Song of the Day 1/7: Soundgarden, “Fell On Black Days”
The approach of the Trump circus caravan has most right-thinking people experiencing a sense of dread, a mood Chris Cornell knew well. He once told Melody Maker,
“Fell on Black Days” was like this ongoing fear I’ve had for years … It’s a feeling that everyone gets. You’re happy with your life, everything’s going well, things are exciting – when all of a sudden you realize you’re unhappy in the extreme, to the point of being really, really scared. There’s no particular event you can pin the feeling down to, it’s just that you realize one day that everything in your life is fucked!
In our case it’s easy to identify the event, and things weren’t all that wonderful before it occurred, but the feeling is pretty much the same.
“Fell On Black Days” appeared on Soundgarden’s breakthrough “Superunknown” LP in 1994, and reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart, but I find it easier to appreciate with the grunge production stripped away. Cornell frequently performed the tune with lighter instrumentation when he visited radio stations and in solo concerts.
Here’s what the band version sounded like. The production isn’t intrusive, and Kim Thayil’s wah-wahing is impressive, but it does distract from the voice of someone widely regarded as one of the best singers in rock history.
