A-Sides

Overview

Guitarist Kim Thayil said the tracklist for A-Sides came from each band member making their own list of what they thought a best-of should include, and then those lists were compared. The group felt that titles like "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits" were too subjective, since a fan could make their own personal collection with that name, and these songs weren't necessarily their own favorites. Instead, they picked A-Sides to highlight that these were the A-side singles from their original run. The first song, "Nothing to Say," started as a B-side on their debut Sub Pop single "Hunted Down" from 1987.

Thayil noted it was included because it was the first Soundgarden track to catch a label's attention, appearing on a compilation called Bands That Will Make Money. The album contains one track not on any previous album, "Bleed Together," which was on import versions of the "Burden in My Hand" single. Also, "Get on the Snake" from Louder Than Love came out as a promo-only single in 1989. Missing from A-Sides are the 1990 Sub Pop single "Room a Thousand Years Wide" and the 1994 single "My Wave" from Superunknown.

Released in 1997 on A&M Records, this was Soundgarden's last official release for 13 years, until Telephantasm in 2010. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 63, peaked at number 51 on the UK Albums Chart, number 39 in Australia, and number 6 in New Zealand. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four and a half stars, calling Soundgarden a surprisingly effective singles band whose singles captured their best ideas from early Sub Pop sludge to the post-metal psychedelia of Superunknown and Down on the Upside, making A-Sides a strong career overview. Entertainment Weekly's David Browne gave it an A, saying it prunes their best early songwriting like "Hands All Over" and "Nothing to Say" and wisely highlights chunks of their last two albums, presenting the band in its evolving, thunderous glory.