About this album Down on the Upside is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band Soundgarden, released on May 21, 1996 through A&M Records. Following a worldwide tour in support of its previous album, Superunknown (1994), Soundgarden commenced work on a new album. The music on the album was notably less heavy than the group's preceding albums and featured the band experimenting with other sounds. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned the singles "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", "Blow Up the Outside World", and "Ty Cobb". The band took a slot on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour and afterward supported the album with a worldwide tour. Down on the Upside would end up becoming Soundgarden's final studio album as tensions within the band led to its break-up in April 1997. The album has been certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States. The album's recording sessions took place from November 1995 to February 1996 at Studio Litho and Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington. Studio Litho is owned by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard. The band members made the decision to produce the album themselves. On the choice of not working with a producer, frontman Chris Cornell said that "a fifth guy is too many cooks and convolutes everything. It has to go down too many mental roads, which dilutes it." Adam Kasper, who previously had worked with Soundgarden as an assistant engineer on Superunknown, worked with the band as