Badmotorfinger

Soundgarden’s third album wasn’t their commercial peak, but it was their masterpiece. It came sprinting out of the gate, and the first four tracks (“Rusty Cage,” “Outshined,” “Slaves & Bulldozers,” and “Jesus Christ Pose”) were some of the most brilliant art-metal of the ’90s. New bassist Ben Shepherd had a massive, thwacking-cables-with-a-mallet sound, and locked in with drummer Matt Cameron to become one of the decade’s heaviest rhythm sections, always recognizing that suppleness was as crucial to Heavy as mere sonic impact. Up front, Kim Thayil’s post-Sabbath riffs and Chris Cornell’s wailing vocals (which showed how to deploy a full-throated scream with subtlety) rescued hard rock from Sunset Strip pantomime and classic rock limbo, making it a valid present-day art form.