Blow Up the Outside World is a song by Soundgarden, written by frontman Chris Cornell, It was released on November 18, 1996, as the third single from the band’s fifth studio album, Down on the Upside (1996). The song topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it spent a total of four weeks at number one. The song was included on Soundgarden’s 1997 greatest hits album, A-Sides.
Blow Up the Outside World was released as a single in 1996 with a previously unreleased B-side titled A Splice of Space Jam. The cover art is taken from a series of photographs by Catherine Chalmers featuring a tomato being eaten by caterpillars, which at one point were considered for use for the Down on the Upside cover.
Tracklist:
- Blow Up the Outside World
- Dusty (Moby mix) (Cornell, Shepherd)
The music video for Blow Up the Outside World was directed by Devo bassist Gerald Casale. The video was filmed at Occidental Studios in Los Angeles, California. The video features Cornell being tied down to a chair in a position similar to Alex DeLarge from the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange and forced to watch a film parodying the montage from the 1974 film The Parallax View while being watched by scientists. It also features the band performing the song in a room which is eventually blown up. The video was released in October 1996.
Soundgarden
Chris Cornell: lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Kim Thayil: lead guitar
Ben Shepherd: bass guitar
Matt Cameron: drums, percussion
Chris Cornell (July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017)