This direction proves to be ephemeral, though, when we start hearing non-diatonic chords (i.e., chords that don’t live in our assumed key center), like the E minor in the fourth bar. However, when the melodic guitar enters on top with a Bb note sliding up, the ambiguity dissipates and we’re steered toward a clear key center: G minor. It makes sense, in a way, that Cornell would choose an abstruse musical gesture to kick off the song, as it foreshadows what’s to come. It’s a suspended (“sus”) chord because instead of a Major or minor 3rd, we hear a “perfect 4th” - which produces an unresolved, unstable sound. The first thing we hear is an arpeggiated Gsus chord - an ambiguous combination of notes that doesn’t clearly orient us in a specific key center. We can hear it from the start of the song, in the opening guitar arpeggios and melody. One way to think of it is that he used a novel “quasi-functional” harmonic system. Part of the magic of “Black Hole Sun” comes from the way songwriter Cornell straddled the line between functional and non-functional harmony. It’s a like a painter who chooses their color palette not based not on how useful each color is in painting a specific image, but because the colors evoke a particular set of emotions. The composer might choose a chord because it evokes a certain feeling in that moment, and they may not care about spinning an exact musical narrative. In this type of harmonic system, each chord the composer selects is not the “ result” of what came before it. Unrelated chords can come and go, and the music sounds coherent so long as the harmony doesn’t clash with the melody. In contrast, non-functional harmony employs chord progressions that don’t point in any particular direction, so we have no framework of expectations as to what’s going to happen next. It’s like how we might experience a plot twist in a story. But after a ii-V setup, if we hear something else other than the I chord - like, say, another cascaded ii-V turnaround, preparing an unpredicted resolution along a new harmonic axis - it could be a delightful surprise as the composer has subverted our expectations. And when the I chord lands, there’s something aurally reassuring because it satisfies our expectations as listeners. For example, the ii-V chord movement we hear in so many jazz standards points to the tonic (I) chord with some air of predictability. Functional harmony does this using chords that have pre-assigned roles to play, and there’s some expectation as to the direction that the harmony will follow. In short: Most Western/European-based music feels coherent insofar as it moves between moments of tension and release. In previous In Theory articles, we’ve explored functional versus non-functional harmony. Let’s examine the inner workings of “Black Hole Sun” by diving headlong into its inescapable pull. In creating the song, Soundgarden took the notion of a power ballad and twisted it into a psychedelic trip that defies categorization, compositionally and stylistically. The phrase “black hole sun” represents a kind of contradiction of ideas, so it’s only fitting that a song wearing that title should involve impenetrable melodies and chords, which in turn invite a range of incongruous emotions in the listener. An enduring symbol of singer Chris Cornell’s ingenious songwriting, it’s enigmatic, foreboding, triumphant, and intoxicating - all at the same time. Soundgarden collected two Grammys from the album, one for the superb rocker “Spoonman,” and the other for the haunting classic “Black Hole Sun.” The latter is probably Soundgarden’s best known song. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, edging out Nine Inch Nails’ landmark album The Downward Spiral (released the same day), and it went on to sell nearly 10 million units. Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the release of Soundgarden’s blockbuster album Superunknown.
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