Desperately Seeking Soungarden
For those mourning the end of Soundgarden, here’s one consolation:
There’s still the Web.The best feature of iMusic’s official Soundgarden
site is SGDN Radio, which offers RealAudio interview excerpts,
and songs — including hard-to-find versions and remixes — that
surfers can vote into heavy rotation. Check out the acoustic
version of “Like Suicide,” the Steve Fisk remix of “Spoonman,” a
live version of “Jesus Christ Pose” and the single of “Black Hole
Sun” released only in England.
For the most official unofficial site, visit the Unofficial Soundgarden
Page, which is run by a devoted Webmaster who updates the page
constantly with news, guitar tablature, lyrics and extensive
interview transcripts. The Ugly Truth, its unofficial Soundgarden
FAQ (frequently asked questions), includes the answers to such
questions as: What is dropped D tuning? What is Chris’ name doing
on an Alice Cooper album? and What is that noise at the end of
“Smokestack Lightning?” A fun-and-games section includes
Soundgarden anagrams, crosswords and slider puzzles, as well as
five earlier versions of the site — archived for perusal by the
truly bored. It also points the devout to other sites and allows
them to download a push technology application that can send news
and site updates sent directly to their hard drive.
For those who think the band’s inventive mix of punk and metal
approaches the divine, there’s the Soundgarden
is God page. Not only was it recently updated with a
frighteningly complete list of links to articles about the group’s
breakup, it includes an impressive selection of pictures and video
and audio clips. For those interested in the word of the Almighty,
the site also has the band’s lyrics, organized by album.
For a lengthy Soundgarden interview that’s apparently one of
the band’s last, check out Microsoft Music Central. Music journalist (and Rolling Stone
contributor) Tom Moon asks Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil about
Lollapalooza, Soundgarden sound-alikes and the somewhat
disappointing record sales of Down on the Upside. Added bonus:
audio clips of Kim Thayil improvising on guitar.
Bigcrazyboy’s Home Page is a bilingual site that pays homage to grunge as one
man hears it. And to Ramiro Fernando Verandas Junior, that includes
Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Garbage, Metallica and Alanis
Morissette, for some reason. You can check it out in English or
Portuguese; in any language, grunge is grunge. Added bonus:
Junior’s anim