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Spoonman by Soundgarden |
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Spoonman by Soundgarden |
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song infoSpoonman by Soundgarden (official video) is a hard rock song. Song Title: Spoonman (official video)Artist: Soundgarden Album: Superunknown Genre: grunge, hard rock Composer: Copyright © 1992 Chris Cornell Lead Vocals: Chris Cornell Backing Vocals: Ben Shepherd Guitar: Kim Thayil Bass: Ben Shepherd Drums: Matt Cameron Percussion: Artis the Spoonman (spoons) Director: Jeffrey Plansker Producer: Michael Beinhorn, Soundgarden Recorded: July–September 1993 at Bad Animals Studio, Seattle, Washington Released: February 15, 1994 Label: A&M Number of listens: 23005 Current rank: 485 (updated weekly) Highest rank: 467 (play the video all the way through to register a vote for this song) Commentary: |
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Summary quotation from Wikipedia:
Spoonman is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, Spoonman was released on February 15, 1994 as the first single from the bands fourth studio album, Superunknown (1994). Spoonman is often credited as one of the songs that launched Soundgardens career into the mainstream. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A remixed version of the song by Steve Fisk appears on the Black Hole Sun and My Wave singles. The song was included on Soundgardens 1997 greatest hits album, A-Sides and the 2010 compilation album Telephantasm.
Origin and recording
Spoonman was originally written for the soundtrack to the 1992 film, Singles. At this time, Soundgarden, along with fellow alternative rock band Pearl Jam, was working on the soundtrack for the film. Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament had been put in charge of creating the name for a fictional band that would appear in the film. Before finally choosing Citizen Dick for its name, Ament had compiled a list of potential names which included the name Spoonman. The name was inspired by Artis the Spoonman, a street performer from Santa Cruz, California and later Seattle, Washington, who plays music with a set of spoons. Soundgarden vocalist and songwriter Chris Cornell eventually used the names on the list to create songs for the film. Spoonman was among these, and an acoustic version was created from it. This early version of the song can be heard in the background during a scene of the film.
Rather than just leave the song on the films soundtrack, Soundgarden began working on an electric version of Spoonman. The songs inspiration, Artis the Spoonman, played a prominent role in the song itself. The final version of the song featured Artis the Spoonman playing his spoons as part of the songs bridge. Drummer Matt Cameron also plays pots and pans on the song. Bassist Ben Shepherd performs backing vocals on the song.
Composition
Spoonman was performed in drop D tuning. The main riff used in the verse has 14 beats (which can be divided into measures of 7/4, or alternatively 3 measures of 4/4 and a concluding measure of 2/4), which is unusual because most songs are written in 4/4 or 3/4 time. Guitarist Kim Thayil has said that Soundgarden usually did not consider the time signature of a song until after the band had written it, and said that the use of odd meters was a total accident.
Lyrics
Cornell on Spoonman:Its more about the paradox of who [Artis] is and what people perceive him as. Hes a street musician, but when hes playing on the street, he is given a value and judged completely wrong by someone else. They think hes a street person, or hes doing this because he cant hold down a regular job. They put him a few pegs down on the social ladder because of how they perceive someone who dresses differently. The lyrics express the sentiment that I much more easily identify with someone like Artis than I would watch him play.
Release and reception
The band would play Spoonman while on its 1993 tour with Neil Young. With hype building around the bands upcoming album Superunknown, Soundgarden released the single a month before the albums release. The song was released as a single in 1994 with a previously unreleased B-side titled Exit Stonehenge. On the choice of Spoonman as the albums first single, Shepherd called it a great first choice, adding that it just jumps out at you instantly. Shepherd said, You know how you listen to a record and there is one song that literally seems to leap out of the speakers—well, Spoonman did that to me. Shortly after the singles release, the song became widely popular, reaching high positions on rock charts. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number nine on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. At the 1995 Grammy Awards, Spoonman received the award for Best Metal Performance.
Outside the United States, the single was released commercially in Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In Canada, the song reached number 12 on the Canadian Singles Chart. Spoonman reached the UK Top 20 and would peak at number 23 on the Australian Singles Chart. Spoonman reached the top 30 in Australia and Ireland and was a top ten success in New Zealand.
Spoonman appears in the 2001 video game ATV Offroad Fury for the PlayStation 2. The song is also featured in the 2008 video games Battle of the Bands, Rock Band 2, and as a cover in Rock Revolution. The following year the song also appeared on the soundtrack for the PSP game Rock Band Unplugged, which included a number of tracks from Rock Band 2. Despite the inclusion on the Unplugged track list, Spoonman did not export from Rock Band 2 to Rock Band 3 due to licensing conflicts. It appeared again on the track list of the 2012 downloadable game Rock Band Blitz and became playable in Rock Band 3 as part of the Blitz song pack. The song is also available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock as part of the Telephantasm album pack.
Music video
The music video for Spoonman was directed by Jeffrey Plansker (under the alias John Smithey). The video also features Artis prominently, making him the focus of the video instead of the band. The band members are shown only in black-and-white still photographs. The video was released in February 1994.
In an interview with Hit Parader magazine in 1994, Chris Cornell said about the music video:I think we were fairly smart with Spoonman in that you really dont see us that much in the video. You see various pictures of us, but its not quite the same as having us in your living room all the time. Were trying to maintain some degree of mystique about Soundgarden, I guess. I remember back when I was a kid, long before MTV, and the only way to see my favorite bands was to go to their concerts. It was an incredible experience. MTV has helped a lot of bands, but theyve also helped rob a lot of groups of that special mystique. Its tough when you can see a great rock band on TV one second, then hit the clicker and be watching a soap opera or a sit com the next. Thats what rock and roll has become for some people.
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Madelyn: Spoonman is my favorite song.
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