message: SIGNOFF SOMMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 02:15:36 -0400 From: Scott Hammer Subject: Re: if you guys remember this i will love you forever In a message dated 97-08-09 17:58:51 EDT, you write: << > Also.. I haven't seen that particular SNL episode in a long while and I was > wondering if Chris actually acted in a skit.. I'm thinking a hopspital or > doctor skit.. Beck did that once and he performed, but didn't Chris do it > too? I can't remember. Nope. None of SG were in a skit. Bonnie >> Actually if memory serves me correctly, they did do a skit with Jim Carey...something about diss'n Hooters & the Blowjobs...but it didn't air. Don't remember for the life of me where I read it though. ~^v^OzzY^v^~ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 03:28:56 -0400 From: Jenny Grover Subject: fave SG member C'mon, people, does Ben REALLY seem that strange to you? "disturbing sense of humor"? "jokes that no one else gets"? really? I get 'em! His sense of humor is very much like mine. Ben strikes me as a highly intelligent and creative thinker with a lot of integrity. His lyrics are wonderful. His music is interesting and complex. His contributions to SG changed them from a band I liked into the band I love. As for his onstage antics-- there's nothing new, unusual, or particularly unhealthy about smashing the occasional instrument (what about bands that did it routinely, like the Who or Nirvana?), performing with one's back to the audience (Mark E. Smith did this a lot, sometimes for most of a show, and he was the frontman! Michael Stipe does it too.), or insulting the audience (a punk staple). Where did the rules of how to act onstage come from anyway? He plays his guts out. What more do you want? Hell, a lot of times the audience, or at least people in it, deserve to be flipped off. And what about all those guitars, mike stands, etc. that Chris smashed, huh? Gee, we never seem to mention that, do we? Or the times that Chris insulted the audience? And I think a lot of people are quick to misinterpret as anger a lot of things that aren't. And as for favorite SG lyrics, well count these among mine: "loving our hangman as the penultimate joke we lack the Moses to look the saints in the eyes" Jen Grover ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 03:38:54 PDT From: Winged Vermin Subject: Feel the Wrath of a Vengeful Vermin *****WARNING: the follwing tears a sommsters post to bits, i do not regret this, it isn't just aimed at the one person but to all those out there who don't understand [and society in general], this probably won't make sense to them anyway but it'll make me feel a lot better cos this rok chick needs to vent, i hope you'all get some insight from this post or find it "strange and disturbing" and just fuck off****** <> hmmm, i can tell this chick is is working up to do no good.......why do ppl suck up-eth so? <> ^pathetic scumful human excuse bridge!! it gets worse... <> What defines "Attitude"? , how can he have "Too much" when it is only expressed in such brief instances in interviews and such? <> a "but" bridge again , the easy way to avoid explaining things and deny prejudice << but bands that flip off the audience, spit at the audience and play to their audience with their backs turned are not bands like SG,>> so Ben isn't "SG" then, have i been fooling myself?, i always thought Ben was quite an intergral part of "SG" ? how can these activities not be "SG" activities when "SG" did partake in them? <> Ben does love his fans *insane grin for no apparent reason*, why waste your spit on ppl you don't? << and with Ben around sometimes.. it's like he's breaking the rules in a way..>> rules? whathefuck? <> unable to use "but" in this circumstance...... <> uh whatever? << and he would wreck his bass>> the pleasure of wrecking Guitars is beyond most ppl i know , i'll just add here that i had a chat with a member of the band "Seven7" a while back where we were talking about this, some part of which had the passage " better than Sex" in it ..... <> name your own religeon, name someone elses <> so how is this better or worse? it is common place, when you ain't the frontperson it isn't your "Job" to visually "perform" to the crowd, ain't you there to listen to em anyway? note- other bands routinely avoid eye contact with the crowd , one that comes to mind straight off is Korn .....better or worse ? <> this is the point where i point out that hes not named after a bloodsucking insect [not that i have any problem with RHCP/ the relapsed Janes Addiction + ] <> do you go to see a band? i always go to EXPERIENCE a band, [tip: if you do want to "see an act" the best spot is usually front row bassists side , which is usually the right when veiwing the stage, if you want to see the bassist the best veiw is from someones shoulders 8ish rows back from the other side of the stage ,where you can see backstage on the bassists side] <> tact change i lose count <> whats with this! i know Ben said something like this in an interveiw or something but can't everyone think before they regurgitate it, it doesn't apply mostly and it's just an excuse you use to clear your concience of doubt of your "fandom" and similar <> wow lets all use contradictions like Chris! <> the only thing obvious 'bout Ben is that they stick him in the back of all the pictures cos hes not the cute one? or is it he's too damn happy doin his own thing? or "he broke up the band" well it seems in this intervening time he has become a rokstar behind all your backs [check out latest pix at the Hater site.......hmmm..... Macaw , Screaming Trees, Hater, Devilhead, WWC, did i miss any ? solo contract?] i'm more pissed off now than when i started this, ya'll get lost and read some "wholesome" mail now yar hear ....... .....agghh just bite me , yar didn't miss me one bit Wingd Vermin - the Heritic always speaks the truth then is silenced forever, banned by MTV, Fuck You eMpTV die you savage fashion media whores grrrrr ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 12:42:56 -0400 From: Dan Carbo Subject: Re: Favorite Song Lyric I wasn't going to respond to this thread, but I thought what the heck. I was listening to some songs to pick out exactly on line, but I couldn't do it. For me I can't find just one line that I love. It's the whole song. The three songs that have the best lyrics for me are: 1. The Day I Tried to Live 2. The 4th of July 3. Beyond the Wheel Those three songs just do it for me. Dan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 12:47:21 -0400 From: Dan Carbo Subject: Re: FAVOURITE LYRICS Mike wrote: >One of the best lyrical/musical moments of SG would have to be on NTMF. In the >last verse, the lyrics go "now I see my self quiver". It might not sound too >outstanding but the way Chris sings it is absolutely amazing. On the word >"quiver", it really sounds like he's quivering. It's like he used a whammy bar or a >wah wah pedal on his voice. It sounds so cool the way he can shke his voice >around like that. Actually he says, "Presently, I see myself clearer." It is still kinda cool. You wern't "clear" on what he said. Dan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 10:04:46 -0700 From: Gene Candelaria Subject: Re: if you guys remember this i will love you forever I may be totally off about this, but during the skit that had to do w/a game show, it sounded to me like Kim's voice saying, "Ride the Snake." Anyone else get this impression? gene >> > > Also.. I haven't seen that particular SNL episode in a long while and I > was > > wondering if Chris actually acted in a skit.. I'm thinking a hopspital or > > doctor skit.. Beck did that once and he performed, but didn't Chris do it > > too? I can't remember. > > Nope. None of SG were in a skit. > > Bonnie > >> ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:39:58 -0400 From: Dan Carbo Subject: Movie clip of SG I was sitting on my couch flipping through the channels. Some movie was on one of the local stations, and I stopped because this girl on it was hot. Anyway I was watching for about 30 seconds when the scene changed to this guy watching T.V. The actor (Stephen Dorff) flipped to one station and it was a SG video. It was the video to Jesus Christ Pose. I have never seen that video, and I didn't even know there was one. It had Chris, in the desert, singing with his shirt off, and quick images of Kim and his guitar. They showed about 10 seconds of it then the guy in the movie changed the station. I was just really excited. When I realized it was SG I yelled, "What the fuck,"grabbed the T.V. guide to see what movie it is (It's called S.F.W., stars Stephen Dorff, and got one star.) I then came immediatly to my email because I wanted to tell you all first. If anyone has ever seen that video before please tell me about it. If anyone has seen the movie and knows what I'm talking about tell me also. Has anything like that ever happened to anyone else? What movies have SG appeared in? Dan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:53:27 -0400 From: Catherine Veit Subject: got another one i just woke up about 20 minutes ago on this beautiful sunday morn. when i remembered.....hey i had a dream not too long ago. so here it is: i was dancing in this club & watching a movie(which i now realize is kinda jacked) & in my pocket was my soundgarden cd book(which you can buy at any tower records i'm sure, and i recomend it to anyone cause the pictures are really great.anyway i walked past some sort of dressing room & there was this sign that said HATER HERE or something.& i grabbed a flier 2 see that haterwas playing later that night. i've never been more excited in a dream, a clean one anyway!!! so i turned to madonna, yes madonna who looked like she had gained 250 pounds & she informed me that the Roxy had season tickets & i told her that i'd look into it. as i turned to her again to ask the time , ben walked in w/ a shaved head.& i was kind of disapointed. a couple of others walked in who i didn't really recognize... it was probably john watterman etc. then matt strolls in w/ glasses. i said "oh my god u look so short." which he did then. ( i'm pretty sure each member of sg is 6ft and up) my eyes were twinkling until i realized that i had no $ and no transportation to get home with. & thats how it ended. i'm going to take a shower!!! cats4kim ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:56:32 -0400 From: Mike Smith Subject: guess those lyrics.... i just visited the site, and the (always new and exciting) lyric line below the guys pictures said "along her vain parade....along her veins" where is that from?? mike. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 16:33:04 -0400 From: Maria Joseph Subject: Warning!! Read OFF-LINE.. or something.. heh. Soundgarden's Power Trip Uncovered as We All Come Together And a heathy, perky, and energetic GOOD MORNIN' to all of you SOMMSters all over the globe! It's me again (yay.), Maria, here to give a little light to your time on whatever online service you own. And, no, I am not from a city in the South.. I just felt like saying "Good Mornin'" instead of your usual "Good Morning".. but anyways.. It's 2:03 a.m. on the East Coast here in Maryland.. that lovely city of Reisterstown in that great place called Baltimore.. :) As mentioned before, I am up this morning to provide the people I treasure dearly with some info/entertainment/crap/or whatever you want to call it, of our great rock band.. Soundgarden, whom we all love so dearly :) All right, enough of this radio talk and let's get down to business, shall we? So just keep making this page go down as you will now read: Some Soundgarden Trivia (SST.. heh :).. actually.. I wouldn't call it trivia, but.... here goes: Back when Soundgarden was young, clean-faced, and about to decide what's after SST, Soundgarden was offered many record deals with tons of companies, like A&M, Geffen, and Warner Bros.. at one point 12 labels began to express interest in them.. at the same time.. talk about hype! kewl, huh? :) (moving on...) Here's how Matt (the instrumental god.. we luv you!! especially "CameronBDS" and "Drumgirl42" :) ) describes the power (and what power is shown!) of their album Superunknown: "It grooves and it rocks and everything is where it should be. I can listen to it. Normally, rock songs are about certain things- chicks, cars, and dicks. But the lyrics to Superuknown are very introspective, very dark. They're saying a whole different thing. Basically, it's a big fuck-you to the world, a plea to 'leave us alone!'" (thank you, Matt, my love, that's right drumgirl..heh..:), we all appreciate your insight!) Soundgarden('s Superunknown) has a style that was described as painful, intelligent, sincere, mature, despressed, holy, and informed.. Chris half-jokingly calls it 'zen-metal'. (and thank you Chris, you darling, for that term.) Kim describes a show (in Japan) SG played: "Standing onstage tonight was like listening to a record that's had a thumb placed on the turntable," Kim remarks later, annoyed with himself. "Or listening to a tape recorder whose batteries are running down." How about a few words from our friend, Ben? As he's walking back from a club he attended, he throws as glass and it shatters on the street. "Respect the country," a female voice admonishes.. Here's what Ben, the sweet talkin' bassist of the band (heh), had to say about her comment: "Fuck off, you stupid cunt!" And, ah, what a wity little thing to say, now isn't it? (thank you Ben for that great line from your archive of comebackers.. i can actually use this one :) ) How about another from our friend Kim? As he still speaks of Soundgarden's maleness, we'll pick-up at his closing argument: "Maleness is something we, as Soundgarden, wrestled with for a long time. 'We're intelligent, we're sensitive, we're honorable, we're commited. Why do people keep saying that we're sexist?' It basically stems from insecurity - you already know that Chris is insecure, I'm insecure. It's no trick to see Ben's insecure. The most secure guy in our band (Matt) is the least macho guy in the band." Hmmm... now that time when Matt dropped his pants for us to enjoy.. was that his only "macho" moment.. or was he still not being macho, but just being affectionate? Oh, well, who the hell cares? It was a kick ass moment for (me) all of us. And now.... a trick from Mr. Christopher Cornell! (Chris spits on the floor of the dressing room) "That's the only good thing about touring.. being able to not care about the mess you leave - that, and getting to hang out with the crew." "Soundgarden clearly haven't mellowed out over the years (not my line). Chris' scream still tears straight through you, Ben's bass still rings out harsh and true. Matt's powerhouse drumming still threatens to send speaker stacks toppling. Some kids actually dance; Chris responds by jumping into the audience, over the heads of stony-faced security." Chris is now in the spotlight.. Chris, was there something you have to get off you sweet, sexy chest? Sorry, I meant to just say chest :) "I write songs best when I'm depressed." Is that all sweetie? Please do remember that you've got one helluva chest there.. Just let it all out! We are all listening closely to feel your pain.. c'mon, honey........ "No one seems to get this, but Black Hole Sun is sad." Oh, c'mon, Chris.. there's gotta be more. You can do it! Breathe in... and breathe out... (and don't nobody start singing Machinehead!) In... and out... that's it! (ya'll just nasty!!) And let all the emotions explode... "But because the melody is really pretty, everyone thinks it's almost chipper, which is ridiculous." I think so.. now was that so hard? Is Black Hole Sun the only one of these songs or.. "Fell On Black Days is another one." Oh, really.. "Like Suicide is a perfect example." Oh, kewl! I know the story of Like Suicide, of how you heard the thump and you found the female robin on the ground with a broken neck from flying into the window, and how you found this cinder block and smashed her head in and then wrote a song about it, but what about Fell On Black Days? I love this song because I listen to it on my down days or when I feel I have to be alone or whatever.. "Fell On Black Days was like this ongoing fear I've had for years. It took me a long time to write that song. We've tried to do three versions with that title, and none of them have ever worked... It's a feeling that everyone gets. You're happy with your life, everything's going well, things are exciting - when all of a sudden you realize you're unhappy in the extreme, to the point of being really, really scared. There's no particular event you can pin the feeling down to, it's just that you realize one day that everything in your life is FUCKED!" Wow, man.. that was very deep..but, uh, Chris, I think you took my hearing along with that last comment you made. Thanks for speaking for the great SOMMSters. I will resay something that was said before in an interview that had the reporter spending a day or two with the band.. this is something some of you can try to imagine.. maybe there will be new posts of your SG dreams.. it might inspire you: Matt table dances. Need I say more? I know, I know.. I wish I could but that all that it says.. hell.. I'll take this as an inspiration so that I can finally respond to that thread..heh.. Soundgarden was once called: (Soundgarden:)the Pepsi of rock bands What do you guys think of this? Got anymore analogies? As Ben casually glances around he notices some mountain deer.. would you like to comment, Hunter? "Look at them totally checking us out. I much prefer animals to people. I hate people. They're not like those deer. Human beings just get all jumbled up. And human beings run the world. It's kinda stupid." As this point, Chris' fellow songwriter is suffering pretty heavily from the cold, lack of sleep and depression. "I used to feel way more into this whole business." He says this speaking so slowly and monosyllabically, it's almost painful to hear him. (not me personally) But what does Soundgarden mean to you, Ben... an escape to expression, a kewl haven... "Pain the ass. I'd much rather be at home right now. Why? Because I need to establish what home is to myself before I start dragging it all the way round the world with me. Things used to be way more in swing for me. Now they aren't. Somewhere along last year, we were touring so much, I got out of whack and I haven't gotten back. Seems like we've never gotten off touring." (Note: I wasn't the pain in the ass.. he was referring to what SG means to him and second this is an older quote from a few years so he was referring to the touring around '95.) The band was evidently homesick from touring.. and from being in Japan. They were extremely fed up with the annoying and strange Japanese porno channel. The public exhibition of pubic hair and private parts (both male and female) is forbidden in Japan, but violent fingerfucking is definitely in vogue. So they show it in a curiously non-sexual ways, with all the relevant sections scrambled. And now yet more words of wisdom from your bud and, most incredibly, mine (pun intended..) Matt Cameron, as he speaks of this culture's "sexual tension". (And he thinks it's funny as he laughs..) Reader discretion is advised :) (did I spell that right?) "It's dubbed. They dub in gurgling noises. It's weird how you can't see pussy, but you can see the guy's jizz on her face. It's like the comic books, where these giant weird creatures fuck these little girls with a dick going through their mouths - these violent fucking weirdo fantasies that people buy here. They don't show pubes, but they do show these little girls getting raped by a moth. There's definitely a weird underlying sexual tension to this culture." Matt, sweetheart, thanks for the great insight, but.. maybe, just maybe, you could've used words that weren't so... you know... Oh, fuck! Maybe your use of graphic profanity will get some SOMMSters to have some more weird kick ass dreams. Chris and food... what more can you say? He, of course, was Mr. Seafood.. still is.. "I always liked working with food. It's not that different from music. Unless you're a short-order cook or something - there's no poetry in fried food." Eating out gives Chris the chance to show off the fact that, after eight years in the trade, he's restaurant-literate: He can tell what to order just by looking at the wallpaper. At the restaurant he was at with Kim, the wallpaper was kind of a musty red, with lots of wood paneling. "Avoid the shrimp cocktail. It's probably canned" Kim: "Should I get the asparagus? What do you think? Chris: "Sure. In this part of the country, asparagus is good any time." Soundgarden don't care about being politically correct. They just want to rock, then go home and feed the cats. "A lot of alternative people think we're like this macho metal thing 'cause we don't sing songs that are little whispers in the ear. And a lot of metal people think we're this wimpy alternative thing 'cause our name is Soundgarden, not Skullfuck." Thanks to Kim, we have a taste of how this topic makes him feel. And now... a little comedy from our friends Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell.. take it away, boys! A guy selling roses out of a bucked sidles up to the table. Kim, a burly man wearing a backward baseball cap, flutters his eyelashes at Chris, who recently shaved his head. (of course this is old) "You never buy me flowers anymore", Kim pouts. Chris and Kim get along just fine. And now presenting a whole new feature to this little show of Soundgarden. We will have a time for all those SOMMSters out there that have this real big urge to want to be with Chris, to want to know his inner self, to want to know his dreams and fantasies.... Well, Chris has written down a little something to add for this feature.. and I will tell you all now what that little something is. Chris onced dreamed (and yes he does dream) that he and Soundgarden's first bassist (Hiro the Hero!) had murdered Kim and hidden him in the attic, but he claims it was a nightmare. Wow, man.. sure it was a nightmare? In your dream, did you carefully cut him into small pieces and then stuff him in the wall? A little Cornell irony.. or whatever: Chris, who grew up Catholic, has a residual fondness for Gothic imagery. Kewl, huh? (That's one of the things Chris and I have in common) The apocalyptic attack on greed in "Limo Wreck" has him coming on like an avenging angel. Each of the other guys (not including Ben) offers an idea of what makes up Soundgarden's appeal - Chris and Kim say it's depth, Matt says that they rock. But Ben is brought up short. "God, I don't know. I don't think in terms like that, so I couldn't come up with a true answer at all." Still, he's not as serious as he was. He used to bristle when people called him "dude." "I used to be totally anal about that word - 'Don't fuckin' call me that!' I just don't bother anymore. You can't be a hairshirt saint all the time." Oh, yes!!! It's Matt again! We must talk about that Matt Cameron again! I will die if we don't! Matt is the sunniest member of Soundgarden, the one teen magazines gush over because he's so "cute and nice." (he sure is... no argument about that one, right Drumgirl?) He moved to Seattle from San Diego ten years ago. When they're not on the road, he putters about happily in our little brick house, rewiring the kitchen, building furniture. We've got some real kewl stuff around here that he's made.. He's great with his hands, but anyway, he scores (heh) some of the band's darkest moments - the gigantic "Limo Wreck," the remorseless grind of "Mailman" - "the stuff that hits you in the stomach but then creeps into your head." Kim's interesting, too. Kim has lived in the same tiny place for five years. "Kim's not a very good comsumer," says Matt. "Buying a house is kind of overwhelming for him." His living room is cluttered with records, magazines, assorted junk, and two cats.. In a band of professional skeptics, Kim still manages to stand out. He's compulsively critical. He keeps the TV on with the sound off - it gives him extra ammunition. But he turns it up when Seattle Supersonics forward Michael Cage comes on. He's a peppery, entertaining host. He gets a kick out of existentialism. His idea of fun is to sit around late at night deconstructing the media with his best friend Brad. Then they'll deconstruct the collusive nature of friendship. "Then a lot of the time it's overwhelming, so we'll just get drunk and watch a basketball game." As Ben sums up affectionately, "Kim's a flake, Matt's stable, and Chris is as weird as I am." Chris doesn't usually go out much; he prefers his own company. By a long shot. "When there's somebody else in the room, it's harder for me to think," he admits. "You always have to be ready to respond to the other person, so you can never really relax." But Chris is calm and self-contained, and just a little sly; when he's amused, he makes an effort not to break into a smile. It doesn't always work, which is kind of goofy. Sometimes he mishears a question and snaps "What?" suspiciously. He was more sociable as a kid. He grew up in an Irish-Catholic neighborhood that seemed full of boys with big bad brothers. Chris got into the usual trouble - "from auto theft to burglary to selling to drugs to beating other kids up and burning down buildings." He'd hang out with his friends, drinking, smoking pot, doing mushrooms, acid. "Then I got really afraid of drugs whe I was about fourteen. Everyone knew that I did drugs, so I just shut myself off from everybody. I spent like two years where I really didn't have any friends." And then he discovered that he liked being alone. Neither being married (unfortunately for some) nor being successful has changed that. It just gives him more opportunity to be reclusive. "I dunno," he sighs. "I just sometimes worry that I'll get too distant from everyone and one day I'll wake up and there won't be anyone around." But he keeps himself amused: When he's in a hotel room on a high floor, he'll always open the window, and look down and (jump..heh..not really it though :) ) imagine what it would be like to jump. What it would feel like. What he could land on. Personally, I have done that lots of times.. it's a real kewl thing to seclude yourself to... But when you think about it, you will realize that Ben is wrong from his statement that was mentioned previously. Chris is even weirder than he is. Quote: "It's like the only thing that's really yours. Relationships are never yours. Property is never yours. Your body isn't even yours. Music is something that actually is. It's forever in a way." - Chris Cornell Kim, Chris, and a journalist friend are looking at some photos taken of the band. Eventually some pics of Chris appear where the photographer has captured Cornell at his bent-body worst. Kim bursts into laughter when seeing another of these. "You know him from the film Freaks," he points at his pal. "These shots kill off your sexy boy persona," the journalist says to Cornell. "Waddayamean," counters Chris, "that's totally erotic." Cornell has cut his trademark tresses; his hair-in-the-face whirl had become a Soundgarden logo as much as any grungy riff. Now he looks like just another devilish schmo, wisecracking without a grin while scoping out the hallway for a coffee urn. And now the band will speak of the newer generation of Seattle bands... "These days Seattle has a slew of bands with stupid names," Chris announces. "Should we get into the subject," the journalist wonders. "It's a whole bag of worms," says Cameron. "You mean can of worms," counters Cornell. "Right, Bag of Worms is one of those bad Seattle names," launched Thayil. "One of those carpetbagger bands." And Soundgarden knows talent when they see a band's name. "You can tell from a band's name that their lyrics are going to suck," says Cornell. "If they can't think up one to four words that create a vision, how are they going to write a song?" "Seems like their music's going to suck too," deadpans Thayil. "Who came up with the carpetbagger tag?" the journalist asks. "Five hundred bands moved there in the last two years," Thayil says authoritatively. "The latest count has over 1000 bands in Seattle," agrees Cameron, "and about 200 clubs. It's getting close to a pay-to-play situation. That's our prediction." "It wasn't like you woke up one morning and found out that it was happening," says Cornell. "If you were living in Michigan, looking at magazines that all of a sudden were covered with Seattle groups, it might have seemed abrupt. But we're there, and we heard all the groups and watched 'em make records, and we knew something was going to happen. It was a hotbed for a while. We figured it was real and that it would go forward. When you're in the trenches, that's the kind of thing that keeps you going." "Are you guys viewed as big brothers these days?", the journalist asks. "Has-beens," smiles Shepherd, "dinosaurs." "Butt-rockers," concurs Cameron. "Mark Arm once called us the Rush of Seattle," nods Cornell. What about the viewing of their music vids on MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head? They deemed their videos "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage" heavy and cool. "I don't have cable, but they sent us tapes of that," smirks Thayil. "At first I thought, 'Here are some goony, idiot guys who are cast as goony, idiot guys,' and I thought it was dumb. But it turns out they hate shitty music, too. That's fine. I love AC/DC and Metallica, so their judgements aren't far off." Quote: "I'd like people to just go flush when they listen to our record. Sensations are crucial." - Matt Cameron on Superunknown. Chris Cornell on En Vogue: "'Free You Mind' is an amazing video - partly because of En Vogue's performance. Those leggy, sexy women screaming and strutting seem really confident. They also seem like women, where most groups in that genre seem like high school girls. En Vogue are mature, like maybe they know something you don't, or at least they don't care if you know something they don't. Kiss should have made a video that looked like that." Chris on "Celebrity": "Celebrity is odd. The fans find out where you're staying, I don't know how. Say it's 7 a.m. and you've been on the bus all night, and you've gotten drunk and fallen asleep. You wake up and all of a sudden you're surrounded by people, and you can't figure out what they're doing there, because you're just a normal jerk. They're not necessarily that polite and they give you some shit sometimes. You feel obligated in a way. I don't handle that well, we all have the ability to be rude or abusive in that situation. A lot of bands like it. You see clips of Trixter or Slaughter mixing it up with the fans. Just because we don't enjoy that kind of attention doesn't mean that we think we're better than the fans or they don't deserve appreciation. There's no member of our band that doesn't appreciate them. We're just socially awkward." Chris has had to work at self-doubts about his singing in public, too. He explains, "I always used to waver between secure and insecure, which is the nature of a vocalist, because my voice isn't like other instruments - some days it sounds better than others. My voice has progressed over a period of time, just through screaming. We would write songs where it sounded like the singer should do something extreme. If I was singing in a higher range, I'd push my voice so it would break up because I like the way it sounded. After awhile it didn't break up, it went to the note - that's basically how I got my range." And Ben... you had a point to add? "It's about opinions. There are plenty because we've made a point not to paint ourselves into a corner. Stylewise, there aren't that many marketplace expectations of us. Fans will probably be able to go where we go. I mean, you won't be hearing our stuff in the Gap. S'cuze me, do you have a size 32? Gnngg, gnngg, gnngg, da-da-da-dop. No way. So all we have to please is ourselves." Black Hole Sun is such a kick ass piece of shit that I love so much because it gives me no emotion to feel except to just enjoy what I have now because it'll be gone soon and to just give me the chance to sit and reflect on all the crap that has gone on in my life.. it takes me into a deeper state of thought.. not necessarily a good state of thought, but not a mortified one.. somewhere in between, but more towards mortification than good.. well, nevermind.. So, what about that line in BHS, "No one sings like you anymore," who is that directed at? "Is that about John Lennon?" says Kim. "I ate some cottage cheese that turned, and I wrote those lyrics. I don't know; it's just sort of a surreal dreamscape, a weird, play-with-the-title kind of song." says Chris. What about the lyrics to those absolutely incredible pieces, "My Wave" or "Let Me Drown"... are they directed at anyone? "No," says Chris. "'Let Me Drown' is about--I didn't want to say this, because Nirvana put out that_In Utero_album, with the fetus all over it--but it was originally about crawling back to the womb to die." And what triggered that particular line of thought? Chris, "Well, salmon always do that. They go back to where they were born, then they die. I think it would be cool if humans could do that too." Kim, "All those silly neo-Freudians suggest that an orgasm is like a near-death experience. What you're doing is digging a way to try to get back into the womb. These are the coolest lyrics that we've had, cooler than on the pervious record. They're more honest. They're deeper... There's a lot of similarity between your lyrics and Ben's. It's a similar vibe. His, though, are more childlike--like [author J.D.] Salinger, not like_Sesame Street_. The lyrics to "Mailman" make you sound sort of noble. Chris, "I don't want to tell you what it really mean, 'cause it makes me look worse! Anything makes me look noble, I'll stick with that." (joking, u know) "Times are gone for honest men" is one of your lines, Chris. Do you believe that? "Yeah, definitely. It seems like noble people are squashed." Kim, "I think it's a great line. I think it's great that someone said that." Chris"One time I was on acid, and there were voices ten feet behind my head. The whole time I'd be walking, they'd be talking behind me. It actually made me feel good, because I felt like I was with some people. At one point I was looking back, and I saw that one person was wearing a black shirt and jeans, and the other person was wearing a red shirt. They were always there. It was kinda like a dream, though, where I'd wake up and look and focus once in a while and realize there was no one there. I'd go, "Oh, fuck, I'm hearing voices." Do you write a lot of songs on acid? "No, but '4th of July' is pretty much about that day. You wouldn't get that if you read it. It doesn't read like, 'Woke up, dropped some acid, got into the car and went to the Indian reservation." Kim any side project brewing? "Kim Thayil's Hammer. No, nothing. Okay, there's going to be a very independent single coming out called Dark Load. It's me and the drummer from Tad and [Seattle journalist] Jeff Gilbert singing. It's tongue-in-butt-cheek! See, if I were to do a solo thing, the problem is I can't sing--or at least have no interest in singing--and all the singers I'd want to work with are doing fine by themselves, thank you. And for those of you macho men and women out there that has something negative to say about Soundgarden, you just remember this: "If anybody is going around saying that Soundgarden is any less important than any other band in this town, tell him that Jonathan Poneman is going to kick his ass." Damn straight, Jon! Tell it! The other thing you should know about Soundgarden is that, despite their manly demeanor, they're about the farthest thing from a party band you'll find, though they do like to eat. Their tour manager wants to take them out to dinner at an Italian cafe in neighboring Bondi Beach, but Matt (oh-so-yummy ) Cameron spotted a place earlier that serves blue-eyed cod and kangaroo filet. (They were in Australia..) The band troops up to Cameron's restaurant for some real Australian food, plenty of Australian beer (maybe they had some Foster's). "The chef prefers to serve the kangaroo rare," the waiter says. "Rare!" Thayil exclaims. "Is it possible to get some medium 'roo?" "I'm not sure," says the waiter, looking doubtful, "but I'll check for you." "Man," Cornell says, "if people find out we're eating kangaroo, some of them are going to be really bummed. I think I'll stick to the lamb." Cameron orders 'roo for the table, cooked medium, with fried eggplant and a roasted red pepper sauce. The 'roo is quite good. And now.. some stuff I picked up from my reading: -Chris was quoted saying this about Led Zepplin, "Led Zepplin is just a bunch of stupid idiots who wrote cool riffs." -Of course we all know about the 1990 nomination for a Grammy in the "Hard Rock/Heavy Metal" category for Ultramega OK.. Well, here's Kim's reaction on learning of the nomination, "Went back to sleep." -The book said that "'Smokestack Lightning' was a song that was just a mistake. The blues song, by Chester "Howlin' Wolf" Burnett, caught Soundgarden trespassing in a field where they had no business and no pedigree. They weren't, and never had been, a blues band---unlike, say, Led Zepplin, for whom blues had been an inspiration......" Well, I'm probably sure all of my lovely SOMMSters will be happy when I say that I am done with this post.. Of course this stuff is old because.. well, we won't bring up that incident that happened a few months ago.. but, anyway, this was for entertainment purposes, of course..Uh, I started this at 2:03 a.m. on Aug. 9 and will finish at about 4:00 p.m. on Aug 10.. I stopped around 4:30 a.m yesterday and picked up again at 2:03 p.m. today.. I still will update you with the book and I will continue to entertain you.. Sorry it's long, but the guys had a lot to say.. and before I leave, I'd like to give some awards of recognition out to these guys for helping me do this broadcast.. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:46:36 PDT From: Myra Haza Subject: Re: Movie clip of SG >From owner-somms@mitvma.mit.edu Sun Aug 10 10:51:31 1997 >Received: from PEAR.EASE.LSOFT.COM (206.241.12.19) by VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <6.984FC636@VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM>; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:41:40 -0400 >Received: from MITVMA.MIT.EDU by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LISTSERV release 1.8c) with > NJE id 1117 for SOMMS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:41:07 -0400 >Received: from MITVMA (NJE origin SMTP@MITVMA) by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LMail > V1.2b/1.8b) with BSMTP id 0068; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:39:32 -0400 >Received: from MIT.EDU (18.72.1.2) by mitvma.mit.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R3) with > TCP; Sun, 10 Aug 97 13:39:31 EDT >Received: from emout11.mx.aol.com by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA11389; Sun, 10 Aug > 97 13:39:58 EDT >Received: (from root@localhost) by emout11.mail.aol.com (8.7.6/8.7.3/AOL-2.0.0) > id NAA08880 for SOMMS@mit.edu; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:39:58 -0400 (EDT) >Message-ID: <970810133957_132170132@emout11.mail.aol.com> >Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:39:58 -0400 >Reply-To: Hydrates@AOL.COM >From: Dan Carbo >Subject: Movie clip of SG >To: SOMMS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU > Dan wrote: What movies have SG appeared in? > >Dan Well they played live in 'Singles' and Chris has a brief cameo. And in the 'Cable Guy' there was this cool guy wearing a Superunknown shirt and I'm guessing he was going to a SG concert. --Myra I left her in the sand/Just a burden in my hand ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:50:07 PDT From: Myra Haza Subject: Re: guess those lyrics.... >From owner-somms@mitvma.mit.edu Sun Aug 10 12:58:52 1997 >Received: from PEAR.EASE.LSOFT.COM (206.241.12.19) by VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <10.B1CCA033@VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM>; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:58:23 -0400 >Received: from MITVMA.MIT.EDU by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LISTSERV release 1.8c) with > NJE id 5297 for SOMMS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:57:35 -0400 >Received: from MITVMA (NJE origin SMTP@MITVMA) by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LMail > V1.2b/1.8b) with BSMTP id 7041; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:56:06 -0400 >Received: from emout13.mail.aol.com (198.81.11.39) by mitvma.mit.edu (IBM VM > SMTP V2R3) with TCP; Sun, 10 Aug 97 15:56:05 EDT >Received: (from root@localhost) by emout13.mail.aol.com (8.7.6/8.7.3/AOL-2.0.0) > id PAA22002 for somms@mitvma.mit.edu; Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:56:32 -0400 > (EDT) >Message-ID: <970810155631_-421354947@emout13.mail.aol.com> >Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:56:32 -0400 >Reply-To: Gardner166@AOL.COM >From: Mike Smith >Subject: guess those lyrics.... >To: SOMMS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Mike wrote: >i just visited the site, and the (always new and exciting) lyric line below >the guys pictures said "along her vain parade....along her veins" where is >that from?? > >mike. Its from 'Flower' on Ultramega OK. --Myra All of seventeen/Eyes a purple-green ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:55:57 PDT From: Myra Haza Subject: Ohh Yeah! I forgot to mention that in Wayne's World (just one of the greatest movies of all time!) They played 'Loud Love' in the background when Wayne was first talking to Casandra at the Gas Works. And they play 'All Nite Thing' by TOTD when Wayne, Garth, and Casandra went to Benjamin's appartment. I know I know I obsessed with that movie! --Myra You stay down but I won't be quiet/I'll hammer on until you fight! ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:05:45 -0500 From: Kathie and David Subject: Re: Favorite song lyric Jenna asked: >Does anyone have a fave song lyric form SG? This is a really hard question. In fact, I can't even seperate out individual lyrics from most of my faves because, especially in their newer stuff, the songs are so cohesive that taking a line out of context, for me, kind of makes it lose its appeal. Anyway, these are the lyrics that immediately come to my mind when I see that question: * The hand of God's got a ring about the size of Texas - Hand of God That line still makes me smile every time I hear it. I love the image. * If you've got some time to kill, slow resistence wins the war - Loud Love I love this song (it was my first exposure to SG), and I love how Chris sings this line. * If you were mine to give I might throw it away - Ugly Truth This is one of the angriest songs I have ever heard, and this line expresses his feelings so clearly. Kathie ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 17:55:18 -0400 From: Nadezhda Ball Subject: Re: fave SG member right on jen! ben is totally awesome. i admit he scares me, but that's becuz he's a lil intimidating. but whatever ben rulez. tru tru ben isn't the only one that has an anger towards the audience. chris threw a guitar at mi friend's head and he had to get stitches. i mean the point of that was. anyway ben's just a guy that points out the nastiness of the crowd, of girls throwing themselves at him and the other members, what you want him to suk it up? he has a wife and kid, and i'd be a lil pissed if people in my audience are being dicks too. whatever's clever. but mr. ben should play for the rest of the fans in the way back that love him too, i don't consider that playing with yer back to the audience. well.....tricky does that too. maybe he's shy. why am i obsessing? somebody SHUT ME UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nadezhda "if this isn't making sense, it doesn't make it lies" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:24:50 -0700 From: James Bartlett Subject: The Ben machine I believe that Ben lives by a famous saying of Jello Biafra, wich would be, "Fuck shit up," or something close to that. Ben's goal in life is to break the rules. It's a good old punkrock attitude. That, mixed with his lack of patience and abnormal sense of humor, makes him what I would define as "a severely giant individual." He's the unpredictable one, the guy that no one understands. You can't tell if he intends to microwave a pizza or tip over a car. -Jimi ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 15:37:55 -0700 From: Katie E Williams Subject: Re: if you guys remember this i will love you forever On Sat, 9 Aug 1997 17:48:22 -0400 Maria Joseph writes: >I was about to say Saturday Night Live because they do portrays and sg >was >there.. but Lame List? I dunno.. Actually.. the Lame List is on Almost Live (kind of like SNL but it's only a half hour and is centered on making fun of Seattle.. it's a lot funnier too). Anyway, Kim Thayil is one of the guys on the Lame List.. for those of you who don't know exactly what the List is about ---> an announcer lists off things like "there are five new bands in Seattle and they're all called Supergrass!" (or something like that).. then a group of people (sometimes with Kim Thayil included) yell out "Lame!" Anyway, my sister was telling me something the other day that I thought was kinda funny (and somewhat slightly depressing). She said that there was an episode of Almost Live once with the Lame List and Kim Thayil and the announcer said, "Now that Soundgarden's broken up, this is the only job that Kim Thayil has!" (or something like that) then the camera cut to Kim Thayil and he shakes his head and says ," that's lame.. that's really lame." Did anyone else see this episode? ~Katie ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 18:36:56 -0400 From: Maria Joseph Subject: Re: if you guys remember this i will love you forever People mentioned that the script that never made it on snl to be at seth's but i didn't see it.. nor the letter from Matt ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 17:01:44 -0600 From: Vasant Ramamurthy Subject: Re: Soundgarden/Billy Corgan >From: Maria Joseph >I've noticed that awhile ago it was brought up about Chris being a better >singer than Billy or whatever. Well.. I was reading and noticed some possible >"rivalry" (I did use quotes.. doesn't mean it's happening) or maybe even >"hostility" (it doesn't mean it happened) between some of SG and Mr. Corgan. >Kim kinda made a comment (more than likely he was having fun) that he said a >little to loudly.. loud enough for Billy to see Kim later and in front of >some of the band say that Kim heart him deeply in his heart.. look, i know you're relatively new here, but PLEASE, don't bring up this stupid thing up again. it's a sore point with me and others, so for the love of god, let's not get this thing started again... vasant ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 21:09:02 -0400 From: Charlie Mccutcheon Subject: STAGE PRESENCE i don't want to sound like i'm shredding that person's email about ben 'turnning his back to the audience', BUT. . . i play guitar & i suck sour frog ass if i see people watching me so i turn around. it's just how some people are. thanks. charlie ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 21:26:13 -0400 From: Catherine Veit Subject: Re: if you guys remember this i will love you forever hey you guys is almost live on comedy central, i know that it used to be but i haven't heard about it in ages. if it's not then what channel is it on, times etc??? -CATS4KIM ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 21:35:35 -0400 From: Catherine Veit Subject: everyone get out your calendars!!! if you don't already know, HYPE is coming out on video on the 19th.... since it's an independent project it was only shown @ selected theatres, & i never had a chance to see it. r you all wetting you pants like i am... i hope so.. how embarrassing if i was the only one. -CATS4KIM ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 22:56:21 -0500 From: Richard E Horner Subject: SCREW THESE GUYS! Look at this! I run a Metallica mailing list and one of the members sent in this interview with James (now fuckupedly spelled Jamyz) and there is this stupid part before the interview that is like 2 or 3 pages long that is supposed to be deep or something. I had to show every one this excerpt from the interview. <<>> KRIS CORNELL! This dude can't even spell! And then he calls him "screwed up" Ok, MAYBE but not in the sense that its intended. I can't believe this saw print. I Rich "One day I started telling everyone that killing was my bussiness" Soundgarden, Metallica, and Megadeth, Injustice for All http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Stage/4984 .' `. .'/ __ ___ ______ _ _ _ __ \`. .'/ \/ || _||_ _/ /|| | | | | | / \ | `\. ' / /\/| || |_ | | / || | | | | |/ /\_\| |\\` / / | || _| | | /_||| | | | | || _ | _ \ / / | || |_ | | / || |_ | |_ | |\ \/ /| | \ \ / / | ||___| |_|/_/|_||___||___||_| \__/ | | \ \ / / |/ \| \ \ /.' `.\ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 15:15:59 -0500 From: Wyn Subject: Time and Season for SG? or not? Hi all, Just off I'm "I'm curious about" things. Ok then well I was considering this Morning that I probably prefer to listen to SOUNDGARDEN at night and probably less in the Spring into Summer months (but thats probably due to the touring seasons is in full swing and I listen to the bands I'm going to see or have seen more). I probably listen to SG more at noight because it goes well by starlight. So what about the rest of you then.. do you prefer Soundgarden more in certain Seasons and are they more preferable at certain times of day? Letting my curiosity wonder again Bronwyn ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 01:46:45 -0400 From: Giuliana Garbini Subject: Re: guess those lyrics.... << i just visited the site, and the (always new and exciting) lyric line below the guys pictures said "along her vain parade....along her veins" where is that from?? >> "Flower" Much Love, Giuliana ------------------------------ End of SOMMS Digest - 10 Aug 1997 to 11 Aug 1997 ************************************************