Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 02:02:39 -0500 Subject: SOMMS Digest - 15 Nov 1997 to 16 Nov 1997 There are 11 messages totalling 536 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. "no other band will ever be able to grab my heart" (2) 2. "no other band will ever ..." (2) 3. MTV 12 angry viewers review 4. DeZHy's Post, et al 5. Deep Six 6. bleed together promo/my review of Asides (2) 7. Bleed Together Promo 8. Melancholy over A-Sides? To UNSUBSCRIBE from SOMMS, send email to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU with the following in the body of your message: SIGNOFF SOMMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 23:25:43 -0800 From: Jordan Snodgrass Subject: Re: "no other band will ever be able to grab my heart" One should never think that "no other band will ever be able to grab my heart" like any band, be it Soundgarden or whoever. I once felt the same way.. years ago in high school I listened to Pearl Jam's "Ten" on cassette so many times that I had to buy a new copy cause the first one was so fucked up. The same with Soundgarden & BMF...i began getting scared that nothing would ever match up to them.. i wanted more music, but nothing was good enough after those two tapes. Then, after millions of listens, they started getting kinda old, and I was disturbed that I couldn't find anything else that meant as much as these things did. Then one day I was watching MTV and I heard a guy singing, "rip away the tears..." That guy just happened to be Dave Matthews, and right at that moment my fears dispursed. I had been re-enlightened, and then Soundgarden & Pearl Jam didn't look as important as they once did. Then DMB was getting kind of old and my fears re-appeared when all of a sudden a friend handed me a CD and said, "listen to this guitar work. it's skitzophrenic." So I went home and was absolutely blown away by The Afghan Whigs' "Gentlemen." Passionately in love all over again. Then that started getting old when a friend called me up and said, "hey, lets go see this chick perform.. i heard she has the voice of an angel!" So we drove 45 minutes and waited in line 3 hours see some chick, a supposed "rising star" with the name of Jewel play in front of about 100 people at a coffee house. I transcended to the twilight that night. And the next when we returned to see her again...Passionately in love yet again. Anyway, the moral of the story is this: Yes, I understand everyones pain and stuff about Soundgarden being gone, but some of you are making it sound like the end of the world, as if SG was the be all end all of music. Gather up some objectivity and realize that there are trillions of bands out there...*ONE* of which happened to be Soundgarden. One day you'll be walking down the street and hear some song comming out of an apartment window, your jaw will drop, and you will once again be enlightened. Fear not, friends, the trillions of bands are out there, waiting in the bushes for your picking! So go pick them. -- -js mailto:jasnodgr@ucsd.edu http://sdcc10.ucsd.edu/~jasnodgr/fm/ "...and that's jordan, not jason." -me ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 02:44:49 -0500 From: NIKI FREER Subject: Re: "no other band will ever ..." jordan wrote: >> Anyway, the moral of the story is this: Yes, I understand everyones pain and stuff about Soundgarden being gone, but some of you are making it sound like the end of the world, as if SG was the be all end all of music. Gather up some objectivity and realize that there are trillions of bands out there...*ONE* of which happened to be Soundgarden. One day you'll be walking down the street and hear some song comming out of an apartment window, your jaw will drop, and you will once again be enlightened. Fear not, friends, the trillions of bands are out there, waiting in the bushes for your picking! So go pick them. << it's not that i think they are the end all of music, i won't rant on my opinion of them, but it's just that something i desperately loved was torn away from me abruptly. i used to float from band to band like you say you do, but SG changed all that. sure, there's plenty of other great great bands out there, i love a lot of music. my CD collection grows every week it seems... but that's not it. this was it for me, this was THAT band, that song, that voice, that album... it doesn't get any better than SG, and in my mind and soul it never will. you can't replace a love so strong as this. i know i now sound psycho (someone *please* back me up on this!!) now, like a *real* obsessed person... but i can't make anyone understand what they've done for me. no way, it's totally inexplicable. i wish i could, i really do. but SG is the one thing where i come up at a loss of words for. the one thing that means the most to me, i cannot find the words to describe. there are trillions of bands, yes, but there is only *one* Soundgarden... mind riot ____ run away now it's halloween shave your head, burn your sheets evil could be right next door... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOUNDGARDEN 1984-1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 09:19:19 -0500 From: Cemetery Starr Subject: Re: "no other band will ever ..." In a message dated 97-11-15 02:47:37 EST, endless_nameless@PRODIGY.COM writes: > it doesn't get any better than SG, and in my mind and soul it never >will. you can't replace a love so strong as this. i know i now sound >psycho (someone *please* back me up on this!!) now, like a *real* >obsessed person... but i can't make anyone understand what they've >done for me. no way, it's totally inexplicable. i wish i could, i >really do. but SG is the one thing where i come up at a loss of words >for. the one thing that means the most to me, i cannot find the words >to describe. > there are trillions of bands, yes, but there is only *one* >Soundgarden... > >mind riot I back you up. Although I haven't actually heard trillions of bands, I know that none can even come close to that special feeling I get when hearing any sg song. Some of these posts lately have brought tears to my eyes, because it is all so true. I'm going to stop now, before I start crying again.... Cemetery ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 11:20:06 -0500 From: Maria Joseph Subject: Re: MTV 12 angry viewers review I saw this too and I noticed that they didn't play the whole video. But to me it looked different than what I have normally seen. I saw Matt more times near the end and Ben and Kim. There were like shots of each player and clouds and wind were behind them. I never saw that. And then they just repeated it and then they cut it off just when they were about to close up on Chris again.. Did anyone else see this? There were different shots from what's normally on there. See- ya - Maria ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 12:38:24 PST From: John Galt Subject: DeZHy's Post, et al Thanks to everyone who has responded to my post. I'm really pleased by the response. I've gotten a lot of great insight (and discovered some interesting musical similarities with some of you!) In reference to DeZHy's post: Rest assured, I will have the entire discography soon. But I want to experience the band one album at a time. I once made the mistake of buying every Sisters of Mercy CD at one time. I listened to all of them over and over... and to this day, I have trouble associating certain songs with the right album. But thanks for the UltraMega OK analysis: you obviously have great musical taste and your input is all the more useful. (You know, I haven't been called a kid in over 25 years. Soundgarden is making me feel like a kid at Christmas, though!) I am off to go CD shopping!!! JG "Music is a higher revelation than philosophy" - Ludwig Van Beethoven, 1810 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 16:23:42 -0500 From: Christianna Bajnoczy Subject: Deep Six Hey There Sommster! I just wanted to share some very excitng news, I struck gold and scored myself one of the original Deep Six vinyls. At first it sounded very strange but it's ALL wonderful. Thats it for me. Christianna "She's dying to lose what she's finding" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 15:17:19 -0800 From: "S. Kutz" Subject: Re: "no other band will ever be able to grab my heart" y'know, if you've ever had a band that you've loved for many years, there's no way any other one can take their place. take the whole beatles thing for example. there are still people around whose favortie band are the beatles and as far as they're concerned-the beatles are the greatest. i personally am not nearly as obsessed about soundgarden as i once was. soundgarden and u2 have taken their turns being my absolute favorite band. and currently i am in the viewpoint that both bands are my absolute favorties and no other band will be able to take either one of their places. sure i'll like other music, but i probably won't put up posters of them, or go to all the concerts they play in my hometown. i probably won't join their listserv (ie SOMMS) and i probably won't buy all their albums. It's a hard thing to tell people they shouldn't make a statement like "no other band will grab my heart" when i know for an absolute FACT no other bands will ever take my heart like soundgarden or u2 ever have. most of my memories for the past 6 years revolve around these bands and i wouldn't change that for the world. sarah =) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 19:58:58 -0500 From: NIKI FREER Subject: bleed together promo/my review of Asides hey sommsters! well, bleed together is a promo cd, with just BT as the song on it. the cover is a weird blurry infer-red(sp?) looking thing, it almost looks like a red x-ray of an eye to me. the background is a deep black-maroon color. very interesting artwork indeed. yeah, i have one, thanks to a friend of mine that works at her college radio station. she had to fight off another SG fan in order to get it for me. = ) love your friends people, they do great things for you. also got my own copy of the promo A-sides postcard, and my radio station friend also snagged the one the station got for me. = ) seth- any chance you'll have a jpg version of the album cover scan up soon? i need it for something, write me. okay, i got to do the review of A-sides for the paper that i used to write for, and here's what i had to say: A-sides: Soundgarden by Niki Freer Led Zepplin, the Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, and Pink Floyd: big name bands with lots of hits and lots of fans. These are the kind of bands greatest hits albums are ususally associated with, not someone like Soundgarden. Though Soundgarden truly was an icon of their era, with Top 40-culture populaity suprisingly gained in "Black Hole Sun" and "Burden In My Hand," their greatest hits compilation has left my mouth tasting slightly sour. Soundgarden always seem like the beast that was given too little to eat. Underappreciated and under-rated, they roared and groaned and screamed uniquely only to be given a, "Sorry, maybe next time!" each time they were nominated for a Grammy Award. They were the hunger and the fight behind what became "grunge" and the Seattle scene, and deserved to be recognized as such. I guess this is A&M's attempt at doing just that. A-sides is beautiful in its artwork, classic pictures and subtlty running rampant; but the songs are merely the singles they released from 1984 to 1997. You've got your "Outshined" and the ever-present "Black Hole Sun," along with some older tunes like "Get On The Snake" and "Nothing to Say" that a semi-fan may not have heard. There are some purely magnificent songs on this compilation, such as "Loud Love" and "Flower," that almost make up for the bad transitions from one song to the next. Unfortunately, the album becomes disorientating very quickly. A song like "Rusty Cage" just should not be followed up with something like "Spoonman." "Pretty Noose" does not sit comfortably between "Fell On Black Days" and "Burden In My Hand." The overall effect is jarring. The inclusion of "Bleed Together," a song previously available only in the UK and Australia as a b-side, is the brightest star on this album. Breath-takingly upbeat and breakneck fast, it's a breath of fresh air for 'garden fans that have been dying for something new. But even with "Bleed Together" on the release, plenty of fans are still wondering, "Where is 'Beyond the Wheel'? What about 'Big Dumb Sex'? Whatever happened to 'Hunted Down'?" So many powerful songs that were not singles have been overlooked for A-sides that the idea that it is a "Best Of" album seems downright ludicrious. In some respects, the songs that didn't make this album shine more brilliant and more profound that anything on A-sides. In the liner notes written by Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman, it says, "How can you possibly fit all of the coolest stuff onto one album? It simply can't be done. " Truer words were never spoken. So, if you're interested in breaking your rusty cage, then blowing up the outside world without changing the CD, then A-sides is just the thing for you. Chris, Kim, Ben, Matt, and Hiro (Yamamoto, original bassist) had a darn good idea with A-sides, and the fact that A&M decided they were great enough to have it produced and released is applause well deserved, but in the end it just doesn't cover all corners. But fear not, the Soundgarden beast will be back next year, according to Kim, weilding a b-sides or live album as their machette of choice. Anticipating that release makes this one much, much sweeter. ------------------------------------- five stars for the songs themselves * * * * * three stars for the album * * * ------------------------------------- thanks for reading. let me know what you think. mind riot ____ run away now it's halloween shave your head, burn your sheets evil could be right next door... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOUNDGARDEN 1984-1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 19:25:21 PST From: Adam Jones Subject: Re: bleed together promo/my review of Asides Nice review, thats what i sorta thought about it as well. Yeah, really how can you fit all the other cooler stuff like " Slaves & Bulldozers " or " 4th of July " or Something like that. I bought it anyway because its a SG release i don't have yet. Nice pictures though.... Later, Adam >From owner-somms@mitvma.mit.edu Sat Nov 15 17:12:35 1997 >Received: from PEAR.EASE.LSOFT.COM (206.241.12.19) by vms.dc.lsoft.com (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <14.43C443BC@vms.dc.lsoft.com>; Sat, 15 Nov 1997 21:02:36 -0400 >Received: from MITVMA.MIT.EDU by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LISTSERV release 1.8c) with > NJE id 2943 for SOMMS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU; Sat, 15 Nov 1997 20:02:37 -0500 >Received: from MITVMA (NJE origin SMTP@MITVMA) by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LMail > V1.2b/1.8b) with BSMTP id 6397; Sat, 15 Nov 1997 20:01:18 -0500 >Received: from MIT.EDU (18.69.0.28) by mitvma.mit.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R3) with > TCP; Sat, 15 Nov 97 20:01:17 EST >Received: from pimaia4w.prodigy.com by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA16674; Sat, 15 > Nov 97 20:01:12 EST >Received: from mime4.prodigy.com (mime4.prodigy.com [192.168.254.43]) by > pimaia4w.prodigy.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id UAA68628 for > ; Sat, 15 Nov 1997 20:01:11 -0500 >Received: (from root@localhost) by mime4.prodigy.com (8.6.10/8.6.9) id TAA12922 > for somms@mit.edu; Sat, 15 Nov 1997 19:58:59 -0500 >X-Mailer: Prodigy Internet GW(v0.9beta) - ae01dm04sc03 >Message-ID: <199711160058.TAA12922@mime4.prodigy.com> >Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 19:58:58 -0500 >Reply-To: NIKI FREER >From: NIKI FREER >Subject: bleed together promo/my review of Asides >To: SOMMS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU > >hey sommsters! > well, bleed together is a promo cd, with just BT as the song on it. >the cover is a weird blurry infer-red(sp?) looking thing, it almost >looks like a red x-ray of an eye to me. the background is a deep >black-maroon color. very interesting artwork indeed. yeah, i have one, > thanks to a friend of mine that works at her college radio station. >she had to fight off another SG fan in order to get it for me. = ) >love your friends people, they do great things for you. > also got my own copy of the promo A-sides postcard, and my radio >station friend also snagged the one the station got for me. = ) > seth- any chance you'll have a jpg version of the album cover scan >up soon? i need it for something, write me. > >okay, i got to do the review of A-sides for the paper that i used to >write for, and here's what i had to say: > >A-sides: Soundgarden >by Niki Freer > > Led Zepplin, the Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, and Pink Floyd: big >name bands with lots of hits and lots of fans. These are the kind of >bands greatest hits albums are ususally associated with, not someone >like Soundgarden. Though Soundgarden truly was an icon of their era, >with Top 40-culture populaity suprisingly gained in "Black Hole Sun" >and "Burden In My Hand," their greatest hits compilation has left my >mouth tasting slightly sour. > Soundgarden always seem like the beast that was given too little to >eat. Underappreciated and under-rated, they roared and groaned and >screamed uniquely only to be given a, "Sorry, maybe next time!" each >time they were nominated for a Grammy Award. They were the hunger >and the fight behind what became "grunge" and the Seattle scene, and >deserved to be recognized as such. I guess this is A&M's attempt at >doing just that. > A-sides is beautiful in its artwork, classic pictures and subtlty >running rampant; but the songs are merely the singles they released >from 1984 to 1997. You've got your "Outshined" and the ever-present >"Black Hole Sun," along with some older tunes like "Get On The Snake" >and "Nothing to Say" that a semi-fan may not have heard. There are >some purely magnificent songs on this compilation, such as "Loud >Love" and "Flower," that almost make up for the bad transitions from >one song to the next. Unfortunately, the album becomes >disorientating very quickly. A song like "Rusty Cage" just should >not be followed up with something like "Spoonman." "Pretty Noose" >does not sit comfortably between "Fell On Black Days" and "Burden In >My Hand." The overall effect is jarring. > The inclusion of "Bleed Together," a song previously available only >in the UK and Australia as a b-side, is the brightest star on this >album. Breath-takingly upbeat and breakneck fast, it's a breath of >fresh air for 'garden fans that have been dying for something new. > But even with "Bleed Together" on the release, plenty of fans are >still wondering, "Where is 'Beyond the Wheel'? What about 'Big Dumb >Sex'? Whatever happened to 'Hunted Down'?" So many powerful songs >that were not singles have been overlooked for A-sides that the idea >that it is a "Best Of" album seems downright ludicrious. In some >respects, the songs that didn't make this album shine more brilliant >and more profound that anything on A-sides. In the liner notes >written by Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman, it says, "How can you possibly >fit all of the coolest stuff onto one album? It simply can't be done. >" Truer words were never spoken. > So, if you're interested in breaking your rusty cage, then blowing >up the outside world without changing the CD, then A-sides is just >the thing for you. Chris, Kim, Ben, Matt, and Hiro (Yamamoto, >original bassist) had a darn good idea with A-sides, and the fact >that A&M decided they were great enough to have it produced and >released is applause well deserved, but in the end it just doesn't >cover all corners. But fear not, the Soundgarden beast will be back >next year, according to Kim, weilding a b-sides or live album as >their machette of choice. Anticipating that release makes this one >much, much sweeter. > >------------------------------------- >five stars for the songs themselves >* * * * * >three stars for the album >* * * >------------------------------------- > > thanks for reading. let me know what you think. > >mind riot > > >____ >run away >now it's halloween >shave your head, burn your sheets >evil could be right next door... > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >SOUNDGARDEN >1984-1997 >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 08:29:16 -0800 From: Laurie Casey Subject: Bleed Together Promo About the cover.. I always thought it was one of those bags of blood that hospitals use.. Does anyone know what it really is? Arden ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 22:26:53 -0600 From: Kathie and David Subject: Melancholy over A-Sides? Hi all, I'm sorry so many people are feeling so sad. I know I moaned about A-Sides, and said I don't buy compilations, but after I saw Seth's page with Deb's scans I couldn't wait to get it, not for the songs but for the insert! I love the way its done. Of course this CD will sit in my collection and gather dust because most of the songs were overplayed, but I just had to have it. Doesn't make me feel sad, though. Fortunately for me I can finally listen to SG with the same joy I did before, and appreciate the wonderful gift they gave us. Here's something that may cheer you up. My five year old son and I were heading out in the car today and my husband asked him what CD's he wanted. He said "Soundgarden, the one with Spoonman on it" so my husband brought SuperUnknown. Well when we started going my son says "This isn't the one I wanted" and I got confused and pointed out that Spoonman was on the CD. It turns out he didn't want SU, he wanted the British Spoonman single we have, with Spoonman, Fresh Tendrils, Cold Bitch, and Exit Stonehenge. My five year old is now requesting SG singles!:) Well I got a kick out of it. That he would even know the difference amazed and delighted me. I did go through a period a few weeks ago (after our mini-Sommsfest in Chicago) where I was really missing SG. Sometimes I feel sad that I'll never see them in concert again. Seeing SG in concert was an experience I just wanted to keep doing over and over and over, like a drug I just couldn't get enough of. Thats what I miss the most - seeing them live. Kathie ------------------------------ End of SOMMS Digest - 15 Nov 1997 to 16 Nov 1997 ************************************************