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Louder Than Love (1989)

Where the lyrics of Louder Than Love take you, and where it was really made.

The band wanted to call this album Louder Than Fuck, but the manager objected, and the title that stuck came out of a joke by the graphic designer.

Key places

Recording sessions at London Bridge Studios (1989)

Recording site London Bridge — The album's recording sessions took place from December 1988 to January 1989 at London Bridge Studios in Seattle, Washington. The band worked with producer Terry Date during these sessions. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Louder Than Love: second studio album and major-label debut by American rock band Soundgarden
• Released September 5, 1989 by A&M Records
• Followed tours for the debut album Ultramega OK (1988)
• The band left SST and signed with A&M before making this record
• Metal-leaning grunge sound, with some songs in unusual or unorthodox time signatures
• Parental Advisory sticker placed on the packaging, mainly because of 'Big Dumb Sex'
• Last Soundgarden album to feature original bassist Hiro Yamamoto

Background

• Yamamoto left to go back to college a month before the tour for this album began
• Chris Cornell ended up solely writing seven of the album's twelve tracks
• Jason Everman, formerly of Nirvana, replaced Yamamoto on bass
• The album became the band's first to chart on the Billboard 200

Recording

• Sessions ran from December 1988 to January 1989 at London Bridge Studios in Seattle, Washington
• Producer Terry Date was known for local metal bands such as Metal Church and Fifth Angel
• Mixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero at Mediasound in New York City and House of Music in West Orange, New Jersey
• Cornell said the band tried to avoid 1980s production techniques

Cover

• Cover photographed by Charles Peterson, a black-and-white picture of Cornell
• Graphic designer Art Chantry worked on the design and the title

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.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

• Rolling Stone staff writer J. D. Considine praised Cornell's voice but called much of the lyrics clichéd, confused or generally incomprehensible
• Considine described the songs as mean, lean and fighting fit
• AllMusic staff writer Steve Huey said too much of the album drifts along without focus or variety
• Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a negative review
• Canadian journalist Martin Popoff called it a limiting, slightly safe record
• Retail and distribution problems followed because of lyrics on 'Hands All Over' and 'Big Dumb Sex'

Reappraisal

• Q named the album one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time in 2001
• Rolling Stone ranked it 69th on its list of The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time in 2017
• Rolling Stone placed it at number 28 among the 50 best grunge albums in April 2019, according to the French Wikipedia

Records

• Peaked at number 108 on the Billboard 200 in 1990
• First band album to chart on the Billboard 200, and the first grunge album to enter that chart
• Sales of 180,000 copies given by the French Wikipedia
• Spawned the Loudest Love EP and the Louder Than Live home video, both released in 1990

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• 'Loud Love' was featured in the 1992 film Wayne's World.
• Pantera recruited Terry Date to produce their 1990 album Cowboys from Hell on the strength of his work on this album.
• Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett said he was inspired to write the riff to 'Enter Sandman' after listening to this album.
• Guns N' Roses covered 'Big Dumb Sex' on its 1993 album 'The Spaghetti Incident?'.
• Greg Puciato's 2020 single 'Deep Set' uses cover artwork that pays homage to this album.

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

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