Soundgarden Archives

King Princess Goes from Gentle Ballad to Shoegaze in “Black Hole Sun” Cover

Posted by Riley Haas at 11:25 am No Responses »

Apr 282023

As will surprise absolutely no one, “Black Hole Sun” is the most covered Soundgarden song ever, and it’s not even close. (Second Hand Songs lists almost ten times as many covers of “Black Hole Sun” as the runner up, “Rusty Cage.”) So it’s hard for artists to put their individual spin on it.

American singer-songwriter King Princess (aka Mikaela Mullaney Strauss), who we last heard from covering the Velvet Underground’s “There She Goes,” is determined to put her stamp on the oft-covered grunge ballad. She recorded for the legendary Australian radio station triple j’s “Like a Version” series. Continue reading »

They Say It’s Your Birthday: Howlin’ Wolf

Posted by Tom McDonald at 4:30 pm 1 Response »

Jun 112021

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Born 111 years ago this week, Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin’ Wolf, was a blues musician who possessed one of the most distinctive voices in 20th century popular music, and who wrote some of his genre’s most enduring hits. With his rival Muddy Waters, Wolf defined the electric blues style that reverberated out of Chicago in the 1950s. This sound in turn altered the course of the nascent rock music genre, as youngsters like Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton absorbed Chicago blues, and brought their own trippy flavor of it to new and wider audiences. Wolf was among the first black musicians to capitalize on white youths’ love for the blues form.
Continue reading »

Leftover Salmon Take On Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” with a Fervent Bluegrass Energy

Posted by Ben Easton at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Apr 142021

Soundgarden’s 1994 classic “Black Hole Sun” is one of rock’s titanic singles. The anthem carries an inextinguishable torch for grunge — its generational malaise, its plodding melancholia. Yet the song’s singular beauty arises from the ways it lifts the genre’s massive, earth-bound sounds to new and transcendent heights. In the song’s airy verses, Chris Cornell’s words swirl like gathering storm clouds, brewing power pop melodies and Sgt. Pepper psychedelia into a festering, ominous mass. By the time its final iconic chorus drops, “Black Hole Sun” has soared amid some pretty expansive sonic vistas — heaven, earth and back again. Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of January 2021

Posted by Ray Padgett at 7:00 am No Responses »

Feb 012021

Amanda Shires – That’s All (Genesis cover)

Our first song kicks off what will be a theme here. A lot of these came out at the very top of the year (or the very end of 2020) to kick a garbage year to the curb and hope for something better. Shires said: “’That’s All’ is a song that I have played a lot on tour. The song defines 2020 for me. It’s a true Covid anthem and I dare you to not dance to my version when you hear it!” Continue reading »

They Say It’s Your Birthday: Norah Jones

Posted by Tom McDonald at 9:00 am 2 Responses »

Mar 302020

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with covers of his or her songs. Let someone else do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Norah Jones is only just beginning her fifth decade on the planet, but for two of those decades she’s been restlessly touring and recording at the most elevated level. And she’s been collaborating, cross-pollinating, all that time. The long list of luminaries that she’s worked with, in so many musical genres and contexts, is all the evidence you need of her unique talent. Continue reading »

Beyond the Player Piano: The Best ‘Westworld’ Covers

Posted by Nico Hughey at 10:23 am No Responses »

Jun 222018

As season two of the incredible HBO series Westworld wraps this Sunday, we’re taking a look back at the cover songs that have played an important role in setting the tone for this new and frightening world. Ramin Djawadi is the genius behind the scores for both seasons, relying heavily on unlikely covers of pop hits with lyrics that (subconsciously, given that the covers are instrumental) mirror the goings-on in the park.

Here are our five favorite Westworld covers: Continue reading »