Soundgarden – Through The Whiskey Glass

The news of Chris Cornell’s sudden and unexpected death got me thinking back to the first time I ever heard Soundgarden. At the time my musical tastes were all over the place, I had a led a sheltered existence and had only recently started venturing out beyond my comfort zone, both musically and geographically. I can still see the cassette cover for Louder Than Love in the zippered container on the floor of the Mustang along with MDC, Fugazi, and Green Day’s 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours. Angie slid the tape in to the dash and by “Full On Kevin’s Mom” I was totally hooked. This honestly isn’t that unique, while I had some punk in my catalog along with some industrial, a little goth, my collection had breadth but no depth. I knew I liked grunge, in fact I met Angie on a double date to an Excess Lettuce/Bleachbath show at the Pik N Pak has shaped me over the years and it’s due to her influence that I even know a lot of the bands that I put on this little mix I whipped for you all. Some of the quality isn’t great because, to be honest, some of these are rips from when I originally bought the CDs. Grunge being what it was I am not certain a higher bit rate or better quality rip would improve the sound that much but I still love the music.

I hope I represented the scene pretty well in 13 tracks but feel free to offer your opinions. Chris Cornell’s passing sucks but I’ve chosen to celebrate the scene he helped create and revel in the amazing memories that certain music can bring to mind. I would prefer to find beauty in tragedy and today I think I’ve done that, at least for myself. So rest it peace Mr. Cornell, you were an amazing artist and you’ve left behind a body of work that will inspire new artists for generations to come. I only hope you’d find my tribute a fitting one!