Telephantasm

Telephantasm
Greatest hits album by Soundgarden
Released	September 28, 2010 (2010-09-28)
Recorded	1987–2010
Genre	Alternative metal grunge alternative rock heavy metal
Length	59:40 (standard edition) 114:10 (deluxe edition)
Label	A&M Interscope
Producer	Michael Beinhorn Drew Canulette Terry Date Jack Endino Adam Kasper Soundgarden
Soundgarden chronology
A-Sides (1997) Telephantasm (2010) Live on I-5 (2011)
Singles from Telephantasm
"Black Rain" Released: August 17, 2010 "The Telephantasm" Released: November 26, 2010

Telephantasm is a compilation album by the American rock band Soundgarden. Featuring songs that span 23 years of the band's career, it was released on September 28, 2010, through A&M Records. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA after its first day of retail availability based on the one million discs that were included in packages for the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.^[1]

Overview

The album was released in September 2010 on A&M Records following the band's reunion earlier that year. The career-spanning retrospective album includes an unreleased track, "Black Rain", taken from the Badmotorfinger recording sessions. In late August 2010, "Black Rain" reached No. 44 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No. 96 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "Black Rain" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Rock Songs chart.

Kim Thayil explained the title Telephantasm as "an illusion at a distance, or a ghost from afar. Which I think would be an appropriate reference to what we have here — a retrospective of a band that had been inactive for thirteen years." He added that the album emerged from a project to do a "B-Sides" compilation following the 1997 greatest hits album A-Sides, but the band decided to include some more known songs because "we need to re-establish ourselves with the rock and roll audience out there, the younger audience".^[2]

The 1-CD version of the album is featured in the music video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, with "Black Rain" available on the disc, and the remaining eleven tracks available as downloadable content alongside release of the game.

The 2-CD/DVD limited edition package includes a booklet containing a biography of Soundgarden written by Jeff Gilbert, a message from Kim Thayil and content credits.

The album features artwork by Josh Graham, who handles the visual arts for Neurosis, as well as artwork for other artists.^[3]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Chris Cornell, except where noted.

Single-disc version

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Hunted Down" (Screaming Life EP, 1987)	Kim Thayil	2:41
2.	"Hands All Over" (Louder Than Love, 1989)	Thayil	5:58
3.	"Outshined" (Badmotorfinger, 1991)		5:11
4.	"Rusty Cage" (Badmotorfinger)		4:25
5.	"Birth Ritual" (Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1992)	Cornell, Thayil, Matt Cameron	6:05
6.	"My Wave" (Superunknown, 1994)	Cornell, Thayil	5:13
7.	"Spoonman" (Superunknown)		4:08
8.	"Black Hole Sun" (Superunknown)		5:19
9.	"Fell on Black Days" (Superunknown)		4:39
10.	"Burden in My Hand" (Down on the Upside, 1996)		4:50
11.	"Blow Up the Outside World" (Down on the Upside)		5:46
12.	"Black Rain" (Previously unreleased, 2010)	Thayil, Ben Shepherd	5:25
Total length:			59:40

Deluxe edition

Disc one

No.	Title	Music	Place of Origin	Length
1.	"All Your Lies" ('86 version)	Thayil, Hiro Yamamoto	Deep Six, 1986	3:52
2.	"Hunted Down"	Thayil	Screaming Life EP	2:41
3.	"Fopp"	Billy Beck, Leroy Bonner, Marshall Jones, Ralph Middlebrooks, Mervin Pierce, Clarence Satchell, James Williams (all credited for both music and lyrics)	Fopp, 1988	3:38
4.	"Beyond the Wheel"		Ultramega OK, 1988 (U.S.)/1989 (UK)	4:23
5.	"Flower" (BBC session for John Peel at the Golders Green Hippodrome, Golders Green, London, England, May 14, 1989)	Thayil	Originally from Ultramega OK	3:28
6.	"Hands All Over"	Thayil	Louder Than Love	5:58
7.	"Big Dumb Sex"		Louder Than Love	4:11
8.	"Get on the Snake" (Live at the Whiskey A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA)	Thayil	Louder Than Live	3:30
9.	"Room a Thousand Years Wide" (Single version)	Cameron; lyrics by Thayil	Badmotorfinger	4:14
10.	"Rusty Cage"		Badmotorfinger	4:27
11.	"Outshined"		Badmotorfinger	5:11
12.	"Slaves & Bulldozers"	Cornell, Shepherd	Badmotorfinger	6:58
Total length:				52:31

Disc two

No.	Title	Music	Place of Origin	Length
1.	"Jesus Christ Pose" (Live)	Cameron, Cornell, Shepherd, Thayil	"Black Hole Sun" single B-side, 1994; originally from Badmotorfinger	7:13
2.	"Birth Ritual"	Cornell, Cameron, Thayil	Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	6:04
3.	"My Wave"	Cornell, Thayil	Superunknown	5:15
4.	"Superunknown"	Cornell, Thayil	Superunknown	5:09
5.	"Spoonman"		Superunknown	4:07
6.	"Black Hole Sun"		Superunknown	5:20
7.	"Fell on Black Days" (Video version)		Originally from Superunknown	4:46
8.	"Burden in My Hand"		Down on the Upside	4:49
9.	"Dusty"	Shepherd	Down on the Upside	4:36
10.	"Pretty Noose" (Live on Saturday Night Live May 18, 1996)		Originally from Down on the Upside	4:25
11.	"Blow Up the Outside World" (MTV Live 'N' Loud)		Originally from Down on the Upside	5:32
12.	"Black Rain"	Thayil, Shepherd	Previously unreleased	5:26
13.	"The Telephantasm" (iTunes full album download-only bonus track)	Thayil (also does lyrics)	Previously unreleased	2:57
Total length:				65:39

DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Flower"
2.	"Hands All Over"
3.	"Loud Love"
4.	"Jesus Christ Pose" (Original version)
5.	"Outshined"
6.	"Rusty Cage"
7.	"My Wave"
8.	"Spoonman"
9.	"The Day I Tried to Live" (Uncensored)
10.	"Black Hole Sun"
11.	"Fell on Black Days"
12.	"Pretty Noose" (Uncensored)
13.	"Burden in My Hand"
14.	"Blow Up the Outside World" (Uncensored)

Bonus videos

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Spoonman" (Mash-up version)
2.	"The Day I Tried to Live" (European version)
3.	"Superunknown"
4.	"Pretty Noose" (International version)
5.	"Pretty Noose" (Alternate ending)
6.	"Blow Up the Outside World" (Censored)

Personnel

Soundgarden

• Chris Cornell – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Kim Thayil – lead guitar
• Ben Shepherd – bass on tracks 3–12 (Single Disc), tracks 9–12 on CD1, and tracks 1–12 on CD2 (Deluxe Edition)
• Matt Cameron – drums
• Hiro Yamamoto – bass on tracks 1–2 (Single Disc) and tracks 1–7 on CD1 (Deluxe Edition)
• Jason Everman – bass on track 8 on CD1 (Deluxe Edition)
• Scott Sundquist – drums on track 1 on CD1 (Deluxe Edition)

Charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[4]	20
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[5]	96
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[6]	76
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[7]	15
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[8]	97
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[9]	73
Greek Albums (IFPI)[10]	11
Irish Albums (IRMA)[11]	65
Italian Albums (FIMI)[12]	48
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[13]	12
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[14]	35
Scottish Albums (OCC)[15]	83
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[16]	66
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17]	94
UK Albums (OCC)[18]	83
US Billboard 200[19]	24
US Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[20]	2
US Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[21]	5
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[22]	7

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[23]	Platinum	1,000,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "THE L.A. TIMES MUSIC BLOG". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
2. Prato, Greg. Kim Thayil Tells Stories of Soundgarden's Best Songs. Rolling Stone
3. "Josh Graham's official site". Suspendedinlight.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
4. "Australiancharts.com – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
5. "Ultratop.be – Soundgarden – Telephantasm" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
6. "Ultratop.be – Soundgarden – Telephantasm" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
7. "Soundgarden – Chart history – Billboard Canadian Albums". Billboard. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
8. "Dutchcharts.nl – Soundgarden – Telephantasm" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
9. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
10. "Greekcharts.com – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
11. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Soundgarden". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
12. "Italiancharts.com – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
13. "Charts.nz – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
14. "Norwegiancharts.com – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
15. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
16. "Spanishcharts.com – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
17. "Swisscharts.com – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
18. "Soundgarden | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
19. "Soundgarden Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
20. "Soundgarden – Chart history – Billboard Hard Rock Albums". Billboard. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
21. "Soundgarden – Chart history – Billboard Vinyl Albums". Billboard. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
22. "Soundgarden – Chart history – Billboard Top Rock Albums". Billboard. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
23. "American album certifications – Soundgarden – Telephantasm". Recording Industry Association of America.