WILT_2023-52

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 24 Dec 2023 to 30 Dec 2023.

1. Let Me Drown – Soundgarden
2. Limo Wreck – Soundgarden
3. Kickstand – Soundgarden
4. Fresh Tendrils – Soundgarden
5. 4th Of July – Soundgarden
6. Like Suicide – Soundgarden
7. The Wizard – Black Sabbath
8. Behind the Wall of Sleep – Black Sabbath
9. Into the Void – Black Sabbath
10. Sweet Leaf – Black Sabbath
11. Eye of the Chicken – Butthole Surfers
12. Butthole Surfer – Butthole Surfers
13. Sweat Loaf – Butthole Surfers
14. Wardance – Killing Joke
15. Tomorrow’s World – Killing Joke
16. Third Uncle – Bauhaus
17. Silent Hedges – Bauhaus

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-52

Notes

I was wondering what the final week of 2023 would sound like and I found a response in Soundgarden. It’s a band that I had listened to off and on over the years but nothing really clicked in me till this week. Perhaps it was the amalgamation of appreciating how Soundgarden influenced the bands after them that I can now also appreciate what astounding musicianship the band has. Chris Cornell truly has some of rock music’s best voices and his lyrics are no slouch either. Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd are no slouches on guitars and bass either. Just listen to Fresh Tendrils and tell me that isn’t a great piece of alternative rock music, or in this case, grunge.

I think I was also drawn to Soundgarden’s music because the is a bit of revival in grunge music, particularly with zoomers sharing a fascination with the Deftones, and in particular, grunge and alternative rock are the precursors to nu-metal, and somehow everything gets mixed together to unique sounds like Deftones, Soundgarden, and almost every type of unique and amazing music. 

So with that in mind, I also explored the bands that were listed as influences to Soundgarden: Black Sabbath; Butthole Surfers, Killing Joke; and Bauhaus, all of which are unique and visionary in their own way, and somehow appreciating all these influences resulted in a band like Soundgarden creating their own sound and being part of a movement that also identified itself in a particular sound. 

All in all, it’s a close parallel to the desert/stoner rock movement that was also developing during the same period and it’s interesting and educational to identify where some ideas intersect.