Soundgarden - "Mood for Trouble"

Soundgarden. Was on SST. Seriously.

The story I always heard was that A&M signed the band after their Sub Pop EPs, then licensed their first full-length to SST as a way of building indie cred (remember when that mattered?). What's amazing is that SST still has the rights.

SST's online store is a goldmine, but some of the best stuff is long gone: Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and the Meat Puppets, to name three, have all had their catalogues picked up by other labels for re-issue. Negativland's albums are... not there anymore. But what's left is still some of the most crucial underground rock of the 80s: Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, Descendents, Minutemen, all for $9 an album. Even Soundgarden.

I kind of liked this record when it came out because it was heavy and kind of weird, but I lost interest in the band when the follow-up stunk. The band hardly needed me, though, and went on to achieve world domination while my interest in "grunge" faded away. This track was one of my favourites on the album because it's fast. Most of the record is mid-tempo sludge, which is fine, but a change of pace never hurts. I learned how to play that intro when I was first learning guitar. It's only two chords, the strumming pattern is cool once you master it and it sounds menacing. Hell yeah.

Buy it... on vinyl (or, believe it or not, cassette).

From my deck to you: Soundgarden - "Mood for Trouble"

Not to keep pimping SST, but I just got an order of some Minutemen records from them, so next week's Minutemen week.