Soundgarden's 'Superunknown' Certified Six-Times Platinum By RIAA

Soundgarden's mainstream breakthrough album, Superunknown, has been certified six-times platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of 6 million copies.

The album previously earned the five-times platinum distinction in March of 1996, two years after it was released.

Coming off the success of Badmotorfinger three years earlier, Soundgarden was well-poised for a level up with its next release. But producer Michael Beinhorn recalls the band being somewhat unprepared to make a new album.

In an interview last year, Beinhorn said the band seemed to have no idea how much pressure was on it to deliver a hit.

"I realized after I got the gig that they hadn't been really preparing to make the record of their lives," Beinhorn said. "...It seemed kind of odd because the entire world was sort of looking at Soundgarden, going like, 'OK, this is going to be the next band that hits. These guys are gonna be huge, all they have to do is make the right record.' See, I came into the project with that understanding..."

Beinhorn asked the band to throw out about two-thirds of its early demos, urging them to take some time to do more writing before recording sessions began. To the band's credit, he says they accepted his direction and went back to the drawing board.

It was during this period that Cornell wrote classics like "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell on Black Days."