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Album · 1994

Superunknown

by Soundgarden

Superunknown is a 1994 alternative rock album by Soundgarden. It runs 15 tracks across 70 minutes on Geffen. Riffiter listeners rate it 4.4/5 from 25 ratings.

prod.Michael BeinhornSoundgarden

Alternative Rock · Alternative Metal · Grunge

Best albums of 1994→

#3 in Best albums of 1994 · #9 in Best alternative rock albums

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4.4 /5
25 ratings
79 /100
8 critics
15
Tracks
70 min
Runtime
118 bpm
Tempo
F minor
Key

Ratings

25 ratings · avg 4.4

0.5★5★

Recent activity

Reviews

2 reviews

  • 4.0
    Eddie53 plays

    Ok I don't know why we made it a norm to just, listen to black hole sun and move on with our life without paying any mind to the rest of the album but fuck im stupid for having done that. This is one of my favorite grunge albums, I choose this album over the entirety of Nirvana's discography and I don't care what people say.

    Reply

  • 5.0
    Jackson Futrell

    Just to go ahead and get my criticism out-of-the-way, my main criticisms are similar with the first one but fewer. I do still feel like they were quite a few songs that just kind of repeated the same guitar riff over and over where they definitely have talent and ability to do some thing a little more variated. But it wasn’t as bad and it wasn’t completely distracting. Also not every song had that problem. I think what it is that I’m hearing is that in most guitar riffs I’m used to last two lines whereas these really only last one. Either that or they don’t really lead into the next line, they just kinda stop and restart. With that out of the way, this was definitely the better of the two albums I’ve heard from Soundgarden. It took all of was good from the first album, and simply added to it, which is exactly what you want. I felt similarly with Chris Cornell‘s voice as how I did with “Led Zeppelin III” and Robert Plant’s voice in that I think in this album, he really took his time to slow down and even bring a gentle tone to some songs so that when he did go strong, it felt more impactful and emotional. On that vein the whole album kind of did this. Instrumentally and tonally this was way more varied and beautiful than the first album. Sure, you had your sludgy grunge, but you also had ballads and more upbeat songs of which genre that I don’t know well enough to say. I think that variation really just added to the album and made it feel more cohesive and more interesting. Of course I knew I was going to like “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman” because I discovered them before, but there was quite a few songs in here that pleasantly surprised me. I saw someone say before I listened to this album that it’s a no-skip, they are 100% right. Every single song on here is good. Favorite song? Black Hole Sun/Spoonman/Superunknown

    Reply

23 people have played it start to finish

4 people are spinning it this week

Critics

8 publications

Scores collected from the English Wikipedia ratings box (CC BY-SA). Ratings belong to the publications; follow a link to read the review.

Superunknown album cover

Superunknown album cover

The Superunknown cover was designed by Kelk and Reyzart and photographed by James K. Agee, Kevin Westenberg and Reyzart.

Design
Kelk, Reyzart
Photography
James K. Agee, Kevin Westenberg, Reyzart

Your rating for the cover

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Tracklist

15 tracks · 70 min

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Also released as

Every pressing below shares this page's rating and reviews — they are the same record.

  • Superunknown (Super Deluxe)Deluxe edition · 2014 · 55 tracks
    1. 1Let Me Drown
    2. 2My Wave
    3. 3Fell On Black Days
    4. 4Mailman
    5. 5Superunknown
    6. 6Head Down
    7. 7Black Hole Sun
    8. 8Spoonman
    9. 9Limo Wreck
    10. 10The Day I Tried To Live
    11. 11Kickstand
    12. 12Fresh Tendrils
    13. 134th Of July
    14. 14Half
    15. 15Like Suicide (Album Version)
    16. 16She Likes Surprises
    17. 17The Day I Tried To Live (Alternate Mix)
    18. 18Spoonman (Alternate Steve Fisk Remix)
    19. 19Beyond The Wheel (Live At Exibition Stadium, Toronto / 1993)
    20. 20Fell On Black Days (Live At Pine Knob Music Theater, Clarkston, MI / 1993)
    21. 21Birth Ritual (Original Demo Version)
    22. 22Jesus Christ Pose (Live At Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Rapid City, SD / 1993)
    23. 23Like Suicide (Acoustic Version)
    24. 24Kickstand (Live At Jones Beach Amphitheatre, Wantagh, NY / 1993)
    25. 25My Wave (Live At Jones Beach Amphitheatre, Wantagh, NY / 1993)
  • Superunknown (20th Anniversary)Anniversary edition · 2012 · 15 tracks
    1. 1Let Me Drown
    2. 2My Wave
    3. 3Fell On Black Days
    4. 4Mailman
    5. 5Superunknown
    6. 6Head Down
    7. 7Black Hole Sun
    8. 8Spoonman
    9. 9Limo Wreck
    10. 10The Day I Tried To Live
    11. 11Kickstand
    12. 12Fresh Tendrils
    13. 134th Of July
    14. 14Half
    15. 15Like Suicide (Album Version)
  • Superunknown (Super Deluxe Edition)Deluxe edition · 1994 · 55 tracks
    1. 1The Day I Tried to Live (Alternate Mix)
    2. 1Black Hole Sun
    3. 1Let Me Drown (Demo)
    4. 1Let Me Drown
    5. 2Fell On Black Days (Demo)
    6. 2Spoonman (Alternate Steve Fisk Remix)
    7. 2Bing Bing Goes to Church (Rehearsal Version)
    8. 2My Wave
    9. 3Beyond the Wheel (Live at Exibition Stadium, Toronto, 1993)
    10. 3Fell On Black Days
    11. 3Superunknown
    12. 3Half (Instrumentally) [Rehearsal Version]
    13. 4Black Hole Sun
    14. 4Mailman
    15. 4Head Down (Rehearsal Version)
    16. 4Fell On Black Days (Live at Pine Knob Music Theater, Clarkston, MI, 1993)
    17. 5Birth Ritual (Demo)
    18. 5Superunknown
    19. 5Kyle Petty, Son of Richard (Rehearsal Version)
    20. 5Spoonman (Demo)
    21. 6Fresh Tendrils (Demo)
    22. 6Let Me Drown (Rehearsal Version)
    23. 6Head Down
    24. 6Jesus Christ Pose (Live at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Rapid City, SD, 1993)
    25. 7Black Hole Sun
    26. 7Like Suicide (Acoustic Version)
    27. 74th of July (Demo)
    28. 7Limo Wreck (Rehearsal Version)
    29. 8Kickstand (Live at Jones Beach Amphitheatre, Wantagh, NY, 1993)
    30. 8Half (Demo)
    31. 8My Wave (Rehearsal Version)
    32. 8Spoonman
    33. 9Fresh Tendrils (Rehearsal Version)
    34. 9Limo Wreck
    35. 9My Wave (Live at Jones Beach Amphitheatre, Wantagh, NY, 1993)
    36. 9Like Suicide (Demo)
    37. 10Like Suicide (Rehearsal Version)
    38. 10The Day I Tried to Live
    39. 10Spoonman (Steve Fisk Remix)
    40. 11Exit Stonehenge
    41. 11Kickstand
    42. 11Ruff Riff-Raff (Rehearsal Version)
    43. 12Spoonman (Rehearsal Version)
    44. 12Fresh Tendrils
    45. 12Kyle Petty, Son of Richard
    46. 13The Date I Tried to Leave (Rehearsal Version)
    47. 134th of July
    48. 13Black Days III
    49. 14Ghostmotorfinger
    50. 14The Day I Tried to Live (Rehearsal Version)
    51. 14Half
    52. 15Like Suicide
    53. 15Jerry Garcia's Finger
    54. 16She Likes Surprises
    55. 16Fell On Black Days (Video Version)

Videos

4 videos

Ranked by listeners

top 5 · 15 rated tracks

According to Riffiter listeners, the best track on Superunknown is Spoonman — rated 5.0/5 by 1 listener.

  1. 1Spoonman5.01 rating
  2. 2Like Suicide5.01 rating
  3. 3My Wave4.51 rating
  4. 4Fell on Black Days4.51 rating
  5. 5Fresh Tendrils4.51 rating

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About

Superunknown is the fourth album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994 through A&M Records. It is the band's second album with bassist Ben Shepherd. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger (1991). Superunknown continued a departure from the band's earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences. Superunknown was a critical and commercial success and became the band's breakthrough album. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 310,000 copies in its opening week and reached high positions on charts worldwide. Five singles were released from the album: "The Day I Tried to Live", "My Wave", "Fell on Black Days", "Spoonman", and "Black Hole Sun", the latter two of which won Grammy Awards and helped Soundgarden reach mainstream popularity. In 1995, the album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. The album has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA in the United States and has sold around 9 million copies worldwide and remains Soundgarden's most successful album.

Read more

In 2003, the album was ranked number 336 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album was ranked number 38 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the Nineties, and number five on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1994.

In brief

Is Superunknown good?
Riffiter listeners rate Superunknown 4.4/5 from 25 ratings.
What is the highest-rated track on Superunknown?
Spoonman, rated 5.0/5 by 1 listener on Riffiter.
When was Superunknown released?
Superunknown was released in 1994 on Geffen.
How many tracks are on Superunknown?
Superunknown has 15 tracks, with a runtime of 70 minutes.
What genre is Superunknown?
Superunknown is catalogued under Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Grunge.
What BPM is Superunknown?
Superunknown runs at a median tempo of 118 BPM across its tracks, most often in F minor, measured from audio analysis.
What albums are similar to Superunknown?
Listeners of Superunknown also rate Nevermind by Nirvana, Dirt by Alice in Chains, Ten by Pearl Jam.
Who produced Superunknown?
Superunknown was produced by Michael Beinhorn and Soundgarden. Michael Beinhorn produced all of them.

Credits

Produced by
Michael BeinhornSoundgarden
Mixed by
Brendan O’BrienMichael BeinhornAdam Kasper
Engineered by
Adam KasperJason Corsaro
Played by
Michael BeinhornBen ShepherdApril AcevezArtis the SpoonmanGregg Keplinger
+3 more
Justine FoyMatt CameronNatasha Shneider
Vocals by
Ben Shepherd

Credits and connections from Genius