35 Years of Badmotorfinger

On October 8, 1991, the date that Soundgarden released its third studio album Badmotorfinger, there was no such thing as grunge culture and there really was no such thing as grunge music just yet. Clearly though, disillusionment and an uncertain future among 20 something-year-olds was all the rage. These feelings were authentic long before 5th Avenue got a hold of the bands that made the music popular.

At the time of it release, Badmotorfinger had followed Pearl Jam‘s Ten, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish, and Nirvana’s Nevermind by just a few short months and weeks, respectively. Like I said, there was no such thing as grunge culture at this time and even if there were, no one could’ve predicted what was about to come next.

Soundgarden began recording Badmotorfinger in early 1991, utilizing three different studios before the album would be completed. At the helm, producing his second consecutive Soundgarden album (1989’s Louder Than Love being the first), was producer Terry Date. Not wanting to go through the stress of finding and vibing with a new producer, and the band agreeing on the positive experience it had making its previous record, Date was the right choice.

The songwriting on Badmotorfinger, as well as the overall approach regarding the direction they wanted to drive this record in, was more focused and deliberate than previous works. The writing was more collaborative, both musically and lyrically, and with the addition of new bassist Ben Shepard, an element of experimentation and chaos was brought into the fold. That and the fact that Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, and Matt Cameron, had all grown as musicians and songwriters at the start of this process. They were peaking at the right time individually, and unbeknownst to them, culturally as well.

The songs that would eventually make their way onto the record varied in sound and scope from previous releases, specifically the band’s earliest efforts, EPs Screaming Life and Fopp, and the band’s debut album, Ultramega OK. If the earlier songs seemed a bit disjointed and less cohesive (and I would argue some certainly were), the tracks that comprised Badmotorfinger had a much different feel.

AllMusic’s Steve Huey wrote of Badmotorfinger, “It’s heavy, challenging hard rock full of intellectual sensibility and complex band interplay…it’s surprisingly cerebral and artsy.”

It’s always a challenge to try and describe the impact that certain bands and albums had to people who weren’t around to witness it for themselves. If you’re 18 or 20 years old right now and discovering Badmotorfinger for the first time, it will have a very different feel and sound for you than it did for me or anyone else who was your age when it was released. The songs are exactly the same (maybe minus a bit of remastering here and there) but the timing and culture of when we hear something plays a massive role regarding its impact.

Music and culture in the United States was in a transition period in the fall of 1991. Gen X was in full bloom, music was getting louder and angrier, and societal norms were slowly being challenged by kids who were aching for a world that made sense to them. As I mentioned earlier in the article, several albums in the same genre as Badmotorfinger had already been released and you could feel the tide turning on several fronts. Music was creating the biggest tidal waves as bubblegum pop and hair metal were getting stale and driving hard rock with introspective and heartfelt lyrics were breaking through the walls of mediocrity that currently existed.

So hearing a record like Badmotorfinger at this exact moment in time felt like a sonic avalanche caused by an earthquake purposely created by angry kids trying to get the world’s attention. It was loud, messy, dangerous, and in many ways, exactly what we needed. Dave Hill of the Indianapolis Star said of album, “In stretches, it’s deliciously sardonic and consistently bombastic, and its sense for metaphors is wondrous. Such sophisticated songwriting might be way over the heads of the kids who make up the headbanging legions.”

Boasting 12 songs at just under 58 minutes, Soundgarden gave listeners of Badmotorfinger a full menu of blistering riffs, bloodcurdling screams, massive drums with more odd time signatures than you know what to do with, and a heavy sludgyness that seeps deep into your spine and settles in your soul. If you think I’m lying, just put it on and get back to me in about an hour.

We may no longer be in an album culture, as singles now rule the day, but in 1991 the album experience (listening to it in order, reading the lyrics and liner notes, all in one sitting) was a ritual amongst most music fans. Artists went to great lengths to create the perfect track listing as the position of each song was part of the vision. Not that every album was a “Concept Album”, but every album was designed to, even if it were subtle, tell a story or deliver a message. Badmotorfinger was no different. To that point, I challenge anyone to find an album from the era we’re talking about where the first four songs are as lethal and brilliant as “Rusty Cage”, “Outshined”, “Slaves & Bulldozers”, and “Jesus Christ Pose”.

When the first sound you hear is a high pitched, panning from speaker to speaker, hypnotic guitar riff, you already know something exciting is coming your way. “Rusty Cage” is the perfect opener for an album that will prove to be unpredictable, unstable, and frenetic throughout. “Outshined”, the heavy, muddy, boot-stomping sledgehammer that follows is not only instantly memorable, with its Sabbath-like groove and big chorus, but it would eventually become a genre defining track, still wreaking havoc to this day. If the tempo and drowning in quicksand feel of “Outshined” wasn’t convincing enough, Soundgarden hits you with the third track, “Slaves & Bulldozers”, one of the heaviest songs in the band’s entire catalog. The music alone is a crushing weight of gigantic riffs and big, plodding drums, but the screams enlisted here by Chris Cornell are that of legend. The fourth song, “Jesus Christ Pose” is 5 minutes and 51 seconds of pure chaos. With wild, tribal drumming, screeches and feedback, bass notes so low they’re being scraped off the floor, finally joined by one of the best riffs the 90s had to offer, Badmotorfinger could have ended right here and it would still go down as a masterpiece, but lucky for us, the album was just getting started.

Other standout tracks such as “Searching With My Good Eye Closed”, “Room a Thousand Years Wide”, “Holy Water”, and the album’s closer, “New Damage” solidify Badmotorfinger as not only one of the best albums of the grunge era, or the 90s overall, it’s of one rock music’s best albums of all time. In 2006, Guitar World ranked the album #45 on its list of the 100 Best Guitar Albums of All Time. In 2019, Rolling Stone placed Badmotorfinger at #2 on its 50 Greatest Grunge Albums.

Soundgarden was always a little ahead of the curve from the moment they formed in 1984 and although the band would release its most successful commercial album, Superunknown, in 1994, Badmotorfinger showed the rest of the music making world what was possible in this new genre called grunge. It set the tone and influenced countless bands to this very day. 35 years and counting, it still sounds as great, powerful, and important as the day it was released.

For more on Soundgarden, grunge, 90s music, culture, and history, check out my book, SLACKER - 1991, Teen Spirit Angst, and the Generation It Created (Inspired By You Books, 2025) wherever books are sold.