The first single from "Badmotorfinger", "Jesus Christ Pose", got negative attention when MTV banned its music video in 1991. Many listeners were outraged by the song and its video, calling it anti-Christian. The band received death threats while on tour in the United Kingdom in support of the album. "Badmotorfinger" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1992.
After a tour of North America in 1991, the band opened for Guns N' Roses in North America on the band's "Use Your Illusion Tour". After several tours to promote the album, they rejoined Guns N' Roses in the summer of 1992 in Europe as part of the Use Your Illusion Tour with another opening act, Faith No More. The band took part in the 1992 Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Ministry.
The band later released a video compilation "Motorvision". It was made in 1992 at the Paramount Theatre. Also that year, they appeared in the movie "Singles". They were show performing "Birth Ritual". The song appeared on the soundtrack, as did a Chris Cornell solo song, "Seasons".
Soundgarden released "Superunknown" in 1994. It became the band's best-selling album, partly because of the popular singles "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman", "My Wave", and "Fell on Black Days". Upon its release in March 1994, "Superunknown" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 album chart.
The lyrics of the songs were dark and sad; much of them seem to be talking about substance abuse, suicide, and depression. Reviewer J.D. Considine of "Rolling Stone" said "Superunknown" "demonstrates far greater range than many bands manage in an entire career." He also stated, "At its best, "Superunknown" offers a more harrowing depiction of alienation and despair than anything on "In Utero"."
The music video for "Black Hole Sun" received the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Rock Video|Best Metal/Hard Rock Video" award in 1994. Soundgarden won two Grammy Awards in 1995; "Black Hole Sun" received the award for Best Hard Rock Performance and "Spoonman" received the award for Best Metal Performance.
After a worldwide tour to promote "Superunknown", the band members began working on what would become their last studio album for more than 15 years. It was released in 1996. Four singles were released from the album: "Pretty Noose", "Blow Up the Outside World", "Burden in My Hand", and "Ty Cobb".
The music was less heavy metal and grunge sounding than the group's previous albums. The band members said that they wanted to experiment with other sounds. In a review, David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" said, "Few bands since Led Zeppelin have so crisply mixed instruments both acoustic and electric." However, the writing and recording of the album was stressful for the group. Thayil and Cornell seemed to not agree on a change from the heavy guitar riffs that had become the band's trademark. The album got favorable reviews, but did not sell as well as "Superunknown".
The band played on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour with Metallica, who had asked for them to appear. After Lollapalooza, the band left for a world tour. Tensions continued to increase during the tour. When asked if the band hated touring, Cornell said, "We really enjoy it to a point and then it gets tedious, because it becomes repetitious. You feel like fans have paid their money and they expect you to come out and play them your songs like the first time you ever played them. That's the point where we hate touring." At the tour's final stop in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 9, 1997, Shepherd threw his bass guitar into the air in frustration after his equipment failed. He then stormed off the stage. The band then also left the stage, but Cornell returned to play a solo as an encore.
On April 9, 1997, the band announced they were breaking up. Thayil said, "It was pretty obvious from everybody's general attitude over the course of the previous half year that there was some dissatisfaction." A best-of album named "A-Sides", was released in November 1997 through A&M Records.
After almost 13 years, on January 1, 2010, Chris Cornell wrote on his Twitter, "The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!" The message linked to a website for fans to enter their e-mail addresses to get updates on the reunion.
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges is the seventh book in both the Christian Bible (Old Testament), and the Hebrew Tanakh. It was originally written in Hebrew, to the people in Israel. The Hebrew word for the book is "Shaptiym", which means, 'people of judgment.'
The book contains the stories of many "judges" who were leaders who typically led the people in battle and then served as a civil leader. While not kings, these men were respected and they sometimes decided cases. That is why they were called Judges. One of the Judges was Samson who was a very strong man. He fought against the Philistines. After his girl friend, Delilah, tricked him by cutting his hair, he was made a slave. At his death, he destroyed many enemies by pulling down a building on them. Gideon was another famous judge. He defeated an army of Midianites with only 300 men. Another famous judge was Deborah, possible the most powerful woman in the Bible. She was a military, civil and religious leader.
In the book, there is a pattern which repeats. The people turn from God, and he allows their enemies to harm them. Then they pray to God. He sends them a new judge. This judge helps the people and defeats their enemies. The people are happy for a time, but soon they again turn from God. The cycle repeats itself.
Black people
Black people is a term that is used for a racial group of people with a dark skin color. The meaning of the word is mainly used for people of Sub-Saharan African descent, but also includes certain groups in Oceania and Southeast Asia.
Black people in the United States are called "African Americans". Before 1860, many Africans were brought to the United States in the European slave trade by white people. Later, other Africans came out of their free will. Discrimination against African Americans is a big problem. Black Lives Matter is a movement fighting against racism.
In 2010, the cities with the largest numbers of African Americans were Detroit (670,000 black inhabitants) and Memphis (607,000 black inhabitants).
In 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American president of the United States. In 2021, Kamala Harris became the first African American to be the Vice President of the United States.
Some blacks in the United States are Hispanic, Caribbean or African because of immigration. Most recent African immigrants are refugees from East Africa such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia etc. or high-skilled immigrants from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.
Most non-Hispanic blacks in the United States live in the South. States with a large black population are Texas, Georgia, Florida, New York, North Carolina, California, Maryland, Illinois, Virginia and Louisiana.
White men who were Spanish colonizers shipped African slaves to Latin American countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Cuba, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic because of the decline of Native Americans from smallpox and disease. Native Americans were initially slaves but white Europeans turned to Africans because of the mass decline of the Native American population. Many Mestizos and Hispanics have African DNA from the slave trade because of the race mixing with white people, African slaves and Native Americans. Many African ex-slaves in Latin America are mixed race and have Native American and Spanish ancestry. Racial whitening was a policy in Brazil to turn African slaves white in the future and to improve the uncivilized, undesirable African race. "Mestizaje" in Latin America by the Spanish was similar to the racial whitening that happened in Brazil.