Badmotorfinger

Badmotorfinger was Soundgarden's first album with bassist Ben Shepherd, who joined the group in April 1990. Shepherd replaced previous bassist Jason Everman.[2] The album was recorded in the spring of 1991 at Studio D in Sausalito, California, Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington, and A&M Studios in Los Angeles, California.[3] Soundgarden chose to work with producer Terry Date again as it had on its previous release Louder Than Love (1989). Frontman Chris Cornell said the band decided to work with Date again seeing as the band had a good relationship with him and did not want to go through the pressure of trying to find a new producer.[4]

Cornell said that Shepherd brought a "fresh and creative" approach to the recording sessions,[5] and the band as a whole said that his knowledge of music and writing skills redefined the band.[6] Before joining, Soundgarden had been Shepherd's favorite band.[7] Compared with Louder Than Love, the band took a more collaborative approach to the writing process.[8]

Badmotorfinger has been classified by various critics as grunge,[9][10] alternative metal,[11] heavy metal[12] and hard rock.[13] Steve Huey of AllMusic said that the songwriting on the album "takes a quantum leap in focus and consistency". He added, "It's surprisingly cerebral and arty music for a band courting mainstream metal audiences, but it attacks with scientific precision."[13] Guitarist Kim Thayil jokingly called it the "Heavy Metal White Album".[5] Cornell said, "I think there's songs on the new record which are almost more commercially viable because they have that memorable feel to them, and I think if anyone expected us to come out and make something more commercial than Louder Than Love, then I'm glad that they were surprised."[14] Cornell also added that the album was more representative of how the band was live.[14] Shepherd contributed the song "Somewhere" and collaborated on the musical composition of several other songs on the album. Thayil said that Shepherd's contributions helped make the album "faster" and "weirder".[15]

On the opening song, "Rusty Cage", Thayil uses a wah pedal as an audio filter, producing an unusual guitar sound. In describing the song's guitar riff he said that it "almost sounds backward".[16] Soundgarden utilized alternative tunings and odd time signatures on several of the album's songs. On "Rusty Cage", "Holy Water", and "Searching with My Good Eye Closed", the bottom E string is tuned down to B.[17] On "Mind Riot" every string is tuned to one of several E's.[17] Soundgarden's use of odd-meter time signatures was varied as well. Thayil said that he didn't "push for weird time signatures", but rather "push[ed] to get the quirkiness out of things".[17]

Cornell said that he tried to not get too specific with his lyrics and was more interested in letting ambiguity "[create] colourful images."[18] Thayil suggested that it is "like reading a novel [about] man's conflict with himself and society, or the government, or his family, or the economy, or anything."[19] "Jesus Christ Pose" was written about famous people who exploit the symbol of Jesus' crucifixion as to suggest that they're persecuted by the public.[20] Cornell said that "Outshined" is about going from "periods of extreme self-confidence" to "plummeting in the opposite direction".[21] "Holy Water" was written about people who force their beliefs unto others.[14] Thayil wrote the lyrics for "Room a Thousand Years Wide", and said that the song is about "experience in general".[15] "New Damage" subtly criticizes the right-wing government of the United States.[22]

The Badmotorfinger logo consists of a jagged, cyclone-like design. In the center of the logo is a triangle with the album's title, containing a spark plug. The album's cover art was illustrated by guitarist Mark Dancey from the Sub Pop band Big Chief. Thayil suggested the title Badmotorfinger as a joke on the Montrose song "Bad Motor Scooter".[23] Regarding the title, Thayil said, "It was sort of off the top of my head. I simply like it because it was colorful. It was kinda aggressive, too ... It conjures up a lot of different kinds of images. We like the ambiguity in it, the way it sounded and the way it looked."[15]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
Blender	[24]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	B−[25]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[12]
Los Angeles Times	[26]
Mojo	[27]
Pitchfork	8.3/10[28]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[29]
Spin	[30]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	7/10[31]

Badmotorfinger was released on September 24, 1991 through A&M Records.[1] The album peaked at number 39 on the Billboard 200 album chart on February 29, 1992.[32] It was released nearly one month after Pearl Jam's Ten and on the same day as Nirvana's Nevermind, all of which helped to break alternative rock and grunge into the mainstream.[33] Although overshadowed at the time of its release by the sudden popularity of Nirvana's Nevermind, the focus of attention brought by Nevermind to the Seattle scene helped Soundgarden gain wider attention.[34] Badmotorfinger was among the 100 top selling albums of 1992.[35] Badmotorfinger sold a million copies in the early 1990s,[36] was certified platinum by the RIAA in January 1993[37] and certified double platinum in April 1996,[37] signifying two million shipped copies.[38][39]

In a contemporary review for Spin, Lauren Spencer hailed Badmotorfinger as a "garden of sound" that drew on older hard rock influences without sounding "derivative".[40] Ann Powers from Blender said, "Cornell strikes the perfect Jesus Christ pose on this sonic wallop",[24] while Entertainment Weekly critic Gina Arnold commended Soundgarden for writing more engagingly than their contemporaries, "who seldom get beyond extolling booze, girls, and cars". She concluded in her review that the record was more "stylishly bombastic rather than bludgeoningly bombastic. Tuneless heavy metal is, after all, still tuneless heavy metal, and in that department, Soundgarden are as functional as they make 'em."[12] In a retrospective review, AllMusic staff writer Steve Huey deemed the album "heavy, challenging hard rock full of intellectual sensibility and complex band interplay."[13] Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic, finding it "credible" as a metal record because of Thayil's impressive use of guitar noise but less impressive lyrically: "Chris Cornell howls on about 'lookin for the paradigm' and 'your Jesus Christ pose' (I swear, that's the good stuff)".[25]

Badmotorfinger included the singles "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", and "Rusty Cage". The three singles gained considerable airtime on alternative rock radio stations, while the videos for "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage" gained considerable airtime on MTV. The lead single "Jesus Christ Pose" and its music video were the subject of widespread controversy in 1991, and the video was removed from MTV's playlist.[16] Many listeners were outraged by the song and its video, perceiving them as anti-Christian. The band received death threats while on tour in the United Kingdom in support of the album.[41]

At the 1992 Grammy Awards, Badmotorfinger received a nomination for Best Metal Performance, one of only nine full albums nominated in that category's history.[42] That same year, the album won a Northwest Area Music Award for Best Metal Album.[43] It was also ranked number 45 in the October 2006 issue of Guitar World on the magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time.[44]

In April 2019, Badmotorfinger was ranked No. 2 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" list.[45]

Following the release of Badmotorfinger, Soundgarden went on a tour in North America during October and November 1991.[14] Following this tour, the band was selected by Guns N' Roses for an opening slot on their Use Your Illusion Tour.[48] After finishing their tour with Guns N' Roses, Soundgarden took a slot opening for Skid Row in North America in February 1992 on the band's Slave to the Grind tour.[49] Soundgarden then headed to Europe for a month-long headlining theater tour[6] before returning to tour in the United States.[6] Soundgarden rejoined Guns N' Roses as part of the Use Your Illusion Tour in the summer of 1992 for a tour of Europe along with fellow opening act Faith No More.[6] Regarding the time spent opening for Guns N' Roses, Cornell said, "It wasn't a whole lot of fun going out in front of 40,000 people for 35 minutes every day. Most of them hadn't heard our songs and didn't care about them. It was a bizarre thing."[41] The band would go on to play the 1992 Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam, among others.[50] The band later released Motorvision, which was filmed at the Paramount Theatre in 1992.[51]

The information regarding accolades attributed to Badmotorfinger is adapted in part from AcclaimedMusic.net.[83]