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Cover of Down on the Upside by Soundgarden
Cover: Down on the Upside

Song · Soundgarden

“Blow Up the Outside World” by Soundgarden

From the album Down on the Upside (1996)

“Blow Up the Outside World” by Soundgarden appears on 34 radio countdowns from 19 stations between 1996 and 2024. It was first released in 1996 on the album Down on the Upside. Its best result is #34 on the Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1996. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #78 alternative song of 1996 and #1,463 alternative song of all time.

34countdowns
19stations
#34best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1996–2024years charted

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Soundgarden - Blow Up The Outside World

Video from YouTube (SoundgardenVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Blow Up the Outside World" comes off Soundgarden's fifth album, Down on the Upside, from 1996, and it's Chris Cornell at his most bleakly beautiful. He wrote it in Toronto, by his own admission in rough shape at the time, and the song sounds it, heavy-lidded and weary one moment, ready to bring the roof down the next. The band produced it with Adam Kasper, who also engineered and helped mix.

Kim Thayil's solo is a blues-type thing he was never quite happy with; he thought it came out stiff, missing his trademark finger vibrato, but everyone else loved it and he let it stand. Issued as the album's third single, it spent four weeks at number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and landed on the 1997 hits collection A-Sides.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1996 65 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1996 107
1996 48 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1996 91
1996 34 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1996 101
1996 76 107.7 The End Seattle, WA The End Top 107 Songs of 1996 107
1996 90 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 96 Songs of 1996 96
1997 76 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) WEQX Top 102.7 of 1997 103
1997 90 105.7 The Point St. Louis, MO 105.7 The Point Top 105.7 of 1997 106
1997 75 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 97 Songs of 1997 97
1997 38 WRCX Rock 103.5 Chicago, IL WRCX Top 103 Songs of 1997 103

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1996 988 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) 1000
1998 455 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) 1000
1999 313 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 484 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 409 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 285 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 654 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
1999 472 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) 998
2002 457 KISW KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) 999
2002 223 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2004 228 107.7 The End The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) 500
2004 40 WBCN WBCN Grunge Top 104 (2004) 104
2005 324 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2014 278 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) 500
2014 926 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) 1000
2015 303 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2015) 500
2016 936 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 1007
2019 377 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019) 500
2020 356 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) 420
2021 819 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2021 263 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) 420
2022 263 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) 420
2023 269 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) 420
2023 396 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2023) 500
2024 385 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2024) 400

Also listed as: Blow Up The Outside World; Blow up the Outside World.

Charting alongside it in 1996

Best songs of 1996 →
  1. 1Down311
  2. 2PepperButthole Surfers
  3. 3Where It's AtBeck
  4. 4SpiderwebsNo Doubt
  5. 5What I GotSublime
  6. 6MachineheadBush

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