Down On The Upside was released on May 21, 1996, continuing the band’s musical development away from alt-metal into hard-edged experimentation. Rave called it “full of dualities and binary oppositions”; People said “Soundgarden breaks down the walls and pulverizes them.” Self-produced and stylistically various, it was perhaps the most complete expression of just how far the band had travelled.
Four singles were released from the album: Pretty Noose, nominated in 1997 for a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance, Blow Up the Outside World, Burden in My Hand and Ty Cobb. The album reached number two on the Billboard 200 album chart.
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PRETTY NOOSE
I caught the moon today
Pick it up
And throw it away all right
I got the perfect steal
A cleaner love
With a dirty feel all right
Fallout and take the bait
Eat the fruit
And kiss the snake goodnight
Common ruse dirty face
Pretty noose is pretty hate
And I don’t like
What you got me hanging from
Let your motor race
Pick it up
And get this mother gone
Out from and far away
The wooden stake
This thing has got me on
Diamond rope silver chain
Pretty noose is pretty pain
And I don’t like
What you got me hanging from
I don’t care what you got
I don’t care what you need
I don’t want anything
And I don’t like what
You got me hanging from
Music: Cornell
Lyrics: Cornell
RHINOSAUR
Standing with my enemies
Hung on my horns
With haste and reverie
Killing with charm
Only happy when you hurt
Only deadly in a swarm
Only healthy in the dirt
Only empty in your arms
I play, I’m sick and tame
Drawing the hordes
I wait, and show the lame
The meaning of harm
The skulls beneath my feet
Like feathers in sand
I graze among the graves
A feeling of peace
Only bending when you break
Only feeding when you’re cold
Only healing when you ache
Only feeling when you don’t
Music: Cameron
Lyrics: Cornell
ZERO CHANCE
I think I know the answer
I stumbled on and all the world
Fell down
And all the sky went silent
Cracked like glass and slowly
Tumbled to the ground
They say if you look hard
You’ll find your way back home
Born without a friend
And bound to die alone
I’m thinking of your highness
And crying long upon the loss
I’ve found
And on the plus and minus
Zero chance of ever
Turning this around
Why doesn’t anyone believe
In loneliness
Stand up and everyone will see
Your holiness
Why doesn’t anyone believe
In loneliness
Stand up and everyone will see
Your holiness
They say if you look hard
You’ll find your way back home
Born without a friend
And bound to die alone
Music: Shepherd
Lyrics: Cornell
DUSTY
I think it’s turning back around
And I think I like it
I think it’s turning back around
Though I don’t know why it is
I think it’s turning back on me
I’m down on the upside
I think it’s turning back on me
Now I’m the good ride
And nothing’s gonna put me out
It’s backing down and under
I’m down on the upside now
It’s turning back around
Turning back around
I think it’s coming on the wind
Just like you said it
I think it’s coming on the wind
And I’m gonna let it
I think it’s turning back on me
Everything’s easy
I think it’s turning back on me
Everything’s real to me
Music: Shepherd
Lyrics: Cornell
TY COBB
I’m sittin’ in a magic hat
With smoke and mirrors
And tire rubber fires
Watch me disappear
What made it slow you down
Sucking on a ball and chain
Another motherfucker goes down the drain
Hard headed fuck you all
Just add it up to the hod rod death toll
Sick in the head sick in the mouth
And I can’t hear a word you say
Not a bit, and I don’t give a shit
I got the glass, I got the steel
I got the love to hate
All I need is your head on a stake
Hard headed fuck you all
Just add it on the hot rod death toll
Music: Shepherd
Lyrics: Cornell
BLOW UP THE OUTSIDE WORLD
Nothing seems to kill me no matter how hard I try
Nothing is closing my eyes
Nothing can beat me down for your pain or delight
And nothing seems to break me
No matter how hard I fall nothing can break me at all
Not one for giving up though not invincible I know
I’ve givin’ everything I need
I’d give you everything I own
I’d give in if it could at least be ours alone
I’ve given everything I could
To blow it to hell and gone
Burrow down in and
Blow up the outside world
Someone tried to tell me something
Don’t let the world bring you down
Nothing will do me in before I do myself
So save it for your own and the ones you can help
Want to make it understood
Wanting though I never would
Trying though I know it’s wrong
Blowing it to hell and gone
Wishing though I never could
Blow up the outside world
Music: Cornell
Lyrics: Cornell
BURDEN IN MY HAND
Follow me into the desert
As thirsty as you are
Crack a smile and cut your mouth
And drown in alcohol
Cause down below the truth is lying
Beneath the riverbed
So quench yourself and drink the water
That flows below her head
Oh no there she goes
Out in the sunshine the sun is mine
[Chorus]
I shot my love today would you cry for me
I lost my head again would you lie for me
I left her in the sand just a burden in my hand
I lost my head again would you cry for me
Close your eyes and bow your head
I need a little sympathy
Cause fear is strong and love’s for everyone
Who isn’t me
So kill your health and kill yourself
And kill everything you love
And if you live you can fall to pieces
And suffer with my ghost
(Chorus)
Just a burden in my hand
Just another anchor on my heart
Just a tumor in my head
And I’m in the dark
So follow me into the desert
As desperate as you are
The moon is glued to a picture of heaven
And all the little pigs have gone
Oh no there she goes
Out in the sunshine the sun is mine
Sun is mine
(Chorus)
Would you cry for me
Music: Cornell
Lyrics: Cornell
NEVER NAMED
I had a dog he was a mix
He loved me like a God
But I was just a kid
The kind mother likes
Now I’m big like the sky
And I’m down sized inside
I’ll put this all to rest
I’m just a baby who looks like a boy
I’m getting all depressed
I’m just a baby who looks like a boy
I got my father’s sense
And my big brother’s pants
And I look like a man
And I feel like an ant
Just a speck on the ground
Growing like a weed
A fleck of a seed
I’ll put my hand in flames
I’m just a baby who looks like a boy
Feels like I’m born again
I’m just a baby who looks like a boy
I’m just a baby who looks like a boy
And I’ll keep hanging from your hair
And I’ll keep playing in the sand
Just as long as I can
Music: Shepherd
Lyrics: Cornell
APPLEBITE
No one can save
The pure or the brave
No one can save them at all
Grow and decay
Grow and decay
It’s only forever
Loosely or tightly
Everything fits
Even the wrists on your arm
Grow and decay
Grow and decay
It’s only forever
Music: Cameron
Lyrics: Cornell
NEVER THE MACHINE FOREVER
I can’t live when it lives
It won’t live if I die
Machine has no heart to give
Heart it takes could be mine
Come on
Come down
Come out from where you hide
Follows me down the river
Shadows me through the sky
A sideways glance in the mirror
Stalemate machine in a tie
Come on
Come down
Come out from where you hide
Get up
Get off
Get on with your life
Forever means all is not seen
Never means forever brings everything
I fashion will and desire
Always I and I survive
Mercurial mind the fire
Ferrivorous direction and drive
Come on
Come down
Come out from where you hide
Get up
Get off
Get on with your life
Presently, I see myself clearer
Why time I visualize
I spy device in the mirror
Checkmate watch machine die
Music: Thayil
Lyrics: Thayil
TIGHTER AND TIGHTER
Shadow face
Blowing smoke and talking wind
Lost my grip
Fell too far to start again
A sudden snake
Found my shape and tells the world
Remember this
Remember everything is just black
Or burning sun
And I hope it’s a sweet ride
Sleep tight for me
Sleep tight for me I’m gone
Warm and sweet
Swinging from a windows ledge
Tight and deep
One last sin before I’m dead
A sucking holy wind
Will take me from this bed tonight
And bloody wits
Another hits me and I have to say goodbye
And I hope it’s a sweet ride
Here for me tonight
Cause I feel I’m going
Feel I’m slowing down
Music: Cornell
Lyrics: Cornell
NO ATTENTION
I’ve got war on my mind blood on my hands
And love on my head
So open your hands open your mouth
Let it be said
You know I’ve got it mad in my mind
Don’t waste my time it’s not going to change
So say what you want spit it out loud
Into my face
And I’ll pay no attention
They’re gonna tell you where to walk
When to smile and just what to say
They say have your own fun
Make your own mind
And don’t make no waves
But if you got a handful of change
Don’t throw it away it’s gonna come
So say what you want, suck all my
Suck on my brain
And I’ll pay no attention
Music: Cornell
Lyrics: Cornell
SWITCH OPENS
Hey you slaves go hang your owners
Draw your names among their ashes
Put your children on their thrones
Gather ’round and fall right down
Here at sundown nothing is when
Everything is all right
Switch opens
Opening around and let’s the garden rise
Switch is on
Hey you patients
Where’s your surgeon
Left with your
Insides open
Hung your hearts out
On the table
Gather ’round and fall right down
Feel the air now
Stumbling and wander in the moonshine
Switch opens
Nothing is when everything is all right
Switch is on
Music: Shepherd
Lyrics: Cornell
OVERFLOATER
Come on in and take me on an override
Been stuck inside and up all night at Dave’s
Now trouble’s far away, and mother in her cage
And nothings gonna pinch this nerve of mine
I wanna make it right
Close the door and pull the shades
And climb the walls
Feel medicine heal the lines of age
I’m here and now I’m gone
I’m there and far beyond
And nothing’s gonna pinch this nerve of mine
Nothing’s gonna pinch this nerve of mine
I wanna make it right
I’m on the wire over and higher
Over the pretense over the (spire) why
On and connected I’m overfloating now
I’m overfloating alone
Hold the potion up
Remember to forget and then rename your shame
I wanna make it right
I’m on the wire over and higher
Over the pretense over the (spire) why
On and connected I’m overfloating now
I’m overfloating alone
Music: Cornell
Lyrics: Cornell
AN UNKIND
We see the vipers of distance
Crawl into our lives everyday
Breeding our Edens of hatred
Pathetically stupid and unkind
We couldn’t look a saint in the eyes
On the storm
It’s time to go
On the storm
It’s time to go
Marching in lines of contradiction
Forgetting the history we make
Loving our hangmen as the
Penultimate joke
We lack the Moses…to look
A saint in the eye
Music: Shepherd
Lyrics: Shepherd
BOOT CAMP
I must obey the rules
I must be tame and cool
No staring at the clouds
I must stay on the ground
In clusters of the mice
The smoke is in our eyes
Like babies on display
Like angels in a cage
I must be pure and true
I must contain my views
There must be something else
There must be something good
Far away
Music: Cornell
Lyrics: Cornell