10 Greatest Hard Rock Songs Of The 1990s

For all of the great acts that managed to climb to the top of the charts, Soundgarden really took their time in reaching the top. After being heralded as the definite breakout stars of the scene, it took them until the mid '90s to actually leave a real mark on the charts with Black Hole Sun. That may have sealed the deal, but it was just the precursor to something a lot more heavy.

Whereas most other Seattle artists were making an effort to sound sludgy in their delivery, Spoonman almost feels primal in the way its constructed, being based almost entirely on percussion and the power of the guitar riff. Being inspired by a local street performer in Seattle, the entire song feels like what a band like Led Zeppelin would have made had they wrote Kashmir in the '90s instead of the '70s, with Chris Cornell going for some of the best screams of his career.

Alongside his voice though, the riff from Chris and Kim Thayil has the power to hypnotize you all the way through, being in an odd time signature and taking you for a ride that you won't soon recover from. The alternative scene was definitely showing a different side of rock and roll, but it never hurt to pull from the classic rock playbook for something heavy either.