Bubble Records

03/30/2026

Wow!

Rush ( ) performs Finding My Way live at the 2026 Juno Awards.The Juno Awards bring Canada’s Biggest Night in Music to the brand-new TD Coliseum in Hami...

11/27/2025

Too good not to share. Happy TDay!

Screaming... screaming for Turkey!

07/23/2025

Neal Schon tribute to Ozzy.

07/23/2025

A thoughtful tribute from Elton John.

So sad to hear the news of Ozzy Osbourne passing away.

He was a dear friend and a huge trailblazer who secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods - a true legend. He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. I will miss him dearly. To Sharon and the family, I send my condolences and love.

Elton xx

📷- Kevin Mazur

11/04/2024

04/06/2024

Music Is Magic

10/18/2023

What was the loudest show you were at? Mine is in the comments.

Motörhead, Deep Purple and Manowar have all broken records – and people’s eardrums, probably

09/06/2023

Spot on article. Louder Than Love is my fav Soundgarden album.

ON THIS DAY, September 5th, 1989, SOUNDGARDEN released their second full-length studio album Louder Than Love, through A&M Records. Louder Than Love is the point where Soundgarden delivered on their potential, in spades. The band’s debut full-length, 1988’s Ultramega OK, and their preceding EP’s, Screaming Life and Fopp were ample proof that they were something very special. But, as they entered London Bridge Studios in Seattle in December of 1988 to begin work on Louder Than Love, few could have imagined just how great they had become.

Louder Than Love is Soundgarden in peak form. Their immaculate one two punch of ’91s Badmotorfinger and ’94s Superunknown, rightly scoop all the accolades and praise. Those albums are without a shadow of doubt, masterpieces, and two of the greatest rock albums of all time. But Louder Than Love also deserves a place on that podium too. After the band released their debut EP’s on Seattle’s Sub Pop Records in 1987, they signed to America’s most respected punk rock label SST Records and released their debut album Ultramega OK in 1988.

SST was founded by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn in 1978. Author Michael Azerrad wrote, “Ginn took his label from a cash-strapped, cop-hassled store-front operation to easily the most influential and popular underground indie of the Eighties.” SST’s catalog is impeccable. It reads as a who’s who of the most influential and important underground acts of the 1980’s and beyond. Alongside releasing all of Black Flag’s output, SST and Ginn signed and released ground-breaking albums by Husker Du, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Subhumans, Saint Vitus, Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, Firehose, Das Damen, Dinosaur Jr and fellow Pacific Northwest alumni Screaming Trees.

So, when, after the release of Ultramega OK, Soundgarden promptly quit SST and signed to major label A&M Records in late 1988, suspicions of their motivations and intentions were rife. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear Soundgarden were of the mood that they wanted as many people as possible to hear their music. And A&M had the ability to make that a reality. SST and Sub Pop may have had all the street cred, but their distribution networks and promotional capabilities paled in comparison.

During the ’80s and into the ’90s, bands who left credible independent record labels and signed with majors were met with instant catcalls of “sell out” At the time many thought that Louder Than Love was Soundgarden’s attempt to edge closer to the rock mainstream. Which is nonsense. In 1989 the mainstream was Aerosmith’s Pump, Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood, Skid Row’s debut album and The Cult’s Sonic Temple, and though a new ‘alternative’ sensibility spearheaded by Nine Inch Nails, Faith No More, Dinosaur Jr., Jane’s Addiction and Sonic Youth was gaining traction, Louder Than Love was, even by the standards of the latter group of acts, an outlier. So if Soundgarden were vying for the rock mainstream, they forgot one important thing. They sounded nothing like the rock mainstream, and made no attempt to.

Louder Than Love was released two years before the “grunge” explosion of 1991, but is wholly the blueprint for what was to come. It’s a monumental slab of incredible songwriting, gargantuan riffs, slippery, odd time signatures, ominous, bleak atmosphere, balls out rockers and is the band’s funniest album to boot. It’s shot through with dark witty sarcasm and revels in lampooning the machismo glam rock posturing of the day. Everything was ratcheted up several notches, their sound got tighter and heavier, their delivery more confident. This was the point in Soundgarden’s trajectory where they went from uber talented local hero’s to self-aware architects of their own future.

The band chose Terry Date to produce the album “They were just different,” said Date, “It was a period of time when things were all hair metal. There was a lot of dumb, butt rock metal without any thought. Then Soundgarden came along, and you’ve got these four incredibly brilliant people, and they’re doing heavy riffs with really smart lyrics. My goal at the time was to make music that was still going to be valid in 20 years time, and those guys completely fit the bill.”

One irony that befell the band was, just as their sound and direction was becoming cast iron and sure footed, the interpersonal relationships within were anything but rosy. Tensions were mounting between the band and founding member Hiro Yamamoto. Already beginning to lose interest in and distance himself from the band, Yamamoto’s presence during the writing and recording process became minimal, Louder Than Love’s move toward more metallic passages led Yamamoto to question his place in the band. By the time they were ready to do promotion for the record, Yamamoto announced that he would be leaving the band to pursue other interests.

Matt Cameron’s 6/8 drum riff introduces opening track “Ugly Truth” Cornell and Thayil’s looping, off kilter guitar riff feels eerie, transcendent and utterly engaging. Thayil adds further tension with noise guitar dissonance before Cornell enters with a typically devastating and emotive vocal, “You hide your eyes, But the ugly truth, Just loves to give it away, You gave yourself, If you were mine to give, I might throw it away..”

“Hands All Over,” the second single released from the album was written by Kim Thayil with lyrics by Chris Cornell. It’s a psych-tinged, ecology-related protest song replete with massive, Drop-D slugging groove, and urgent banshee wails from Cornell, extolling the failings of humanity and perilous knife edge the environment and mother nature are in, “You’re gonna kill your mother, gonna kill your mother, Kill your mother, And I love her…” “What I liked about the song was that it was just one simple riff, one note, one chord, but with a lot of dynamics” said Thayil, “In some ways it’s simple and basic; in other ways, it’s very sophisticated in how it was layered. We don’t really have many songs that are like “Hands All Over”.

“Gun” is a truly unique ride. Starting out as a sludgy, slow crawl, its twisted three note riff slowly speeds up to a walk, then a run, then into a raging, thrashing gallop. Thayil delivers a discordant, flaying, punk solo as the band crashes and dissolves into a discordant mess. Then, like a comic book monster rising from a swamp, the sludgy slow crawling riff returns at a glacial pace. Cornell sings, “I got an idea of something we can do with a gun, Sink load and fire till the empire reaps what they’ve sown, Shoot, shoot, shoot till their minds are open, Shoot, shoot till their eyes are closed….”

“Power Trip” opens with Cornell’s vocals matching Thayil’s upper fret double stop bends note for note. His helium wail goes toe to toe with the guitar’s upper register with ease before the song drops into a Sabbath-esque riff complete with flattened fifth thrills a la Tony Iommi. Cornell sounds incredibly menacing and expressive as his voice becomes the song’s less than salubrious character. “So maybe now the Pope will bow and kiss my ring, I wanna be king, king, king, king, I swear to God I know what I want and I need, Oh I need, I want to be king..”

“Get On The Snake” is a roitus stomp in another oddball 9/4 time signature. Packed with hard hitting grove and exhilarating dynamics to match the songs subject matter. Cornell’s trippy psychedelic lyrics extolling the virtues of travel. The song is an ode to Soundgarden’s early days, traveling from gig to gig in a beat-up van (the “snake” being the highway) “Get on the snake with a swarm of motor fly’s, Get on the snake under the cola coloured sky..” and later “Get on the snake where the water turns to steam, Get on the snake with a su***de machine…”

“Full On Kevin’s Mom” is both hilarious and musically brilliant. Cornell recalled, “Full On Kevin’s Mom is about a friend of mine who slept with another friend of mine’s mom. The guy who did it said to us, ‘Yeah, full on Kevin’s mom’.” The song is a balls out (excuse the pun) thrasher. Cornell’s tells a tale of a group of friends, “You don’t get nothing for free, Kev and me were two of three, Three brothers to the end, Then one went full on Kev’s mom, Now things have changed…” Chris’ heavy panting throughout the song is hilarious, as is his high pitched shriek of “..MOMMY..” before Thayil’s ripping guitar solo.

“Loud Love” was the album’s first single. Again Cornell’s incredible, super high pitched wail matching Thayil’s guitar feedback intro, then he slowly descends as a cascading steamroller of a riff takes over. The song’s middle eighth sounds like a cross between the cold, detached beauty of Faith era Cure and pummelling, slug of Paranoid era Black Sabbath. One of the album’s stand out tracks follows.

“I Awake” is bitter cold, bleak and disturbing in all the right ways. Like a fantastic film noir, its sound and message is harrowing but compelling. The song’s lyrics are taken from a note Hiro Yamamoto’s then girlfriend left for him one morning, “Woke up depressed, I left for work, You have a good day, good day, It’s not your fault, I know it hurts, Remember, I love you, love you…” Musically no other band could match the raw power of those lyrics quite like Soundgarden. They excel, wringing every last ounce of dread, emotion and release out of their instruments. Cornell’s vocals are crushingly expressive. This is pure art.

“No Wrong, No Right” opens with Matt Cameron’s powerful rolling toms and Thayil’s eerie single note strains. Cornell’s keening howl draws the listener in before the song settles into an unsettling, atmospheric groove. Yamamoto’s bass line is sinister and beautifully inventive. Thayil stabs and rips jagged discordant fills throughout, adding buckets of tension. Cornell is again on fire, using his voice like an expressive weapon.

“Uncovered” sounds positively upbeat after the captivating dirges of “I Awake” and “No Wrong, No Right.” Its jagged, bouncing riff feels joyful and vivacious. Still though, there’s a dark core to the song, Cornell sounds weary and menacing “Strong is your body, Strong are your bones, Strong as your bloody lie is uncovered…”

“Big Dumb Sex” is pure Spinal Tap-esque satire. Written to parody the glam metal bands of the late ’80s who used euphemisms and innuendo to imply sexual exploits. Soundgarden, in proper comedic fashion, acted as if they were a “Butt Rock” band who didn’t understand how to be euphemistic. Guitarist Kim Thayil said: “We thought we’ll ditch all the euphemisms and say what all those bands had been trying to say for a decade. It’s a parody of the whole genre of stupid rock.” Because the song uses the F-word thirty five times, it never had a chance to get played on the radio alongside its “Butt Rock” compatriots. It also landed the album with a parental advisory sticker.

Louder Than Love ends with “Full On (Reprise)” a more bluesy, soulful take on the “Kevin” incident of “Full On Kevin’s Mom.” This time the only lyrics being “Full On Kevin’s Mom” and “Mommy”

On Louder Than Love Soundgarden hit so many highs. Chris Cornell was truly one of a kind. Throughout his career he delivered one incredible performance after another on record. But it could be easily argued his most expressive and powerful was on Louder Than Love. Hardly anywhere else in the Soundgarden back catalogue does Cornell invest himself so deeply in the character of each song. Like a method actor, his voice on this album contorts and shifts in timbre and tone to match the intent and mood of each song, word, phrase and emotion.

The band also play with incredible dexterity, swinging from atmospheric soundscapes to barrelling rockers, sometimes within a single verse. Soundgarden sounded like no one else, and no one sounded like Soundgarden. The band always had an uncanny ability to make alien time signatures sound completely normal (until you try to play them, or dance to them) this was mastered for the first time on Louder Than Love.

Soundgarden hit their stride with this album and never looked back. It’s sometimes overlooked due to it being in the shadow of two behemoths, Badmotorfinger and Superunknown. But it’s an album that deserves as much attention and praise. Its cover image by legendary Seattle photographer Charles Peterson, sums up this era of the band. Mysterious and dark, a shirtless Cornell with his face hidden behind a mop of flailing hair, grubby work pants and boots, a filthy stage floor. It was worlds away from the manufactured glitz of the Hollywood strip. Yet it was far, far more beautiful and vital.

Essential..!!

08/21/2023

A great article that dives into each Facelift song. For me it brings back memories before the world learned of “The Seattle Sound”. I probably saw AIC more than any of the other grunge bands. It seems they were always playing somewhere. I remember their shows would vary in mood from night to night.

ON THIS DAY, August 21st, 1990, ALICE IN CHAINS released their debut album Facelift through Columbia Records. Casting our minds back to August 1990, the Rock ‘N Roll landscape was still very much in the grip of ’80s excess. Many in the industry were clueless to the ground swell of interest the alternative rock scene was creating, even though, in a short thirteen month’s time, rock music would be forever changed.

There’s many reasons why Seattle became the fulcrum of this new, cutting edge brand of rock. Chief among them, was an abundance of once in a lifetime talent, who just so happened to be plying their trade at the very same time, in the same area. As the 1980’s drew to a close, the mainstream rock scene was awash with spandex, immaculately coiffed perms, music videos filled with sc****ly clad models draping themselves across cars, stages, stripper poles and band members, while songs as lyrically deep as a kiddies paddling pool were order of the day.

As the ’80s drew to a close, that scene had become exhausted and bloated. Coughing up one insipid, copycat band after the next, all touting a bevy of saccharine ballads and conquest exaggerating “party” rockers. The purveyors of this scene would each wake up sometime around September 1991, open their curtains, and gaze out on a wasteland of Aqua Net hairspray tins and Day-Glo spandex. The music buying public had grown tired of what they were seeing and hearing, and were ready for something new. The realism, brilliance and vibrancy of what was pouring out of the Pacific Northwest stood in stark contrast to what the status quo in LA was offering.

The version of Alice In Chains the world came to know formed in Seattle in 1987. Born out of various early ’80s glam bands like Sleze, Alice ‘N Chains and Diamond Lie. Members Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney and Mike Starr quickly got to work developing their sound. The musical ecosystem in Seattle in the mid ’80s was not immune to the odd flirtation with the prevailing glam-metal winds of that time. But the geographical isolation, and bleak, gray skies meant the music produced there was always tinged with an existential heaviness.

Since the release of their debut EP Screaming Life in 1987, Soundgarden had kicked the doors open for other Seattle bands, and shown how vital, deep, visceral music could reach a dedicated fan base outside of their home state, all the while showing little regard for the current trends. Alice In Chains took some time to ferment their own sound once their classic line-up had solidified. Jerry Cantrell recalls how certain songs they wrote in their early days, suggested the path they needed to take:

“Some songs that we never released, pre ‘Facelift.’ felt as though we’d turned the corner. We’re of the same generation of those ’80s bands. So, there are a lot of those bands that I dug, but that’s not where we ended up. That’s the point. You get inspired by other people and emulate them. Then, at some point, you start doing your thing, and one day you look at each other and like, ‘Man! This is pretty cool.’ All of a sudden, you’ve got a sound, so you keep going. I don’t know if I could tell you the tune that changed our outlook, but it was pre ‘Facelift’ when we started to come into focus as a band. We were formed in December of ’87, and ‘Facelift’ came out in ’90. The band developed within two years basically from nothing to that record.”

In 1988, local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of Alice in Chains at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank Studio in Seattle, police shut the place down during the biggest ma*****na raid in the state’s history. The final demo, dubbed The Treehouse Tapes, found its way to managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed the demo to Columbia Records A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989.

The band chose Dave Jerden to record, produce and mix the album. Prior to recording Facelift, Jerden had engineered and mixed albums by Jane’s Addiction, Social Distortion, The Rolling Stones, Herbie Hancock, Frank Zappa and Talking Heads.

The first time Dave Jerden heard Alice In Chains, he thought they were a mess. It was 1988, and Dave had been given the band’s demo tape by an A&R friend at Sony. No producer wanted to touch them. But there was one song in which he heard the sound of the future. “I forget which song it was, but it was the closest to the Alice In Chains we know now, with the drop-D tuning,” Jerden recalls. “I met with the band and told them what I thought, that their songs were a mess. But I also said to Jerry Cantrell that I liked what he was doing…”

By the time Alice In Chains entered the studio in 1989 to record Facelift, their music had taken on a dark realism. Heavy in both sound and message, the band were now creating highly emotive songs with devastating power and weight. Recorded at the legendary London Bridge Studios in Seattle, with additional recording done at Capitol Studios in Hollywood. The raw potential Jerden saw paid off once the band found their stride, “Facelift was where Alice In Chains found their style,” said Jerden. “And Man In The Box was the first song that introduced the world to the grunge sound. It was never a case of luck. That record was meant to be.”

The album opens with “We Die Young.” Layne Staley explained in 1991: “‘We Die Young’ is about gang violence. That was something that was happening in Seattle, something that kinda opened our eyes. It just seemed like things were getting out of hand. Incidents where kids were getting shot, and getting their tennis shoes ripped off their dead bodies. It just seems like these kids are dying at younger and younger ages and getting involved in gang activity.” It’s a crushing introduction to the band. A dark and pummelling riff from Cantrell opens proceedings. The band locks in with Staley menacingly delivering the lines “Down, down, down you’re rolling/Watch the blood float in the muddy sewer/Take another hit/And bury your brother…”

According to Jerry Cantrell, he was riding to a band rehearsal when he got the idea for the song. “On the bus, there were all of these 10, 11, 12 year-olds with beepers dealing drugs,” he said. “The sight of a young kid with drugs just scared me, which equalled We Die Young to me.”

“Man In The Box” is a boot-stomping masterpiece and the song that would catapult Alice In Chains into the mainstream. After Dave Jerden heard the Treehouse Demo, he told the band they should go in and record another demo of new songs. A few months later, he received a new six- track tape. One of the songs was Man In The Box, destined to become AIC’s breakthrough hit. “When I got that six-track demo, and it had Man In The Box and all the great songs from that first album, that’s when I really thought we could be on to something,” said Jerden.

When released as the second single from the album in January 1991, the song became a smash hit helping Alice In Chains leapfrog the likes of Soundgarden and Nirvana to become grunge’s first superstars. It was also the song that propelled the sales of Facelift, as they became the first band from the Seattle scene to sell half a million records, opening the door for everyone to follow.

The band show no signs of letting up in quality or goosebump inducing thrills as “Sea Of Sorrow” and “Bleed The Freak” drub the senses. On both songs Cantrell and Staley’s voices harmonise beautifully. Mike Starr and Sean Kinney’s tight, dexterous rhythm section drives the vast dynamics. The opening four tracks of Facelift are a crushingly euphoric statement form a young band who had found their “sound” and were not afraid to deliver.

“I Can’t Remember” opens with a rich, malevolent acoustic guitar arpeggio. The verses groove with wah drenched guitar. Laynes voice is expressive and filled with a sense of dread. The middle eighth opens up with Layne showing all of his range. “Love, Hate, Love” is a masterwork, the lyrics still hold relevance for fans today. It’s a song that explores the complexity of emotions, the dark side of love, and the consequences of allowing hate to take over. Staley’s vocal histrionics during the song’s outro are simply staggering.

“It Ain’t Like That” bristles with its raked and droning guitar riff and Sabbath-esque chug of the verses. Layne and Jerry lift the chorus in harmony, singing “See the cycle I’ve waited for/It ain’t like that anymore..” “Sunshine” has a glorious, languid mid-tempo groove and bluesy arpeggiated riff. The song’s pre-chorus shifts gear to a major key blues shuffle before settling back to the verse tempo. Unexpectedly the song’s chorus drops down to an even slower pace and a gorgeous vocal melody. Jerry Cantrell’s solo is, as always, memorable and note perfect.

“Put You Down” has a lot in common with Mother Love Bone. Drawing from the same musical vein as Andrew Wood’s band. Alice In Chains had a darker and more ominous edge to their sound than MLB, but the similarities are still obvious. “Confusion” is rife with jet black dread. Its menacing, baleful verse gives way to an awe inspiring chorus, Layne yet again proving the incredible power of his vocals and his pitch perfect choice of notes.

“I Know Somethin’ (Bout You)” opens with a clean funk guitar riff, not dissimilar to something Living Colour might have written around that time. It’s a sound Alice In Chains would never dabble in again. Its verse, like “Put You Down” has a lot in common with fellow Seattle greats Mother Love Bone. The song has a brilliant infectious chorus Jerry sings “In my space, on your face, I tell you, I know something ’bout you…” As Layne wails “On your face, I know something..” both voices weaving across each other with gripping proficiency. The songs instrumental middle is jet black in tone and utterly riveting.

The album ends with “The Real Thing” , a stunning prophecy of Staley’s future woes with substance abuse and addiction. “I messed around as a little boy/ I grew up, made the blade my new toy/ Friends said “boy, with what you screwin’ around” I said/ “Don’t concern yourselves and just/ Gimme another blast” The songs tumbling riff and dark jagged dynamics add an edge of your seat feeling to this story of a young man wilfully falling to the horrors of drug addiction.
“I grew up, went into rehab/ You know the doctors never did me no good/ They said “son, you’re gonna be a new man”/ I said “thank you very much/ And can I borrow fifty bucks?” Staley roars “I’m Goin’ down the steps on a white line straight to nowhere..”

With Facelift, Alice In Chains made a statement, they ushered new realism into an ailing rock scene. They dealt in the darker side of the human condition, but in a way that was extraordinarily poetic, empathic and filled with depth. Nobody sounded like Alice In Chains. In 1990/1991 anyone who heard them, and Facelift were instant fans. Even known curmudgeon’s like Slayer’s Kerry King sat up and took note after hearing AIC and Layne’s stunning voice, “Those dudes were untouchable on their first two records; they were really vibing as a band, and Layne was just a superstar. They played on the US 1990 package tour Clash Of The Titans, and on the first couple of dates, we’d be backstage going, ‘Who is that with that f*cking voice?’ And we started going out to watch the entire set every night. It was just one of those moments.”

The chemistry and musical abilities of the band were undeniable. With Facelift, they set the bar higher than a Willie Nelson/Snoop Dogg smoke off..! As far as debut albums go, it’s rarely been matched. Alice In Chains played a significant part in altering the musical landscape of the ’90s. Staley’s influential, godlike vocal abilities can only be compared to his fellow Seattle legend, Chris Cornell, for sheer range and emotional wallop. Cantrell’s riff writing and lush backing vocals are breath-taking. Sean Kinney’s distinctive, thunderous drumming and deft cymbal work is the engine that propels the band while Mike Starr’s powerful, melodic bass provided a monstrous foundation for Staley and Cantrell to soar.

Legendary album, legendary band…! Essential…!