Down on the Upside is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Soundgarden, released on May 21, 1996 through A&M Records. It is the band's third album with bassist Ben Shepherd. Following a worldwide tour in support of its previous album, Superunknown (1994), Soundgarden commenced work on a new album. The music on the album was notably less heavy than the group's preceding albums and featured the band experimenting with other sounds. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 200,000 copies in its opening week and spawned the singles "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", "Blow Up the Outside World", and "Ty Cobb". The band took a slot on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour and afterward supported the album with a worldwide tour. Down on the Upside would end up becoming Soundgarden's final studio album for 13 years as tensions within the band led to its break-up in April 1997. The album has been certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States. Down on the Upside is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Soundgarden, released on May 21, 1996 through A&M Records. It is the band's third album with bassist Ben Shepherd. Following a worldwide tour in support of its previous album, Superunknown (1994), Soundgarden commenced work on a new album. The music on the album was notably less heavy than the group's preceding albums and featured the band experimenting with other sounds. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 200,000 copies in its opening week and spawned the singles "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", "Blow Up the Outside World", and "Ty Cobb". The band took a slot on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour and afterward supported the album with a worldwide tour. Down on the Upside would end up becoming Soundgarden's final studio album for 13 years as tensions within the band led to its break-up in April 1997. The album has been certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States. false 2025-11-07 19:58:36 1997 1997-01-14 1997-01-14 96 Alternative Metal Alternative Rock Grunge Hard Rock Heavy Metal Rock 112001 2115751 3475c257-246f-36f4-88f4-196dbf7bbed1 153c9281-268f-4cf3-8938-f5a4593e5df4 3813786b-db5a-369c-83b5-41d68b981d7c /media/data/media5/Music/Soundgarden/Down on the Upside/folder.jpg Soundgarden Soundgarden 1 1 04:11 1 2 03:14 1 3 04:18 1 4 04:34 1 5 03:05 1 6 05:45 1 7 04:50 1 8 02:27 1 9 05:10 1 10 03:36 1 11 06:06 1 12 04:26 1 13 03:52 1 14 05:08 1 15 02:08 1 16 02:58 2 1 03:25 2 2 06:03 2 3 03:56 2 4 05:54 2 5 05:28 2 6 05:06 Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially by Scott Sundquist, and later by Matt Cameron in 1986. Yamamoto left in 1989 and was replaced initially by Jason Everman and shortly thereafter by Ben Shepherd. The band dissolved in 1997 and reformed in 2010. Following Cornell's death in 2017 and a year of uncertainty regarding the band's future, Thayil declared in October 2018 that Soundgarden had disbanded once again, though they did reunite in January 2019 for a one-off concert in tribute to Cornell. Not counting the one-off concert, Cornell and Thayil were the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band. The band helped to popularize grunge music, a style of alternative rock that developed in the American Pacific Northwest in the mid-1980s, alongside such Seattle contemporaries as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. They were the first of a number of grunge bands to sign to the Seattle-based record label Sub Pop, through which they released two EPs: Screaming Life (1987) and Fopp (1988). Soundgarden's debut album, Ultramega OK, was also released in 1988 by the California-based independent label SST Records; although the album did not sell well nationally, it garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1990. Their second album, Louder Than Love, was recorded independently, but, after they signed with A&M Records in 1989 (making them one of the first grunge bands to sign to a major label), it became their major-label debut. While Ultramega OK had failed to chart and Louder Than Love peaked at number 108 on the Billboard 200 album chart, the band's third album Badmotorfinger (1991) was buoyed by the success of the singles "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", and "Rusty Cage", reached number 39 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified double-platinum by the RIAA. Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and yielded the Grammy Award-winning singles "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun". The band experimented with new sonic textures on their follow-up album Down on the Upside (1996), which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned several hit singles of its own, including "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand" and "Blow Up the Outside World". In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction and exhaustion from touring. After more than a decade of working on projects and other bands, they reunited in 2010, and Republic Records released their sixth and final studio album, King Animal, in 2012. As of 2019, Soundgarden had sold more than 14 million records in the United States, and an estimated 30 million worldwide. VH1 ranked Soundgarden at number 14 in their special 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. PolyGramPolyGram