Music: Alive in the Superunknown
“First
it steals your mind and then it steals your soul.” Lyrics from Chris Cornell on Soundgarden’s
title track Superunknown, a record that
celebrated its 20th anniversary March 8th, 2014. I was
listening to the record with my wife and girls yesterday and this lyric
specifically stuck with me.
I
can distinctly recall when Superunknown hit record stores in March of 1994. It was one of the first compact discs I ever purchased…number
9 actually. I walked with determination and purpose through Summit Place Mall
in Pontiac, Michigan heading directly for Harmony House. (For those of you too
young to remember Music stores, they were an amazing and missed part of our
culture…the predecessor to iTunes with its listening stations, which allowed
you to put on a pair of used smelly headphones and immerse yourself in the
latest releases before deciding what you wanted to purchase. Just imagine the
movie High Fidelity with John Cusack and Jack Black, but cleaner and less
funny.) “Spoonman” had been playing on the radio for weeks leading to
Superunknown’s release, and I was so excited to buy the album I didn’t even
care about the price…nearly $20. (That’s right! I purchased it in Compact Disc,
which at the time was starting to dominate the market place, and yes it was
available in cassette tape and vinyl). I can see the store in my mind. Walls lined
with musical genres, new releases positioned right at the front door. (Nine Inch Nails just so happened to release its
monster album, The Downward Spiral, that same
day.) The store was packed with people just like me. I maneuvered through the
crowd and saw it, deep black with a tortured looking face on the cover. In
small white lettering it read: SOUNDGARDEN. I flipped over the disc, which was
held in an absurdly large plastic security case, and looked over the track
listing…15 songs, WOW! This record would go on to produce hits for the band;
‘My Wave’, ‘Fell on Black Days’, ‘The Day I Tried To Live’, ‘Black Hole-Sun’
& ‘Spoonman’.
I
was venturing into the Superunknown world of music at the most influential
point in my life. I had just turned 17 years old, was approaching high school
graduation, and looking back at it now…defining my musical tastes for the next
twenty years! 1994 became a year that I still hold as one of the most important
musical points in my entire life. I understand everyone’s musical taste is
different, and that is what makes music so amazing…it’s being alive in the
Superunknown of whatever you choose. For me, 1994 saw the before mentioned NIN
and Soundgarden records as well as breakout albums from Green Day, Live, Our Lady Peace, Weezer,
Oasis, Dave MatthewsBand & the Offspring.
The
Superunknown to me is everyday life, what will happen today? Tomorrow? Twenty
years from now? It is the Superunknown question of life. Even the seemingly
mighty music industry found itself entangled in this question in the early part
of the new millennium when digital copies of music began to flood the internet
allowing users to download songs for free! The industry changed drastically and
my beloved music stores that where such an important part of my life have all
but disappeared. Every store I shopped in for the past twenty years sadly
closed, but music has endured. It now lives on in the digital age sounding far
better than ever. I can now listen to and purchase hundreds of songs at the
touch of a button on any compatible digital device I choose, and Soundgarden’s
Superunknown record is one of them…even though I still have the original
compact disc.
“First
it steals your mind and then it steals your soul,” is a lyric that resonates
even more today in my life than back in 1994. I am now married, with two
daughters, and music is an everyday connection that I have with them. We listen
to music as a family almost every day. Each song has a memory, an emotion to it
that allows me and my family to embrace. This summer we will attend our first
concert together; we are going to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore, two bands that
have become mainstays in our house and probably my daughters’ lives forever. I
hope that twenty years from now they will hear a song from one of those bands
and smile when they remember dancing and singing with their parents…even after
we are long gone.
From
the mind of a man that spent his entire life in the musical world of the
Superunknown, Chris Cornell sang, “First it steals your mind and then it steals
your soul.” Music is Alive in the Superunknown!
Congratulations
to Soundgarden and the 20th anniversary of Superunknown…an album
that I will cherish for the rest of my life!
CONTACT CHRISTOPHER M. PURRETT @
NOVELS AVAILABLE IN MULTIPLE FORMATS @
Copyright 2014: Christopher M. Purrett
Copyright 2014: Christopher M. Purrett
