Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Soundgarden: A Delicate Name For A Rugged Band

Soundgarden
Album: Superunknown
Song: Spoonman

Some people have vivid memories about where they were and what they were doing when they first heard that John Lennon had been murdered.  Others respond similarly to JFK's assassination or Elvis' death or the 9/11 bombings.  For me, it's Kurt Cobain's suicide.

I haven't posted any so-called "grunge" music yet, perhaps because as a genre it is still very well known and highly publicized via commercial radio, and my mission with this blog is to explore relatively unknown music.  But tonight just seems like a grunge night, and it's what I'm listening to as I write this, so what the heck.  However, instead of focusing on the two biggest grunge bands -- Nirvana and Pearl Jam -- I'm going to feature Soundgarden who, apart from being more adept musically than most of its peers, also wrote one of the most wicked hard rock songs ever, "Spoonman".

"Spoonman" is an homage to a formerly homeless man who played the spoons for spare change in downtown Seatlle.  (He is no longer homeless because of the royalties he receives for the song!)  This dude, whose playing is featured on the track, is one amazing rhythmic musician: cross rhythms, radical syncopations, free time signatures.  Great stuff.  And it's perhaps fitting, therefore, that Soundgarden's song is also metrically and rhythmically adventurous: the verses are in a highly syncopated 7/4 while the choruses are in 4/4, and it's the absence of the expected "final" beat in the verses that lends the song so much of its appeal.

By the way, I've had a special request for an old school jazz post, and I must admit that I look forward to featuring something a little lighter and cleaner than my recent offerings.  So, tomorrow I hit it up.  Don't miss it.



p.s. In this space I previously posted some HTML experiments.  Many thanks to Kris for providing excellent feedback and good advice.  You rock, sunshine.
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4 comments:

  1. SchadenfreudianSlipJune 8, 2010 at 5:03 PM

    Since the newest version of HTML was released, the DTD is no longer necessary.

    Yes, it is true that Blogger already defines the head and the body for you. These are defined in the Template of your blog. Each post is simply an element within the body of your blog, which is why those tags will not work for you within posts.

    Also, it is a bit more complicated to add JavaScript (.js) to your posts but if you add a gadget and choose "HTML/JavaScript" you should be able to add elements to the side or top. They do not seem to support JavaScript within a blog post itself very well, from what I have read.

    If you want to play around without messing up your good blog do what I do and create another blog that is not viewable to the public and just have at it. Try whatever you want. Once you have created this new blog you simply need to go to "Settings->Permissions" and select "Only blog authors" under the "Who can view this blog?" section.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SufjanBeamJune 8, 2010 at 9:24 PM

    Thanks Kris, much appreciated and I'll take you up on your advice to create a new blog in which to screw around.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SchadenfreudianSlipJune 9, 2010 at 6:15 PM

    I haven't heard Soundgarden before, but the vocalist sounds very familiar. Actually sounds like every contemporary mainstream rock vocalist to me. I am not sure, I get that impression. I think the fact that these guys put this song out in the mid-90s is awesome though.

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  4. SchadenfreudianSlipJune 9, 2010 at 6:19 PM

    Haha, I just looked them up. Chris Cornell. That would be why the voice seems so familiar.

    ReplyDelete

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