10 Rock Songs That Insulted Other Musicians
7. Big Dumb Sex - Soundgarden
When you look at some of these big insulting songs, usually there’s a specific target in mind. Most of the time these artists may have been treated like dirt by one of their idols or were reading some bad press about themselves and decided to pour out their anger when the tape rolled. It’s hard to be on the receiving end of that, but imagine taking a swipe at an entire genre.
As Soundgarden were first coming into their own, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with the traditional LA rock scene, which had gotten far too commercialized and cartoony to take seriously. Since they were a metal band, Chris Cornell decided to come up with a song that was a complete piss take of what the glitter rock scene had come to. Although Big Dumb Sex still has some kickass riffs from top to bottom, all of the lyrics were Chris’ attempt to write the archetypal hair metal song, with all of the misogyny and open sexual desires as possible.
The title is already a bit suspect for people, but the chorus is where you start to realize that it’s more of a joke, with Chris saying nothing more than “I wanna f**k you” over and over again. Soundgarden may have still belonged in the metal category back in the days of Louder Than Love, but you weren’t going to mistake them for Cinderella or anything. These guys were authentic, and this was the kind of song that signaled how things were going to be changing.