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Song Stories

“Hands All Over”

Soundgarden | 1989

When "Hands All Over" was released, Soundgarden were met with some resistance, concerning the lyrics "You're gonna kill your mother." But as Kim Thayil explained to Rolling Stone, the words were taken completely out of context. "I think there was a minor protest about [the lyric] — of course, 'your mother' being a metaphor for the environment or the Earth. People flipped out about that," the Soundgarden guitarist recalled. "But I am going to go on the record now to tell everyone, 'Kill your f---ing mother!'" he added, laughing.

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“Plush”
Stone Temple Pilots | 1992
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“Rooster”
Alice in Chains | 1992

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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