"Flower" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

. Featuring lyrics written by frontman

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell ( Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the primary lyricist for the rock music, rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a ...

and music written by guitarist

Kim Thayil Kim Anand Thayil (born September 4, 1960)Kim Thayil Biography
Unofficial SG Homepage.

, "Flower" was released in May 1989 as the only single from their debut album, ''

Ultramega OK ''Ultramega OK'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on October 31, 1988, by SST Records. Following the release of the EPs ''Screaming Life'' (1987) and '' Fopp'' (1988), both for the Sub Pop record label, Soundg ...

'' (1988). The song was included on Soundgarden's 1997 greatest hits album, ''

A-Sides ''A-Sides'' is a compilation album by the American rock band Soundgarden with songs spanning the band's thirteen-year career. It was released on November 4, 1997, through A&M Records. Overview Guitarist Kim Thayil said the song list emerged ou ...

''. An alternate

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

version of "Flower" recorded on May 14, 1989, appeared on the Deluxe Edition of the band's 2010 compilation album ''

Telephantasm ''Telephantasm'' is a compilation album by the American Rock music, 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 th ...

''.

Origin and recording

"Flower" features lyrics written by frontman

and music written by guitarist

Kim Thayil Kim Anand Thayil (born September 4, 1960)Kim Thayil Biography
Unofficial SG Homepage.

. Thayil on the song:

This song marks the first time I ever blew on a guitar. I put the guitar down on the ground near the amp to get a humming feedback, as opposed to a squealy one, and blew across the strings in rhythm with the drums. There's probably some obscure Mississippi blues guitarist like 'Blind Lemon Pledge' who's done that before, but "Flower" is the first time any rock band had recorded the sound of someone blowing across the strings. It sounds like a sitar.Gilbert, Jeff
"Primecuts: Kim Thayil"
. ''Guitar School''. May 1994.

Composition

Thayil stated, "On the song "Flower" from ''Ultramega OK'', loads of people asked me how I played that so fast—they think I'm playing all these wild barre chords. It's just tuning the bottom E down to D!"

Lyrics

Regarding "Flower", Cornell said "it's about a girl ... who becomes a woman and basically invests everything in vanity and then burns out quick."

Release and reception

"Flower" was released as a single in May 1989 with a previously unreleased

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

titled "Toy Box". The B-side "Head Injury" can be found on the ''Ultramega OK'' album. "Toy Box" was recorded during the sessions for their first EP, ''

Screaming Life ''Screaming Life'' is the debut EP by American Rock music, rock band Soundgarden, released in November 1987 by Sub Pop. It was later combined with the band's next EP, ''Fopp (EP), Fopp'' (1988), and released as the ''Screaming Life/Fopp'' compil ...

''. "Flower" was the only single released from ''Ultramega OK''. The cover photo of the single was taken by Charles Peterson, a noted photographer of the early Seattle music scene. An alternate

version of "Flower" was recorded on May 14, 1989 for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

at the

Hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...

Golders Green Golders Green is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet in north London, northwest of Charing Cross. It began as a medieval small suburban linear settlement near a farm and public grazing area green, and dates to the early 19th century. It ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and appears on the Deluxe Edition of the band's 2010 compilation album ''

''.

Music video

Released in late 1988, the

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

music video for "Flower", directed by

Mark Miremont Mark Miremont is an American artist who works in photography, experimental film, music video and aphoristic writing. Early life and education Mark Miremont was born in Madrid, Spain and studied philosophy at UCLA & Harvard. His first experim ...

, features the band performing the song amid scenes of the band members wandering around a city. As Soundgarden's first music video, the video was put into rotation on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's underground alternative music show, ''

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the Alternative rock, alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After it ...

'', and subsequently helped the burgeoning Seattle

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

scene gain attention and exposure to a somewhat mainstream audience. The video uses the alternate BBC version of the song.

Track listing

#"Flower" (

;

Kim Thayil Kim Anand Thayil (born September 4, 1960)Kim Thayil Biography
Unofficial SG Homepage.

) – 3:25 #"Head Injury" (Cornell) – 2:22 #"Toy Box" (

Hiro Yamamoto Hiro D. Yamamoto (born April 13, 1961) is a Japanese-American bassist who was a founding member of grunge band Soundgarden, along with Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell, in 1984. He left the band in 1989; two years later, Yamamoto started the indepen ...

; Thayil, Yamamoto) – 5:39

Personnel

– vocals *

Kim Thayil Kim Anand Thayil (born September 4, 1960)Kim Thayil Biography
Unofficial SG Homepage.

– guitar *

– bass *

Matt Cameron Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986, appearing on each of the ...

– drums

Accolades

References

{{Authority control 1989 singles 1989 songs Song recordings produced by Chris Cornell Song recordings produced by Matt Cameron Songs written by Chris Cornell Songs written by Kim Thayil Soundgarden songs SST Records singles Songs about flowers