My Wave

"My Wave"
Single by Soundgarden
from the album Superunknown
B-side	"Spoonman" (Steve Fisk remix) / "Birth Ritual" (demo) / "My Wave" (live)
Released	1994
Format	CD single
Recorded	July–September 1993 at Bad Animals Studio, Seattle, Washington
Genre	Grunge, psychedelic rock
Length	5:12
Label	A&M
Writer(s)	Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil
Producer	Michael Beinhorn, Soundgarden
Soundgarden singles chronology
"Black Hole Sun" (1994) "My Wave" (1994) "Fell on Black Days" (1994)
Superunknown track listing "Let Me Drown" (Track 1) "My Wave" (Track 2) "Fell on Black Days" (Track 3)

"My Wave" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Featuring lyrics written by frontman Chris Cornell and music co-written by Cornell and guitarist Kim Thayil, "My Wave" was released in 1994 as the fourth single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown (1994). The song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Composition

"My Wave" features lyrics written by frontman Chris Cornell and music co-written by Cornell and guitarist Kim Thayil. The tuning, as with many Soundgarden songs is unorthodox—E-E-B-B-B-B.^[1] The song regularly interchanges the keys of E minor and B Mixolydian.^[1] The song also features the use of a bass wah pedal by Ben Shepherd. "My Wave" as a musical piece is very typical of Soundgarden's style. Predominantly in 5/4, a particularly irregular time signature for rock music, the song changes, intersperses and juxtaposes time signatures freely. The effect created is both authoritatively erratic and characteristic of the band, even classically so. Guitarist Kim Thayil has said that Soundgarden usually did not consider the time signature of a song until after the band had written it, and said that the use of odd meters was "a total accident."^[1]

Release and reception

"My Wave" peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 18 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Outside the United States, the single was released commercially in Australia. In Canada, the song reached the top 70 on the Canadian Singles Chart.

Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "Amid its warring left- and right-channel guitars, "My Wave" includes a drum break harking back to Abbey Road."^[2]

"My Wave" appeared in the trailer for the 1994 film, The Endless Summer II. The song is featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film, Riding Giants. It later appeared in a 2007 advertisement for the sixth season of the popular television series, 24.

Music video

The music video for "My Wave" was co-directed by Henry Shepherd (bassist Ben Shepherd's brother), who would later direct the international version of the music video for "Pretty Noose", and Doug Pray.^[3][4] The video largely consists of performance footage of the band filmed in Calgary, Alberta on August 11, 1994 at Max Bell Arena. It also features scenes of a child riding his bicycle around a city. The video was released in October 1994.^[4] MTV decided not to put the video into its rotation.^[3] It is available on the CD-ROM Alive in the Superunknown.

Live performances

Live performances of "My Wave" can be found on the "Black Hole Sun", "My Wave", and "Fell on Black Days" singles.

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil, except where noted:

Promotional CD (US)

1. "My Wave" – 5:12

CD (Australia)

1. "My Wave" – 5:12
2. "Spoonman" (Steve Fisk remix) (Cornell) – 6:55
3. "Birth Ritual" (demo) (Cornell, Matt Cameron, Thayil) – 5:50
4. "My Wave" (live) – 4:34
   • Recorded live on August 20, 1993 at Jones Beach Amphitheater in Wantagh, New York.

Chart positions

Chart (1994)	Position
US Mainstream Rock Tracks[5]	11
US Modern Rock Tracks[5]	18
Australian Singles Chart[6]	50
Canadian RPM Singles Chart[7]	66
Chart (1995)	Position
New Zealand Singles Chart[8]	46

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Rotondi, James. "Alone in the Superunknown." Guitar Player. June 1994.
2. ^ Pareles, Jon. "RECORDINGS VIEW; Lightening Up On the Gloom In Grunge". The New York Times. March 6, 1994. Retrieved on March 23, 2008.
3. ^ ^{a b} Cross, Charles R. "Soundgarden: The Home Team Wins the World Series". The Rocket. December 21, 1994.
4. ^ ^{a b} "Soundgarden music videos". Music Video Database. http://www.mvdbase.com/artist.php?last=Soundgarden&first=&sortord=1=. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Soundgarden Artist Chart History". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=5719&model.vnuAlbumId=185189. Retrieved 2007-12-08. 
6. ^ "Soundgarden - My Wave". Australian-charts.com. http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Soundgarden&titel=My+Wave&cat=s. Retrieved 2007-12-08. 
7. ^ "Top Singles - Volume 60, No. 20, December 05 1994". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.2676&volume=60&issue=20&issue_dt=December%2005%201994&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=sf15modmffbbtk0gn0nt48er65. Retrieved 2008-03-07. 
8. ^ "Soundgarden". New Zealand-charts.com. http://charts.org.nz/search.asp?search=Soundgarden&cat=s. Retrieved 2007-07-17.