Jesus Christ Pose

Soundgarden, 1991, from Badmotorfinger. Solo by Kim Thayil.

Less a solo than a sustained howl of noise and feedback, riding Matt Cameron's relentless drumming.

Jesus Christ Pose is less a guitar solo than a sustained howl, and that is exactly why it belongs here. Over Matt Cameron's relentless, pounding drums, Kim Thayil wrings long streams of noise and feedback from his Guild S-100, letting the sound squeal, swell and smear instead of shaping conventional phrases. The guitar becomes pure texture and pressure, a siren wailing over the rhythm section. It showed how far Soundgarden were willing to push heavy rock away from tidy virtuosity toward something closer to noise rock and the avant-garde. Listen for the way the feedback pitches shift as the notes ring on, and how Thayil rides those changes rather than fighting them.

Jesus Christ Pose by Soundgarden is featured in our Grunge (#19) list. The solo is played by Kim Thayil and the song was released in 1991.

In our lists

• The 25 Greatest Grunge Guitar Solos — #19
• The Best Chris Cornell Guitar Solos — #6
• The Best Soundgarden Guitar Solos — #2

Sources