UMe/A&M RecordsAlthough Soundgarden fans can gorge themselves on the new 25th anniversary Super Deluxe reissue of the band’s breakthrough 1991 album, Badmotorfinger, it’s a mixed blessing for guitarist Kim Thayil.
Thayil tells Rolling Stone his memories of the time are not what he’d describe as “glowing" or "sunshine-y.” Thayil says tension was caused by the perceived commercialization of the grunge scene, and the fact the band was dealing with the recent departure of founding bassist Hiro Yamamoto and the aftermath of the drug-overdose death of Andrew Wood of fellow Seattle rockers Mother Love Bone.
Still, upon revisiting Badmotorfinger, Thayil was struck by the “many elements and dimensions to that album that are powerful and pleasant and strong.” He admits, "I sincerely started falling in love with the album…You'd think I'd be sick of it, but I started becoming more and more proud.”
Among the bonus tracks on the deluxe reissue is a version of “New Damage” featuring Queen guitarist Brian May. Thayil says they cut the track for a Greenpeace benefit album recorded at a solar-powered studio, adding, “We met Brian May here in Seattle, sent the multi-tracks in a studio that he wanted to work in – I think it was in New York. And he wrote a very Brian May–ish guitar-solo part over it.”
The Badmotorfinger Super Deluxe reissue features seven discs in all, including four CDs, two DVDs and one Blu-ray Audio disc. Of the 109 songs, videos and mixes, 79 are previously unreleased, including the first-ever complete version of their Motorvision live album recorded at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre in March 1992.
As for new material, Thayil says, “We're still in the writing process. We have a dozen things demoed.”
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