Soundgarden - Down On the Upside


S: Gladys, i'm worried about Bottle.

G: Deary, dear. That's not true at all, now is it? You're worried about the parts of you that depend on Bottle.

S: What?! How can you-

G: Missy, don't you start with me, i was old and mean before you were even a clump of spit and stardust. Like i've told you a thousand times, you can't predict the future if you don't even know which hallway you're following. Now, close your eyes and imagine everything is opposite. How did we get here and where has it led?

S: Deja vu. We've been here before. And he fell through the hole in his own pocket and oh... i think i know...

G: Flip that around...

S: oh, oh! I know, i know! I know what album we'll listen to tonight. Yes, i'm sure of it.

G: Good, now just you worry about you. Bottle takes care of himself, and you can't help by taking that away from him. You help by doing what you do....

[Meanwhile, in Bottle's office]

B: [thud] why do i keep waking up? [thud] i don't wanna be the highlander [thud] i don't like what you got me hanging from...

Inevitable, really. Yesterday made that clear, we're Down on the Upside.

It's just so dumb and pointless. I know you don't know what I'm talking about, i know you don't have any idea how it relates to a Soundgarden album. I mean, really this is the best depiction of inhabiting your own mind i can think of. It's one of my favorite albums in the universe.

If nothing else, we should all understand this album for what it is. Soundgarden spent a couple months self-producing their 5th album in their real life friend Stone Gossard's recording studio. It is all over the place, but i can't think of a single thing that's missing or here when it shouldn't be. It definitely qualifies as a total work of art in my book.

It may not make me want to blow up the outside world any less, but as a momentary force field against the Auditors of Imagination you're gonna have a hard time getting me to take off the headphones for the full 66 minutes. Nigh on impossible, i'd say.

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