The Tragic Irony of Soundgarden’s “Pretty Noose”
In 1996, Soundgarden opened Down on the Upside with “Pretty Noose,” a Grammy-nominated lead single about attractive-looking bad ideas. Behind the scenes, the band was quietly fracturing at the height of its powers. In this episode of Poetic Wax, we dig into the full history of the song: how Matt Cameron’s tired morning commute shaped the drum take they kept, why Kim Thayil’s wah riff is tuned the way it is, what Chris Cornell actually said the song was about, and why in the wake of Cornell’s death in 2017 the title “Pretty Noose” lands with a weight it was never meant to carry.
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CHAPTERS:
0:00 A Song About Bad Decisions
1:34 An Impossible Position After Superunknown
5:35 The Walk That Shuffled into a Classic
8:14 An Attractively Packaged Bad Idea
11:26 Soundgarden Didn’t Last a Year
13:14 Chris Cornell And Depression
17:06 What “Pretty Noose” is Now
#soundgarden #chriscornell #kimthayil #90smusic #altrock #grunge #vinylcommunity #vinylrecords #vinylcollection #andyfenstermaker #fensepost #vinylchannel #poeticwax #musicessay #musicstory #albumstory #musichistory #albumhistory #musicdocumentary
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@RSVTuono
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
On the storm, it's time to go on…
@jamiekellyred9
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Murdered
He knew what they were going to do
Sick
Sad
Death cult
@drlarrymitchell
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Also, note how many pictures Kurt Cobain was featured in wherein he put a gun in his mouth.
Also, the first three songs on Nevermind all mention guns.
Also, he started the band with money he got from the sale of his step-father's guns…that he'd dunked and then subsequently fished 'From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah' river.
@rickc2102
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Better than Bullet w Butterfly Wings. Not better than Zero, though.
@Ninjametal
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
"tighter and tighter" and "overfloater" are both underrated, as well as possibly expanding on the concept started on the album with "pretty noose"
@andreturntobe1380
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
You're sure about this suicide narrative, huh. 9 broken ribs.
@IamCatherineM
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Smashing pumpkins over Soundgarden…
That was a crime aired on television!
@jamiekellyred9
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Never the Machine Forever is a killer track!!!
@1200hobos
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
I don't like anything after Louder Than Love.
@t.sheppard5940
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Hasn't Matt Cameron left Pearl Jam?
@milicamarkovic8724
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Yeah, Pretty Noose lands heavy, and so does Like a suicide, Show me how to live etc, etc. But have you seen a video for Nearly forgot my broken heart? That hits heavy, I tell you… It was removed from YT for a long period of time, wonder why??
I hear people commenting Chris was killed, but have they listened to his songs? Not that it was completely unexpected, this man battled suicidal thoughts all his life! 😢
And yet he appeared to be quite sensible in his interviews, he got us fooled. I was utterly shocked when he died! Was he also fooling himself??
Btw. Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart lost a Grammy for the best hard rock performance in 97 to Bullet with 🦋 wings! Total injustice, for a hardcore STP fan like me😂😂
It's one of the best, craziest rock songs ever made, in my humble opinion… 😊 Deserved that Grammy, for sure! ❤
@jasoncromwell4206
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Until 2017 I loved this song and album. I thought it was a great Swan Song for an excellent band. I haven't been able to listen to the song since 2017, obviously.
@smokerise
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Love this album, we have 100's of vinyls, but no soundgarden…probably my favorite band of the last 2 decades…ill be adding their catalog to our collection. 🤘
@TheWosniakGambit
May 25, 2026 at 12:52 pm
The cover of Superunkown instantly transports me back to high-school. Such a different time
Still watching, but this is a fascinating breakdown of a classic (and ultimately tragic) track
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