Fell on black days- soundgarden

I chose “Fell on Black Days,’ but to be honest, I think I could have easily chosen “Black Hole Sun,” or something by Stone Temple Pilots or Smashing Pumpkins. For me, there’s something about that time in music that really connected. Maybe it was because my brother loved Nirvana and Pearl Jam, so I always heard it around the house, or because it was moody right along with me, or maybe even something as simple as it being a trend. Whatever the reason, I never get tired of it.

Recently, I had been listening a lot to 60s and 70s R&B (The Miracles, The Spinners, Sam Cooke, etc), when I heard about Chris Cornell’s passing. Then it hit me. There’s nothing quite like rediscovering music you forgot- music that you listened to so much that you had to stop before you completely ruined it. All at once, I remembered why and how much I loved it. I had Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave playing in the house for at least a month after. I think I chose this song because it’s one I always come back to. I always enjoyed the play in these lyrics, but mostly I think I just really love his voice. In a genre where vocalists can start to sound the same, he really had a particular sound. Even now, the lyrics “How would I know, that this could be my fate?” make me stop and think about things. It definitely felt more dramatic as a kid than it does now, but there’s a lot of truth in it.

I think we all go through those rough patches in our teens, and find a few songs that make us feel like somebody gets it. They probably help us navigate those years better than most other things. “Fell on Black Days” was that kind of song for me. I was a little too serious, and at times a little too sad, and I think it gave me something to relate to. It also gave me something to help identify what I wasn’t. I didn’t like boy bands, or z100. We liked musicians that played instruments. We were a grunge/rock house, even though in reality, we were an everything house- expect for boy bands, of course.

One thought on “Fell on black days- soundgarden”

  1. Funny—this post reminds me of a similar dynamic when I was younger, my brother listening to Nsync and Backstreet Boys while I gravitated towards Alice in Chains and many of the grunge bands you name. Family dynamics often revolve around musical tastes: this could be fun to explore further in your essay.

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