Maps of Music

Badmotorfinger (1991)

Where the lyrics of Badmotorfinger take you, and where it was really made.

Badmotorfinger was set for release on September 24, 1991, but A&M pushed it back to October 8 over production problems, just weeks after Nirvana's Nevermind and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik came out.

Key places

Recording at Bear Creek Studios (1991)

Recording site Bear Creek Studios — The album was recorded in early 1991 at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington, alongside sessions at Studio D and A&M Studios. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Studio D, Sausalito (1991)

Recording site Plant Recording (Sausalito) — The album was recorded in early 1991 at Studio D in Sausalito, California. The map point is set at the city centre, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at A&M Studios, Los Angeles (1991)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The album was recorded in early 1991 at A&M Studios in Los Angeles, California. The map point is set at the city centre, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Badmotorfinger: third studio album by American rock band Soundgarden
• Released October 8, 1991, through A&M Records
• Kept the heavy metal sound, with more focus on songwriting than earlier releases
• Alternative tunings and unusual time signatures on several songs
• Lyrics intended to be ambiguous and evocative
• Classified by critics as grunge, alternative metal, heavy metal and hard rock

Background

• Release was scheduled for September 24, 1991, but A&M pushed it back to October 8 due to production problems
• Came out a month and a half after Pearl Jam's Ten, and weeks after Nirvana's Nevermind and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik
• The focus on the Seattle grunge scene helped bring attention to the album
• Singles "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage" found a major audience on rock radio and MTV
• Tour of North America and Europe after release, including a stint in October and November 1991 in North America
• Opened for Guns N' Roses on the Use Your Illusion Tour

Recording

• Recorded in early 1991 at Studio D (Sausalito, California), Bear Creek Studios (Woodinville, Washington) and A&M Studios (Los Angeles, California)
• Producer Terry Date, as on Louder Than Love
• First album with new bassist Ben Shepherd, who replaced Jason Everman in April 1990
• Guitarist Kim Thayil used a wah pedal as an audio filter on "Rusty Cage"

Cover

• Logo drawn by guitarist Mark Dancey of the Sub Pop band Big Chief
• Title suggested by Thayil as a joke on the Montrose song "Bad Motor Scooter"

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Artist

Formation

• Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto.
• The band named itself after A Sound Garden, a wind-channeling pipe sculpture in Seattle.
• Scott Sundquist joined on drums in 1985 so Cornell could focus on vocals; Matt Cameron replaced him in 1986.
• Soundgarden was one of the pioneers of grunge and released its first EPs through Sub Pop.
• The band signed to SST Records for Ultramega OK (1988), then to A&M Records, becoming the first grunge band on a major label.

Members

• Kim Thayil: lead guitar.
• Chris Cornell: lead vocals, rhythm guitar (died 2017).
• Matt Cameron: drums, later also a member of Pearl Jam.
• Ben Shepherd: bass, joined in 1990.

Career

• Badmotorfinger (1991) helped bring grunge into the mainstream.
• Superunknown (1994) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and won Grammy Awards for "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman".
• The band broke up in 1997, reunited in 2010, and released King Animal in 2012.
• After Cornell's death in 2017, the band disbanded again, performed occasional reunions, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025.

Reception

At release

• Spin: Lauren Spencer hailed it as a "garden of sound" that drew on older hard rock without sounding "derivative"
• Entertainment Weekly: Gina Arnold praised Soundgarden for writing more engagingly than their contemporaries
• NME: Keith Cameron said the band found a cool balance between Cornell's vocals and Thayil's riffs, making it more stripped down than Louder Than Love
• The Indianapolis Star: Dave Hill called it deliciously sardonic and consistently bombastic

Reappraisal

• AllMusic: Steve Huey deemed it heavy, challenging hard rock full of intellectual sensibility
• Blender: Ann Powers said Cornell struck the perfect Jesus Christ pose on the album
• Robert Christgau: found it credible as a metal record but less impressive lyrically

Records

• Billboard 200: peaked at number 39
• RIAA: platinum in January 1993, double platinum in 1996
• Sold a million copies in the early 1990s
• Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance (1992)
• Northwest Area Music Award for Best Metal Album (1992)
• Guitar World: number 45 on its 2006 list of the 100 greatest guitar albums
• Rolling Stone: number 2 on the April 2019 "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" list
• Pitchfork: included in its 2022 list of the 25 best grunge albums of the '90s

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Kim Thayil jokingly called the album the "Heavy Metal White Album"
• The title came from a joke on the Montrose song "Bad Motor Scooter"
• Before joining the band, Shepherd had considered Soundgarden his favorite band
• The video for "Jesus Christ Pose", the lead single, was removed from MTV amid controversy over its perceived anti-Christian message
• Promotion of "Jesus Christ Pose" also brought death threats against the band during a UK tour
• Johnny Cash covered "Rusty Cage" on his album Unchained

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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