The 11 Best Seattle Bands

  Today is the Super Bowl. The day when we celebrate what it means to be American.  We eat, drink, watch sports and pass out.  Here's our pre-game warm-up for all you Seahawk fans. Here are the 11 Best Bands from Seattle (or close by):

1. Nirvana
2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
3. Pearl Jam
4. Soundgarden
5. Modest Mouse
6. Alice In Chains
7. Death Cab For Cutie
8. Foo Fighters
9. Heart
10. Sunny Day Real Estate
11. Mother Love Bone

   

The 11 Best B-Sides By Soundgarden

A couple weeks ago, I did a comprehensive break down of Wilco's b-side collection and what were the best tracks from the package.  Like Wilco, Soundgarden has released a collection pulling all their b-side and rare tracks from their epic career.  Also like Wilco, 90% of these tracks were all  previously released and have been readily available on CD singles, soundtracks, and compilations. So here's a look at the best of the extra songs that Soundgarden has to offer that never made it to a proper album. Here are the 11 Best B-Sides By Soundgarden:

1. Birth Ritual (Singles)
2. Bleed Together (Burden In My Hand)
3. Cold Bitch (Spoonman)
4. Into The Void (Somms)
5. Heretic (Louder Than Love)
6. She Likes Surprises (International Track)
7. Fresh Deadly Flowers (Loud Love)
8. Kyle Petty, Son Of Richard (Fell On Black Days)
9. Girl U Want (Somms)
10. Karaoke (Burden In My Hand)
11. I Don't Care About You (Outshined)

Buy Soundgarden's new B-Sides album, Echo of Miles...now!!!    

The 11 Best Non-Album Tracks By Soundgarden

When albums are given the ever-to-often "remastered" treatment, it's not the remastering that we get excited about.  I have yet to hear a remaster that has improved on the original.  Sometimes the mix is just different...and that's fine...but when they take out all the background noise and heighten all the levels, it makes it sound less human and less warm.  The only thing we truly care about when remasters come out are the bonus tracks and unreleased material.  Soundgarden's 4-disc set promises just that.  This is the only reason to get "remastered" sets.  These sets are a behind-the-scenes look into the making of pivotal albums.  And if you don't have this in your set...then your set is basically a remix album.  Nothing more.

Here are the 11 Best Non-Album Tracks By Soundgarden:

1. Birth Ritual (Singles Soundtrack)
2. Cold Bitch (Outshined/Spoonman)
3. She Likes Surprises (Superunknown Japanese Bonus Track)
4. Bleed Together (Burden in My Hand)
5. Karaoke (Burden in My Hand)
6. Kyle Petty, Son of Richard (Fell On Black Days)
7. Sub Pop Rock City (Sub Pop 200)
8. Big Bottom (Hands All Over)
9. Toy Box (Flower)
10. Heretic (Deep Six)
11. Blind Dogs (The Basketball Diaries Soundtrack)

Buy Soundgarden's 20th Anniversary release of Superunknown...now!!!

The Best Albums of 2012 (23-33):

I dragged my feet on getting the countdown out this year.  The contributions so far have been fairly slim.  I know you all listen to music.  I know you all have your favorites.  So let's hear them.

It's the day before Christmas and I've sat down to spend the next 48 hours watching screeners.  If you guys are good and get your lists in, I'll loan them to you.  You know you want to watch the Hobbit in the comfort of your own home.  So, get shaking.

Here the Best Albums of 2012 (23-33):

23.  Minus The Bear - Infinity Overhead
24.  Bob Dylan - Tempest
25.  Soundgarden - King Animal
26.  The Killers - Battle Born (Bonus Track)
27.  Conor Oberst - One Of My Kind 
28.  Macklemore and Ryan - The Heist
29.  Zedd - Clarity
30.  G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Summer 
31.  Green Day - Uno/Dos/Tre (Bonus Track)
32.  Cooly G - Playing Me
33.  Big Boi - Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors

Buy these albums and a lot more...now!!

The 11 Best Songs By Soundgarden

What the hell is wrong with Comcast?  I tried to sign up for their internet package.  It was listed as $44.95 online.  I took pictures of it to verify that this was the truth and there'd be no funny business later on.  In the picture, it says "$44.95 total price modem included."  Clear as day.  To complete the order, I had to get on the phone with a dispatcher.  They called me and put me on hold for fifteen minutes.  Fifteen minutes!!  I'm a new customer who wants to give them money for their service...and they make me wait to do it.  It's like they think they're Pearl Jam and I'm waiting all night to get concert tickets?  No.  You're not even Creed.  If you want me as a customer you should be doing everything in your power, including massaging my feet to get me on board...not exhibiting what terrible customer service you have.  If this is how you treat new customers that you're trying to lure in...imagine how bad your customer service must be once I am a customer locked into a contract and you no longer give a crap about me.

Finally, someone with a heavy Indian accent got on the phone.  She must be from Michigan.  She asked what I was calling for.  I told her that her company called me.  She said she didn't know why.  I explained that I signed up for a package online and her company needed to talk to me to complete the order.  She said I must be signing up for the $99 a month offer with cable, phone, and internet.  I said no.  She said she was confused why I didn't do that.  I said I only wanted internet.  She then asked which package.  I said...I signed up with your company...you should have this info.  She didn't.  She then said..."oh wait, here it is."  You want the $44.95 package with $3.95 for modem rental.  I said the offer online clearly states the modem is included.  She said, then that ad is false because it's not included.  I said then that would be false advertising and that would be illegal.  She said it is not illegal because she is telling me the real price now.  Sorry, it's still illegal.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said she didn't have one.  I asked to speak to someone in the United States...she said she'd have to look up that number.  She put me on hold.  After 10 minutes of being on hold...I hung up. 30 seconds later...I signed up with Time Warner.  Way to go to Comcast.  You're shitty customer service just cost you a new customer.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Soundgarden:

1. Searching With My Good Eye Closed (Badmotorfinger)
2. Burden in My Hand (Down On The Upside)
3. Outshined (Badmotorfinger)
4. Birth Ritual (Singles)
5. Fell on Black Days (Superunknown)
6. Hands All Over (Louder Than Love)
7. The Day I Tried To Live (Superunknown)
8. No Attention (Down On The Upside)
9. All Your Lies (Ultramega OK)
10. Rusty Cage (Badmotorfinger)
11. Superunknown (Superunknown)

Buy Soundgarden's new album, King Animal now!!

The 11 Most Anticipated Summer Albums of 2012

As we move into a new year, one of the strangest pieces of news has been revealed.  Album sales in 2011 actually went up for the first time in almost a decade.  Granted it was mostly due to Adele's incredibly popular album...that still proves that the album as a musical format is still very viable.  And while all the news articles still like to pronounce the death of rock and how pop has taken over...there were still more rock albums in the Billboard 200 than any other genre.  This year, there were 47 rock albums on the list.  Second place went to country with 39 albums.  Pop comes up third with 35 albums.  (I still think Bruno Mars is really rock...but I put him in pop).  Hip-hop/rap is fourth with 26.  What's also interesting to note...rock music is comprised of a lot of different bands while the pop albums were all made by the same handful of artists (Bieber, Swift, Adele, Gaga, Kesha, Selena Gomez).  Good for those artists but you take them out of the equation...and pop doesn't have much going on.

Let's see what 2012 brings....

Here are the 11 most anticipate albums of summer 2012:

1.  Soundgarden - TBA (Sept)
2.  MGMT - MGMT (Sept.)
3.  Animal Collective - TBA (Sept)
4.  Grizzly Bear - TBA (August)
5.  Mumford and Sons - TBA (August)
6.  How To Destroy Angels - TBA (July)
7.  Sigur Ros - TBA (July)
8.  The Offspring - Apocalyptic Guides and Inferno Themes about Nothing (July)
9.  Public Enemy - Most of My Heros Don't Appear on Stamps/Evil Empire of Everything (August)
10.  Regina Spektor - What We Saw From the Cheap Seats (July)
11.  Skrillex - Voltage (July)

The 11 Best Chris Cornell Solo Songs

It's the last few minutes of Thanksgiving.  I hope you're all full of turkey and are ready to hit the mall.

Stay tuned for my Black Friday experience.

Here are the 11 Best Solo Songs By Chris Cornell:

1.  You Know My Name (Carry On)
2.  Sunshower (Great Expectations)
3.  Can't Change Me (Euphoria Morning)
4.  Seasons (Singles)
5.  Billie Jean (Carry On)
6.  Killing Birds (Carry On)
7.  Flutter Girl (Euphoria Morning)
8.  Never Far Away - Rock Version (Scream)
9.  Moonchild (Euphoria Morning)
10.  No Such Thing (Carry On)
11.  Enemy (Scream)

Buy Chris Cornell's Songbook...now!!

The Unknown: Soundgarden - Motorvision 92

Usually I don't pay mind to live albums.  Even those I do pick up get listened to one time then sit on the shelf.  Very rarely does an album slip through that's worth even mentioning.  The new Soundgarden sounds promising.  It's not a new album of the reunited band...which could have still been cool.  But hearing SG in their prime definitely is tempting.  I've saw them play in the early 90s...and they were insanely good.  In fact, they were easily the best live band of that era.  Better than Pearl Jam.  Better than Nirvana.  Even better than Hootie and the Blowfish.

This is one of my favorite performances by them.  Proof that they were one of the elites.

I'm posting this selfishly since I don't have all the songs.  I'm hoping someone out there can fill in the gaps.

Here is Soundgarden's Motorvision '92:

1.  Searching With My Good Eye Closed
2.  Rusty Cage
3.  Outshined
4.  Little Joe
5.  Mind Riot
6.  Room A Thousand Years Wide
7.  Jesus Christ Pose
8.  Slaves & Bulldozers

Buy Soundgarden's new live album, Live on I-5

The 11 Best Chris Cornell Solo Songs

lLast week, I went to the Sonic Youth/Pavement show.  There was something comforting about listening to 2 1/2 hours of fuzzy guitars and warped lyrics while pounding an Estrella Damm Inedit (best beer in the world).  Then a strange realization hit me.  Pavement's been around almost 20 years.  While Sonic Youth is pushing 30.  These two indie niche bands have surpassed many of their hitmaking contemporaries, not only in the dust, but in obscurity.  Why did they survive while all the mainstream marvels crashed and burned?

This past week Soundgarden released their greatest hits package, which many are touting as their first comprehensive compilation (did everyone forget about A-Sides?).  Soundgarden hasn't been around in over a decade.  They completely missed the 00s.  But they are coming back with a bang. Once last week's sales numbers are official, Soundgarden, will have a platinum album and the number 1 album in country.  An accomplishment...no one has done in a long time.

What Soundgarden did was brilliant.  They are attaching their new album with every copy of the new Guitar Hero game.  For every video game sold, they sell one album.  How did they do so far?  They sold 1 million copies on the first day.  Take that Nsync.

Here are the 11 Best Chris Cornell solo songs:

1.  You Know My Name (Carry On)
2.  Sunshower (Great Expectations sdtk)
3.  Can't Change Me (Euphoria Morning)
4.  Seasons (Singles sdtk)
5.  Billie Jean (Carry On)
6.  Flutter Girl (Euphoria Morning)
7.  Time (Scream)
8.  No Such Thing (Carry On)
9.  Moonchild (Euphoria Morning)
10.  Enemy (Scream)
11.  Never Far Away Rock Version (Scream)

Buy Soundgarden's Greatest Hits Telephantasm now!!

The Unknown: Soundgarden - Black Sunshine

You know what I hate...I hate all those Christmas cards that get sent out every year by your so-called friends. I mean seriously, what is this garbage? When did this become an acceptable form of holiday greeting? Here's my problems with them: Basically, people have these Holiday cards made with a cheesy picture of themselves on them and some generic greeting that they send out to all the people they have ever written down in their rolodex. They do one mass holiday greeting so they don't have to wish everyone individually a happy holidays. It's condescending and it needs to stop. So here's the thing, if you're a close friend of this person, you're basically getting a generic holiday greeting from them...the same holiday greeting they send to their friends they haven't spoken to since last Christmas. And if you're a friend that never talks to them...you're getting basically getting a back-handed slap in the face by receiving a card...it basically says, "You're not important enough to talk to in person, so here's a generic card so I can feel better as a person."

If you really care about someone, take an extra five minutes and write them an original personal note. If they really mean something to you as a person, then don't they deserve at least 5 minutes of your time.

I believe in giving people what they want. And you asked for it...so here it is. My repost of Soundgarden's B-Side album. Black Sunshine. Now go buy Chris Cornell's solo album...Carry On and support the artist.

Soundgarden - Black Sunshine

1. Birth Ritual
2. Show Me
3. Blind Dogs
4. Karoake
5. Sub Pop Rock City
6. Fresh Deadly Flowers
7. Cold Bitch
8. Toy Box
9. I Don't Care About you
10. Can You see Me?
11. She Likes Surprises
12. Kyle Petty, Son of Richard
13. Come Together
14. Motorcycle Loop

THE UNKNOWN: Soundgarden's "WhiteNightSky"

Alright, by popular demand, here is the companion disc to Soundgarden's B-side album "Black Sunshine." I call this one "WhiteNightSky." If I get busted and sent to jail for this...then one of you better come and bail me out. And if you're Chris Cornell and you're ready to kick my ass for posting this...please just email me first and I'll take it down.

And in all fairness...everyone needs to go out and buy Chris Cornell's new disc. It's only $9 here. You just got two albums worth of Soundgarden B-Sides, the least you can do is support Chris' new endeavour. And let me tell you, it's well worth every penny. There isn't a better voice in rock today. Fair deal?

Here is Soundgarden's "WhiteNightSky:"

1. Into The Void

2. Girl U Want

3. Stray Cat Blues

4. She's A Politician

5. Bleed Together

6. HIV Baby

7. Exit Stonehenge

8. Heretic

9. A Slice of Space Jam

10. Homicidal Suicidal

11. I Can't Give You Everything

12. Touch Me

13. Big Bottom

14. Jerry Garcia's Finger

The Unknown: Soundgarden - Black Sunshine

Okay, I'm cheating a bit with this one. There is no official album called Soundgarden's "Black Sunshine." I made it up. At one time, we were promised a Soundgarden B-Sides album that would have been the partner to their "A-Sides" (less than $10 here) greatest hits album...but 10 years have passed and that never happened. So, I have taken it upon myself to finish the job. This is an original GBU unreleased album. Basically all my life I have collected B-sides and created ficitional albums by my favorite artists. I do have rules to these albums. All songs must have been offiically released in some form. No demos. B-Sides, soundtracks, japanese bonus tracks are all eligible. I try to keep the tracklist to 12-15 songs. And I try to break it up chronologically. I think most people would be surprised how many albums could be created from their favorite bands' extra tracks. In Soundgarden's case, I have been able to create two very strong alternative albums. The first one listed below is called "Black Sunshine." I have created a second one called "WhiteNightSky." For the moment, I will hold off on releasing the second one...you know, to give everyone a chance to absorb these songs...and secondly, to see if there's even a demand for it.

But if you're craving more screeching by Chris Cornell then please go buy his new (and very excellent) album, Carry On. (only $10) It's much stronger than his first solo album...and frankly better than most of the Audioslave material. Long live Seattle.

Soundgarden - Black Sunshine

1. Birth Ritual
2. Show Me
3. Blind Dogs
4. Karoake
5. Sub Pop Rock City
6. Fresh Deadly Flowers
7. Cold Bitch
8. Toy Box
9. I Don't Care About you
10. Can You see Me?
11. She Likes Surprises
12. Kyle Petty, Son of Richard
13. Come Together
14. Motorcycle Loop

Buy Carry On here.