Louder Than Love [PA]

Performer: Soundgarden
Engineer: Terry Date
Producer: Soundgarden; Terry Date
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Soundgarden: Chris Cornell (vocals, guitar); Kim Thayil (guitar); Hiro Yamamoto (bass); Matt Cameron (drums). Recorded at London Bridge Studios, Seattle, Washington between December 1988 & January 1989. Personnel: Chris Cornell (vocals, guitar); Kim Thayil (guitar); Matt Cameron (drums). Recording information: London Bridge Studios, Seattle, WA (12/1988-01/1989). Photographer: Charles Peterson . Soundgarden was one of several late-'80s Seattle bands to sign to a major label, as A&M issued the band's second full-length effort, 1989's LOUDER THAN LOVE. While it wasn't the big commercial breakthrough the group had hoped for (that would come with Soundgarden's exceptional follow-up, 1991's BADMOTORFINGER), LOUDER THAN LOVE did a solid job of introducing the quartet to both the alternative and metal crowds. The late-'80s metal scene was glutted with disposable glam bands, which Soundgarden was a much-needed reaction against (the group even pokes fun at the genre with the parody "Big Dumb Sex"). Elsewhere, LOUDER THAN LOVE is loaded with soon-to-be Soundgarden classics: the pro-environmental "Hands All Over"; the grinding album opener, "Ugly Truth"; the hard-hitting repetitive rocker "Gun"; plus such hard cuts as "Loud Love," "Get on the Snake," "I Awake," "No Wrong No Right," and "Uncovered." Just after the album's release, founding bassist Hiro Yamamoto left the band, replaced by ex-Nirvana guitarist Jason Everman, and shortly thereafter by permanent member Ben Shepherd.

Q (7/01, p.90) - Included in Q's "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time" - "...certainly their most unapologetically heavy record..."

Although Nirvana and Pearl Jam may have been the most commercially successful bands of the 1990s Seattle movement, Soundgarden was every bit as important and influential. Part Black Sabbath/part Ramones, Soundgarden helped unite both punks and metalheads--one of the first alternative bands to do so. Largely due to vocalist Chris Cornell's signature wail and guitarist Kim Thayil's thunderous riffs, the band gained a huge fanbase by the mid '90s. However, the group called it a day in 1997, with drummer Matt Cameron joining Pearl Jam and Cornell going on to record solo and, with the instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine, as a member of Audioslave.

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