Black Hole Sun

"Black Hole Sun"
Single by Soundgarden
from the album Superunknown
B-side	"Like Suicide" (acoustic) "Kickstand" (live)
Released	1994
Studio	Bad Animals (Seattle, Washington)
Genre	Grunge psychedelic rock alternative rock hard rock stoner rock
Length	5:18
Label	A&M
Songwriter(s)	Chris Cornell
Producer(s)	Michael Beinhorn Soundgarden
Soundgarden singles chronology
"The Day I Tried to Live" (1994) "Black Hole Sun" (1994) "My Wave" (1994)
Music video
"Black Hole Sun" on YouTube

"Black Hole Sun" is a song by American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, the song was released in 1994 by A&M Records as the third single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown (1994). Considered to be the band's signature song, it topped the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, where it spent a total of seven weeks at number one. Despite peaking at number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, "Black Hole Sun" finished as the number-one track of 1994 for that listing. Worldwide, the single reached the top 10 in Australia, Canada, France, and Ireland, while in Iceland, it reached number one.

"Black Hole Sun" was included on Soundgarden's 1997 greatest hits album A-Sides and also appeared on the 2010 compilation album Telephantasm.

Origin and recording

"Black Hole Sun" was written by frontman Chris Cornell. In 2014, Cornell explained the song's origins to Uncut Magazine:

I wrote it in my head driving home from Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, a 35–40 minute drive from Seattle. It sparked from something a news anchor said on TV and I heard wrong. I heard 'blah blah blah black hole sun blah blah blah'. I thought that would make an amazing song title, but what would it sound like? It all came together, pretty much the whole arrangement including the guitar solo that's played beneath the riff. I spent a lot of time spinning those melodies in my head so I wouldn't forget them. I got home and whistled it into a Dictaphone. The next day I brought it into the real world, assigning a couple of key changes in the verse to make the melodies more interesting. Then I wrote the lyrics and that was similar, a stream of consciousness based on the feeling I got from the chorus and title.

Cornell said that he wrote the song in about 15 minutes. He used a Gretsch guitar to write the song, and commented, "I wrote the song thinking the band wouldn't like it—then it became the biggest hit of the summer." Cornell came up with the song while using a Leslie speaker. Guitarist Kim Thayil said that the Leslie model 16 speaker was perfect for the song as "it's very Beatlesque and has a distinctive sound. It ended up changing the song completely." Thayil said that the song "wasn't safe as milk, but it wasn't glass in someone's eye either. It was the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. Now it's the 'Dream On' of our set." The song was performed in a slightly sharp drop D tuning, similar to the tuning used on the band's first single, "Hunted Down". Drummer Matt Cameron called the song "a huge departure". Credit is due to Michael Beinhorn and Brendan O'Brien, producer and recording engineer, respectively.

Appearing on The Pods & Sods Network in July 2017, Beinhorn detailed the process of recording Superunknown and shared his reaction to first hearing "Black Hole Sun": "I think for the rest of my entire life, until I draw my last breath, I'll never ever forgot how I felt when they started playing that song. From the very first few notes, I felt like I'd been hit by a thunderbolt. I was just absolutely stunned. What in the world is this? I get goosebumps thinking about it now."

Composition

Musically, "Black Hole Sun" has been described as grunge, psychedelic rock, alternative rock, hard rock, and stoner rock. Regarding the song's lyrics, Cornell stated, "It's just sort of a surreal dreamscape, a weird, play-with-the-title kind of song." He also said that "lyrically it's probably the closest to me just playing with words for words' sake, of anything I've written. I guess it worked for a lot of people who heard it, but I have no idea how you'd begin to take that one literally." In another interview he elaborated further, stating, "It's funny because hits are usually sort of congruent, sort of an identifiable lyric idea, and that song pretty much had none. The chorus lyric is kind of beautiful and easy to remember. Other than that, I sure didn't have an understanding of it after I wrote it. I was just sucked in by the music and I was painting a picture with the lyrics. There was no real idea to get across." Commenting upon how the song was misinterpreted as being positive, Cornell said, "No one seems to get this, but 'Black Hole Sun' is sad. But because the melody is really pretty, everyone thinks it's almost chipper, which is ridiculous." When asked about the line, "Times are gone for honest men", Cornell said:

It's really difficult for a person to create their own life and their own freedom. It's going to become more and more difficult, and it's going to create more and more disillusioned people who become dishonest and angry and are willing to fuck the next guy to get what they want. There's so much stepping on the backs of other people in our profession. We've been so lucky that we've never had to do that. Part of it was because of our own tenacity, and part of it was because we were lucky.

Release and critical reception

"Black Hole Sun" was released as a single in mid-1994. It became the most successful song from Superunknown on American rock charts, and became the band's best-known song overall. It appeared on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Airplay chart, reaching the top 30. The following week it debuted on the Top 40 Mainstream, where it peaked at number nine in its eighth week and remained on the chart until its 20th week. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song spent a total of seven weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock chart. At the 1995 Grammy Awards, "Black Hole Sun" received the award for Best Hard Rock Performance and received a nomination for Best Rock Song.

Outside the United States, the single was released in Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In Canada, the song reached the top 10 on the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart. It remained in the top 10 for three weeks and became the band's highest-charting song in Canada. "Black Hole Sun" reached the UK top 20 and was the last single from the album that charted in the UK top 20; it remains the band's highest charting single in the UK. "Black Hole Sun" debuted at number 10 in Australia but quickly descended the chart; however, widespread airplay and a promotional visit to Australia stimulated a resurgence of interest in Superunknown. "Black Hole Sun" would peak at number six on the Australian Singles Chart. "Black Hole Sun" reached the top 30 in Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and was a top-10 success in France and Ireland. It topped the Icelandic Singles Chart for a week and was a moderate top-20 success in Sweden. The single has sold over three million copies worldwide.

Greg Prato of AllMusic called the song "one of the few bright spots" of mid-1994, when "the world was still reeling from Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain's suicide the previous April". He said, "The song had a psychedelic edge to it (especially evident in the verse's guitar part), as the composition shifted between sedate melodicism and gargantuan guitar riffs. The lyrics were classic Chris Cornell—lines didn't exactly make sense on paper but did within the song." Ann Powers of Blender proclaimed that "Cornell's fixation with the Beatles pays off with the hit single 'Black Hole Sun' ". James Masterton wrote in his weekly UK chart commentary, "Easily the most commercial single the US band have released to date". Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "The Beatles' techniques—fuzz-toned low chords, legato lead-guitar hooks and lumpy Ringo Starr-style drumming...are linked to Lennon-style melody in 'Black Hole Sun'." Roger Morton from NME named it "the best moment" from their album, "a melodramatic downer ballad, whose bleakness is offsett by some curious psychedelic guitar figures." J.D. Considine of Rolling Stone stated, "With its yearning, Lennonesque melody and watery, Harrison-style guitar, 'Black Hole Sun' is a wonderful exercise in Beatleisms; trouble is, it's not a very good song, offering more in the way of mood and atmosphere than melodic direction."

The solo for "Black Hole Sun", performed by Thayil, was ranked number 63 on Guitar World's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos", and number 56 on Total Guitar's list of the "100 Hottest Guitar Solos". The song was included on VH1's countdown of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s" at number 25. It was also included on VH1's countdown of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" at number 77. According to Nielsen Music's year-end report for 2019, "Black Hole Sun" was the ninth most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio with 125,000 spins. All of the songs in the top 10 were from the 1990s. In 2017, Billboard ranked the song number four on their list of the 15 greatest Soundgarden songs, and in 2021, Kerrang ranked the song number one on their list of the 20 greatest Soundgarden songs.

Music video

The surreal and apocalyptic music video for "Black Hole Sun" was directed by British video director Howard Greenhalgh, produced by Megan Hollister for Why Not Films (London, England), shot by Ivan Bartos, and features post-production work by 525 Post Production (Hollywood, California) and Soho 601 Effects (London). The video follows a suburban neighborhood and its vain inhabitants with comically exaggerated grins, which are eventually swallowed up when the Sun suddenly turns into a black hole, while the band performs the song somewhere in an open field. In the video, Cornell can be seen wearing a fork necklace given to him by Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon. In an online chat, the band stated that the video "was entirely the director's idea", and added, "Our take on it was that at that point in making videos, we just wanted to pretend to play and not look that excited about it." They said that the video was one of the few Soundgarden videos the band was satisfied with.

The video was released in June 1994. After several weeks of airplay on MTV, a second version of the video was substituted containing more elaborate visual effects than the original, including the addition of a computer-generated black hole. The music video for "Black Hole Sun" became a hit on MTV and received the award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards. In 1995, it received the Clio Award for Alternative Music Video. The video is available on the CD-ROM Alive in the Superunknown.

Accolades

* denotes an unordered list.

Track listing

All songs were written by Chris Cornell except where noted.

CD (Europe and Germany)

1. "Black Hole Sun"  – 5:18
2. "Like Suicide" (acoustic)  – 6:11
3. "Kickstand" (live) (Cornell, Kim Thayil)  – 1:58
   • Recorded live on August 20, 1993, at Jones Beach Amphitheater in Wantagh, New York

CD (Europe)

1. "Black Hole Sun"  – 5:18
2. "Jesus Christ Pose" (live) (Matt Cameron, Cornell, Ben Shepherd, Thayil)  – 7:19
   • Recorded live on August 11, 1993, at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota
3. "My Wave" (live) (Cornell, Thayil)  – 4:34
   • Recorded live on August 20, 1993, at Jones Beach Amphitheater in Wantagh, New York
4. "Spoonman" (Steve Fisk remix)  – 6:55

Box set (UK)

1. "Black Hole Sun"  – 5:18
2. "Beyond the Wheel" (live)  – 5:56
   • Recorded live on August 18, 1993, at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Canada
3. "Fell on Black Days" (live)  – 4:45
   • Recorded live on August 16, 1993, at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan
4. "Birth Ritual" (demo) (Cornell, Cameron, Thayil)  – 5:50

CD (Australia and Germany)

1. "Black Hole Sun"  – 5:18
2. "Jesus Christ Pose" (live) (Cameron, Cornell, Shepherd, Thayil)  – 7:19
3. "Beyond the Wheel" (live)  – 5:54
   • Recorded live on August 18, 1993, at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

7-inch vinyl (UK) and cassette (UK)

1. "Black Hole Sun"  – 5:18
2. "My Wave" (live) (Cornell, Thayil)  – 4:34
   • Recorded live on August 20, 1993, at Jones Beach Amphitheater in Wantagh, New York
3. "Beyond the Wheel" (live)  – 5:54
   • Recorded live on August 18, 1993, at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

7-inch vinyl (US)

1. "Black Hole Sun"  – 5:18
2. "Spoonman"  – 4:06

Personnel

Taken from the deluxe edition of Superunknown.

Soundgarden

• Chris Cornell – rhythm guitar, vocals
• Ben Shephard – bass, backing vocals
• Gregg Keplinger – drums
• Kim Thayil – lead guitar

Additional personnel

• Justine Foy – cello

Charts

Certifications

Release history

In popular culture

Black Hole Sun is on the base set list for the original Rock Band game.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock features the song in its downloadable content library, and it is a playable track in the TV mode of Guitar Hero Live.

A cover version in the style of lounge music was performed by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.