20th Anniversary of ‘Down On The Upside’ (VIDEO)

On May 21, 1996, Soundgarden released its fifth studio album Down on the Upside through A&M Records. It was the follow-up to 1994's Superunknown, an album that was #1 on the charts and accomplished multi-platinum success. So how did the band follow up their career high water mark? The "down" side - it didn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor, and within a year of its release the band would break up. The "upside" (see what I did there?) - The album contains several outstanding tracks.

Down on the Upside went to #1 on the New Zealand and Australian charts, and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200. I hate the term that Soundgarden and the other big Seattle bands got labeled with, but "grunge" still had popularity in 1996. However, we were getting very close to the pathetic era where the likes of Britney, NSYNC and Limp Bizkit dominated the charts.

Down on the Upside featured the singles "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", "Blow Up the Outside World" and "Ty Cobb". Touring to support the album added to tensions and unhappiness within the band. They would ultimately break-up in April 1997. Thankfully for us, the band got back together several years ago. They released their sixth studio album, King Animal in 2012.

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