Actually, I'm not fond of the term "grunge", as it is, utlmately, a
convenient and lazy term that is not explanatory or descriptive. But it
does work, I suppose, for the header to this post. That said, I do like
much of the music of Soundgarden and the band's talented frontman, Chris
Cornell. And so I recently penned a post, "A sprawling, highly subjective review of Soundgarden’s 'King Animal'",
over at Progarchy.com, in which I argue that the major theme in
Soundgardens new album—the band's first since 1996—is one of spiritual
struggle and ascension, and bears a number of striking similarities to
T. S. Eliot's poem on the same topic, "Ash Wednesday". I write:
With the third song, “Crooked Steps”, the album really hits its
stride, with lead guitarist Kim Thayil, laying down a deceptively
simple, crunchy, and distinctive riff and then issuing forth a variety
of his patented air-hornish, bagpipe-like runs. Cornell’s lyrics are
delivered from a first person perspective, but the exact voice is hard
to locate. At times, it sounds like the Hound of Heaven: “I’m a ghost
and a healer/I’m the shape of the hole inside your heart.” The echoes of
Eliot come to fore again, in my hearing. “Crooked steps will taken me
higher” wails Cornell, “I don’t care if you want to cry. I’m a soldier
for hire/killing all you admire/and you live in denial”. And here is
Eliot: “Fading, fading; strength beyond hope and despair/Climbing the
third stair. … Although I do not hope to turn again/Although I do not
hope/Although I do not hope to turn”.
The next three songs—”A Thousand Days Before”, “Blood on the Valley
Floor”, and “Bones of Birds”—are as good as anything Soundgarden has
ever recorded; together, they shape the complex and often conflicted
emotional heart of “King Animal”. “A Thousand Days Before” finds Cornell
bringing forth his apocalyptic side, with not only the millennial
reference but also the image of the “sun and moon at war”. But just as
“Blow Up the Outside World” from the underrated Down On the Upside
(1996) was not about physically destroying the outside world but being
free of the oppression of the outside world’s darkness, this song is
about the inner conflicts that shape one’s spiritual landscape: “Born
with a thousand little holes/And a tear to fill up every one/A thousand
to ignore”. The grinding, dirge-like pulse of “Blood on the Valley
Floor” brings to mind Superunknown‘s harrowing “Limo Wreck”—one
of my favorite Soundgarden songs—both musically and lyrically. The song
presents a desperate scene of genocide and senseless violence: “And the
blood dries/while we spill/some more”. Specifics are, of course, not to
be found. Is it a physical event, an inner violence, or a metaphor for a
society or culture as a whole? My continuing impression is of hell
itself, with the damned tumbling down to where “the smoke lies on the
valley floor”.
When hope enters, in “Bones of Birds”, it is fragile and even
frightening, with the shadow of mortality close at hand: “Time is my
friend/til it ain’t/and runs out/and that is all that I have/til it’s
gone”. Light is located in love and family, in the struggle to “build a
home”. The inner struggle to persevere is captured brilliantly in the
tug and pull melody, which drives ahead, then subsides, steadies, then
pushes forward again. Is survival possible? The concluding answer is
hesitant: “Probably … maybe”.
“Taree”, with lyrics by Cornell and music by Shepherd, was apparently
inspired by boyhood memories of a magical place in the forests outside
Seattle. Free of the city, the Unknown is palpable: “Though I can’t put
my hands on you/I can feel you now”. There is a decidedly mystical
quality to the lyrics, which mesh perfectly with Cornell’s previous
references to returning home and the unnamed “ghost”: “I only know I’ve
made it home/When I drown/In your ghost light.” The connection to the
hit song, “Let Me Drown”, from Superunknown, seems fairly obvious...
There is much more, if it is of interest.
Cornell, as I note in the review, was raised in a (quite disfunctional)
Catholic home, and is apparently now a practicing Eastern Orthodox (his wife certainly is, by all accounts), although
not much is known about his exact beliefs. Regardless, his lyrics are
far more honest and interesting than most of what passes for
"spiritually" aware contemporary music these days.