Tuesday: Soundgarden - Full On Kevin's Mom

     Was my Monday City and Colour post from earlier a little too melancholy for you? A little too maudlin? I've got just the quickie follow-up to clear that low mood away. You're welcome in advance.

     Grunge legends Soundgarden have covered a lot of musical ground over the course of their careers, but the somewhat more serious (read: high falutin') tone of much of their later work might cause one to lose sight of the sex and sense of humour that's nearly omnipresent in the band's earlier work.

     To remind you of those more lighthearted times, your Tuesday track is "Full On Kevin's Mom" from Soundgarden's 1989 sophomore record Louder Than Love. If you've got a friend named Kevin, or even a friend with a hot mom, you owe it to yourself to play this song for them at volume as soon as possible.

Sunday: Soundgarden - Spoonman

     You know how Facebook has the 'trending news' feed on the right-hand side now? I'm almost ashamed to admit exactly how much of my news comes to me from that little sidebar, but let's just say that some days it's 'more than it should be'. In any event, yesterday it told me that Soundgarden's Superunknown is turning 21 years old this year.

     A little internet searching confirms, revealing that Soundgarden's masterpiece came out on the 8th of March way back in 1994. As a Soundgarden fan with an abiding love for Superunknown, I feel I would be remiss if I let an anniversary like this pass without commemoration.

     So to celebrate Superunknown turning the legal drinking age in the States, your Sunday song is Soundgarden classic "Spoonman". But before you click the link, go grab your spoons. Go on, I'll wait.

Thursday: Soundgarden - Storm

     If Loud Noises were an arcade fighting game, I would have had a pretty sweet combo chained together, between the week of cover posts and the last few days of "old band, new music". Of course, then my opponent blocked, I hit the sack early last night, and I lost the multiplier. But fear not; I had a song picked out for yesterday, and now you get to hear it.

     Remember when I called this mini-theme I've had going "old band, new music"? That definitely applies to today's song... sorta. Definitely, because the band in question is the venerable Soundgarden. Sorta, because the song in question isn't so much newly recorded as newly released to you.

     I'm not sure when "Storm", from the recently released b-sides and rarities compilation Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across the Path, was recorded, but it sure does have the vibe of Soundgarden's older work as opposed to their more recent stuff. A little dark, a little unusual, "Storm" feels to me like it could be right at home on, say, Down on the Upside. It's cool old-new (or is that new-old?) Soundgarden, and you should check it out.

Between the Buried and Me - The Day I Tried to Live

     Another day, another cover, as the second edition of Under the Covers of Darkness Week continues here at Loud Noises. Being that today is usually Tech Tuesday around here, I've picked a cover by a very technically proficient band, and although this particular cover isn't really tech at all, I'm hoping you'll dig the song enough to overlook the fact that it isn't played in six different time signatures at 200 BPM.

     If you're a Between the Buried and Me fan, you're probably (hopefully?) already aware that back in 2006 the band put out The Anatomy Of, an album of covers from some of their favourite bands and musical influences. None of the covers is especially adventurous -- nobody really gets the full-on BTBAM epic death prog treatment -- but its still cool to hear some notable classics given a bit of a metallic edge.

     Classics like today's song, "The Day I Tried to Live", originally recorded by Soundgarden for their 1994 masterpiece Superunknown. Between the Buried and Me's version retains all the power of the original even as it gives the song an aggressive new bent. If you're a fan of the song or of either band, I think you'll enjoy giving this cover a spin.

Sunday: Nine Inch Nails - Piggy

     Almost caught up on the catching up, and as promised your finale this evening is a Nine Inch Nails classic to celebrate the nostalgiarific Nails/Soundgarden tour stop in Toronto tonight. This one's for you, Mike. Wish I could be there.

     My first real introduction to Nine Inch Nails (other than maybe hearing "Head Like a Hole" or something else from Pretty Hate Machine) was the classic The Downward Spiral in high school, and one of the songs that always really stuck with me was "Piggy". I don't know if it's just because it's one of the first tracks on the album and thus got into my brain early, but any way you slice it to this day "Piggy" is still one of my favourites. Maybe they'll play it tonight? Fingers crossed.

Saturday: Soundgarden - Loud Love

     Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden are playing on the same bill in Toronto tonight, and even though I'm not going, an old friend from high school who now happens to live in the city is. My jealousy has inspired to me live vicariously through him a little bit and them the final two posts of your weekend catch-up to suit the occasion.

     I'm not completely sure if the show is supposed to be a double-headliner kind of deal or whether one act is opening for the other, but in my head it feels like Soundgarden should be opening for the Nails (if only based on the band's careers lately) so we're going to do a Soundgarden song for yesterday leading into a NIN song for today. Sound like a plan?

     For your Soundgarden opener, I'm going with one of the first Soundgarden songs I ever learned to play on guitar, and my first introduction to the band's deep catalogue. Like everyone else, teenage me was familiar with Superunknown, and to a lesser extent Badmotorfinger, but learning "Loud Love" on guitar turned me on to just how good 1990's Louder Than Love is. I hope that listening to "Loud Love" this evening will do the same for you.

Song of the Day: Pearl Jam - Mind Your Manners

     Sure, they're not metal, and they're not even my favourite of the "grunge era" bands (that honour belongs to Soundgarden) but there's still no denying that the new Pearl Jam song is pretty decent.

Song of the Day: Soundgarden - 4th of July

     Congratulations, readers. Together we're set to hit another Loud Noises milestone tomorrow: one year of Song of the Day, no repeats!

Song of the Day: Soundgarden - Jesus Christ Pose

     I'm sure you're well aware that Soundgarden is back together. You probably know they put out a new album, King Animal, a couple of weeks ago. You might even have heard the first single off said album "Been Away Too Long" on the radio or online. But if you're like me, you're not a huge fan of this song. I haven't heard anything else off the album yet, but if the single is any indication, I vote it best to remember the good ol' days.

Song of the Day: Soundgarden - 4th of July

     Today I'm going to start something a little different. As you've probably noticed, it can take me a long time to write one of these here Loud Noises posts, depending on what's going on in my life at any given time, and what it is I'm writing about. But sometimes I just want to make a quick post so that you, dear reader, will have something to brighten up (and maybe metal up) your day. Sure, I started Loud Noises as a soapbox for me to express my thoughts and opinions about cool music, metal and otherwise, but I also started Loud Noises so that I would have the chance to turn other people -- you, for example -- on to the music I'm passionate about. To that end, today is the first day of Song of the Day*, a feature of Loud Noises in which I'm going to to recommend one new song each and every day for one year. Yup. A lofty goal? Or a trivial undertaking? I don't know, but I'm going to try it out and see how it fits.

     To start things off, I've got something sort of inspired by yesterday being Independence Day for our neighbours to the south. So even though I'm not an American, your song of the day for the fifth of July is Soundgarden's "4th of July". It's a really cool song off of 1994's Superunknown, and it's also one that I think is maybe a little underrated, even among Soundgarden fans. So have a listen, and I'll see you tomorrow.

* Yes, it's not the best name. I know. Suggestions?