Editing Down on the Upside (section)

==Music and lyrics==
{{listen
 | filename     = Burden In My Hand (Soundgarden song - sample).ogg
 | title        = "Burden in My Hand"
 | description  = Among the album's many sonic experiments is the single "Burden in My Hand", which bears a "blues-tinged, country twang".<ref name="LATimes"/>
 | format       = [[Ogg]]
}}
''Down on the Upside'' continues the band's musical development away from [[Alternative metal|alt-metal]] to a more experimental sound, described as [[alternative rock]] and [[grunge]].<ref name="Goldmine">{{Cite web |last=Popoff |first=Martin |date=2024-06-01 |title=Top 20 Grunge albums, ranked |url=https://www.goldminemag.com/music-history/top-20-grunge-albums-ranked |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=[[Goldmine (magazine)|Goldmine]] |language=en}}</ref> The album's songs placed emphasis on vocals and melody over the heavy guitar riffs that were found on the band's earlier LPs.<ref name="drama"/><ref name="soundoff">"Soundgarden Sound Off". ''[[Melody Maker]]''. March 23, 1996.</ref> It also features a rawer sound than Soundgarden's previous album ''Superunknown'', as the band members produced the record themselves.<ref name="painting">Clay, Jennifer. "Soundgarden: Painting Beautiful Pictures". ''[[RIP (magazine)|RIP]]''. June 1996.</ref> Cornell summed up the changes by saying: "What we've lost in sonic precision we've gained so much in terms of feeling."<ref name="real">Rubin, Mike. "The Real Thing". ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' (July 1996).</ref> [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] of [[AllMusic]] said Soundgarden "retained their ambitious song structures, [[Neo-psychedelia|neo-psychedelic]] guitar textures, and winding melodies but haven't dressed them up with detailed production."<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web|title=''Down on the Upside''|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r234854|pure_url=yes}}|website=[[Allmusic]]|author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas|access-date=March 21, 2009}}</ref> The songs vary in tempo throughout the course of the album, with Thayil describing the album as having a "dual nature".<ref name="rave">"Soundgarden: The Garden of Earthly Delights". ''Rave''. May 15, 1996.</ref> He stated, "It keeps listeners on their toes and lets them know they're not getting the same album over and over."<ref name="rave"/> Shepherd called the album "the most accurate picture of what Soundgarden actually sounds like", stating: "It's way more raw. It's way more honest. It's way more 'responsible.'"<ref name="painting"/>

The band stated at the time that it wanted to experiment with other sounds,<ref>Turman, Katherine. "Soundgarden: Seattle's Sonic Boom". ''Hypno''. 1996.</ref> which included Shepherd and Cornell playing [[mandolin]] and [[mandola]] in the song "Ty Cobb".<ref name="soundoff"/> This experimentation can be heard to a lesser degree on ''Superunknown''. Soundgarden used [[Guitar tunings#Alternative|alternative tunings]] and odd [[time signature]]s on several of the album's songs. For example, "Never the Machine Forever" uses a time signature of 9/8.<ref>"Seattle Supersonic: The Screaming Life & Odd Times of Soundgarden's Kim Thayil". ''[[Guitar Player]]''. July 1996.</ref> "Pretty Noose" and "Burden in My Hand" were written in [[Open C tuning|C-G-C-G-G-E]] tuning.<ref>Leonard, Michael. "Unknown Pleasures". ''The Guitar Magazine''. December 1996.</ref>

The overall mood of the album's lyrics is not as dark as on previous Soundgarden albums.<ref name="True">True, Everett. "Soundgarden". ''[[Melody Maker]]''. May 25, 1996.</ref> Cornell even admitted "Dusty" was "pretty positive for a Soundgarden song", describing it as an opposite to the previous album's "[[Fell On Black Days]]".<ref name=cmj>Lanham, Tom. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HS0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT21 "Soundgarden: Overaware"]. ''CMJ New Music Monthly'', July 1996</ref> According to Cornell, "Pretty Noose" is about "an attractively packaged bad idea",<ref>[http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1427523/19960412/cornell_chris.jhtml "Soundgarden Returns"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829194233/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1427523/19960412/cornell_chris.jhtml |date=August 29, 2008 }}. [[MTV]].com. April 12, 1996.</ref> and "Ty Cobb" is about a "hardcore pissed-off idiot".<ref name="questiontime">"Gardener's Question Time". ''[[Kerrang!]]''. March 1, 1997.</ref> Cornell said the songs "Never Named" and "Boot Camp" are based on his childhood.<ref name="painting"/> Thayil said the lyrics for "Never the Machine Forever" are about "a life-and-death match between an individual and a less specifically defined entity".<ref name="drama"/> Cornell referred to "Overfloater" as "self-affirming".<ref name="True"/>