What do you think Black Hole Sun means?

Soundgarden: Black Hole Sun Meaning

Album cover for Black Hole Sun album cover

Song Released: 1994


Covered By: Brandi Carlile (2020)


Black Hole Sun Lyrics

In my eyes
Indisposed
In disguise
As no one knows
Hides the face
Lies the snake
The sun
In my disgrace
Boiling heat
Summer stench
’neath the black
The sky looks dead
Call my name
Through the cream
And I’ll hear you
Scream...

  1. anonymous
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    Oct 21st 2012 !⃝

    Its about the dismissal of lucifer from the heavens as the arch angel of music and the emminent end of the world and disgrace faced since his departure. Wake up people.

  2. anonymous
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    Jul 31st 2012 !⃝

    i think chris is disgusted with all of the hipocrits and people who think the world is just some big happy place and he wants the black hole sun to come and take it all away

  3. anonymous
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    May 6th 2012 !⃝

    i am pretty sure its about 2012 as the sun shifts into it red giant phase and how people start acting really strange as they are effected by postive ions in large amounts witch are now present the strangeness will go up from here that is a side issue but the song was a warning somebody mentioned he was high when he wrote the song well altered states of mind sometimes have that effect of knowing things like this

    i had this info from remote viewing skills and while the term black hole sun is a bit off since the sun will go into a red dwarf then into a white dwarf and cool down into a supper dense ball of matter that is short of a blackhole but still very dense and will not be giving out much light some odd million years from now the part of frying the planet that is already starting to happen

  4. anonymous
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    Apr 22nd 2012 !⃝

    I'm a little amazed to find that in all these (somewhat wild) interpretations everyone has missed the most obvious thing; "Black Hole Sun" is an art piece, a sculpture in Seattle's Volunteer park. If you are ever in Seattle check it out. It has been suggested that Cornell may have been referencing the sculpture, but that has not been determined. Artists are a collection of influences and I get the snakes and apocalyptic overtones, but that doesn't mean that the song should be taken to literally as such. Remember, it's art. :-[) http://www.voiceplaces.com/black-sun-seattle-505959-e/

    Driffidius

  5. anonymous
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    Feb 14th 2012 !⃝

    A lot of Soundgardens lyrics are telling us, those who listen carefully and do their research that the end times are near.

    Black Hole Sun - is the coming of our sun's (Sol) binary companion, a dark star or brown dwarf. There is plenty of good evidence for this online, and also a mountain of dis-info and rubbish to sift through. Chris Cornell knows of this cyclical event and is sworn to secrecy, to only inform through subtle and subliminal communication.

    Chris has been given a "Golden Ticket" (one of the lucky few) to enter the underground bases (D.U.M.B.'s) when this time comes..... God speed to all

  6. anonymous
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    Jan 31st 2012 !⃝

    Black hole sun is a Freemason reference to Alchemy. I think it is also likely that "Temple of the Dog" is a reference to The Dog Star used in Masonic rituals.

    Chris is playing at the Masonic Auditorium on Nob Hill in Feb. and he has played at Masonic Temples many times over the last twelve year.

    Coincidence? I think not.

  7. anonymous
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    Oct 11th 2011 !⃝

    Who's kidding Who? Black Hole-Sun won't you come is describing the sun aligning with the Black hole in our milky way.

  8. anonymous
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    Sep 18th 2011 !⃝

    im a musician myself, and everyone focuses on the same thing...the lyrics and the meaning of the lyrics..writing music isnt just about pen and paper. its what seperates music from poetry. its about feeling. the MELODY. People thereselves have there own melody, emotions have different octives, ex: u can angry or furious; furious > angry. its easier musically to describe your emotions than words, in my opinion cause when i write my music i want people to feel how i felt when i wrote the song to step into my life, much like this song. its HAPPY melody, chris said it himself happy melody with somewhat sad lyrics that meant nothing to him and was just jargle when he wrote it, chances are he is sub-consciensously mocking humans, thats why the video has smiles and a somewhat creepy tone to it. i believe he had it planned to say that the lyrics meant nothing to him, when in fact he/himself knows the meaning. but him stating that is part of the whole "mocking thing" dont pay attention to the lyrics they are part of the whole song but dont look at the words and decipher them individually. it is jargle and its supposed to be "jargle" to throw u off from the true meaning, the meaning behind the song is this : Human nature is funny and sad to him, becuase even tho the most devistating things could happen to a person, people will purposely try to push things away, such as a death, or the end of the world. the symbolism in the video was this. the girl eating the icecream had a sad face while she it if u noticed her lipstick it was down word, and she started to eat more aggressively, showing how teenage girls tend to eat to make thereselves feel better and that barbie she was burning was her jealousy for the pretty girls she wasnt gunna be when she was older, the girl outide with the snake like tongue sitting in the chair, for u religious fake snake usually represent demons or evil...its simple saying how girls can be snakes or "evil" at times and it was stereotyped in the vid as a PRETTY GIRL,. the tongue was made to show the snake reference but at the same time it was long. to show the deceit that women are capable of. onto the next subject, the religious fanatics outside during the end of the world stil preaching, shows that people blind thereselves "happy" excuses of whatever it may be and the biggest one these days, is christianity, im trying to bash anyones beliefs and im not attacking christianity in anyway, im saying this for the sake of the meaning of the song, that the christians in the video even through end times were still holding onto there beliefs as a sign of hope, although they new it was not the seecond coming of christ becuase christ was not in the vid, it was a blackhole destroying everything,and yet they still preached about his second coming, showing u that people will cling onto foolish lies and silly ideas to deny themselves the feeling of sadness that comes with realism. also the woman with the boiling pot, cutting the fish head was mocking sexism, the smile was a fake smile she wore if u noticed she was angrily about to cut the fish the boiling pot symbolizes her anger for the sexist sterotypes about women staying in the kitchen. the guy working out up stairs, and OLD woman putting on her make up represented that some people get so blinded by there own looks they fail to notice the rest of the world is in pain. the fact that the lady was old, says something about older women constantly wishing they were young. i pretty much laid out the symbolism for this video, take it as it is, but i mean it seems clear as day for people to be trying for 13 years to decipher the meaning of the song.....this song is a special song cuz the "JARGLE' is just jargle its chris's personal way of summing up all the problem that HE sees with the world, such as sexism, he is analyzing the world through a song. how so many people can deny the reality of the world though stuff like food and beauty and animals and religion that IF a blackhole actually did start destroying humanitie everyone in the world would pretend it wasnt happening, but yet still notice things the little things that arent even close to being as big of a problem as humanity being obliterated, like how they look, how pretty girls can lie and be evil, we all notice those things, but we dont notice the things outside of the words. like the melody. its hard to explain but it is simple to decipher thats why this is so long i think the best thing to do so you guys can understand the meaning better is this

    1. read my description of the symbolisms in the music video,
    2. watch the music video with no music. just pay attention to the little details and the symbolism i explained above.
    3. do what i did learn to play the song watch the music video and just play the intstrumental or find a music video without singing just the instrumental so u can see how the melody mocks the music video (melody is happy ,music video is creepy cuz it shows the truths of humanity) THE WHOLE TIME U DO THIS DONT EVEN LET ANY OF THE LYRICS GO THROUGH YOUR HEAD just feel dont read the lyrics just try to feel the melody and watch the video for seriousness of whats going on it, if you laughed at the video then chris pretty much just one upped you, cuz the video as funny as all the make up seems has a lot of really serious messages and the melody is a happy melody its supposed to mock all those situations and laugh at them so when u actually laugh at the video that would mean your laughing at yourself ...kind of like how the melody laughs at the people in the video...as they are being destroyed and not realizing it,

    NOW,after u watched the video with just the instrumental and got a feel for the creepyness, and serious tone of it. take the video out of the picture look up on youtube blackhole sun with lyrics and as the song plays through think about the video

    youll realize two things
    1) i was right
    2) that when chris said it was just "jargle" it was but it also is jargle about every little problem the he himself perceived in the world, think of the lyrics like this like every 2-4 words is a new problem with the world and over all the guitar that gets played over it is making fun of all those problems. I feel like this song was planned this way, that the video was either premade or chris new very well what the hell he meant in the song, and purposely didnt say anything. its sort of like subliminal advertisement. and this song was HUGE and people still talk about it to this day because he said he didnt know what the songs meaning was that it was just jargle people wanted to understand it more. and what do u do when u want to understand something more, u keep studying that something and back in the 90s ipods and stuff werent released yet , so people had to go out and by the cd/tape if they wanted to listen to it when they wanted.

  9. anonymous
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    Jun 3rd 2011 !⃝

    Chris Cornell said on Conan O'Brian that this song is about the life cycle of the wompering chu-chu pilut and it's abnormal attraction to the color purple during it's pubescent stages. Obvious! There is no greater meaning possible.

  10. anonymous
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    Apr 13th 2011 !⃝

    Its obviously a reference to heroin addiction. The black hole is the point where the needle goes through the skin and leaves a small dead black hole. An addict feels like they are injecting sunshine into their body. It washes away their dark gloomy mood. Once the high is over they feel anxiety because they know they can only feel that way again when they shoot up again.

  11. anonymous
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    Apr 13th 2011 !⃝

    It's a song written out of nostalgia, and a shame for the current state of his life/the world.(clearly not HIS life, he's a famous millionaire, I mean just any individual's life)."no one sings like you anymore" is a reference to Kurt Cobain.

  12. anonymous
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    Apr 13th 2011 !⃝

    Chris Cornell said himself, It has no meaning, he wrote it in less than half an hour.

  13. anonymous
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    Mar 29th 2011 !⃝

    Black Hole Sun? This very title is an oxymoron. You can't have a "Black Hole" "Sun", it's fucking impossible. "Wash away the rain", again, impossible. This song is basically taking the piss out of all the shitty pop songs with meaningless lyrics released at the time, and in the future! It's taking the piss out of all of us - and very well done too. The "Black Hole Sun, Black Hole Sun" in the background is basically a homage to all the impossible studio created sounds associated with pop music. It's a joke of a song, on purpose, and we all fell for it. Long Live SOUNDGARDEN!!!!

  14. anonymous
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    Feb 3rd 2011 !⃝

    Haven't any of you ever had a second/third degree sunburn over most of your body? The last thing you want to feel is anyone putting cream on it, it smell bad like burned flesh and you are overly sensitive to heat of any kind. And forget the sun you must wait for the night before you can step outside. You get the chills constantly, pretty much just a miserable mess feeling like an idiot for allowing it to happen.

  15. anonymous
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    Feb 3rd 2011 !⃝

    I think your all over analyzing it. Down shift into simpler thinking...imagine a vacation, somewhere tropical, its early spring and your skin hasn't seen the sun for months. After a long day of playing in the sun you realize just over exposed you are and by morning you have serious blisters all over your body. Coated with layers of thick cream, you can smell the odor of the burnt flesh, you have to be completely covered up if you plan to step into the sun for even a moment. Any heat is unbearable. Even the inside lights put out more heat than you ever noticed. So the sun is now your enemy, the root of all evil and you must stay clear of it completely. This happened to me. A trip to emergency, a shot and prescription of penicillin and absolutely no sun. That was the first day of my 7 day Hawaiian vacation, I was 14. But I know its much more fun to read in religious innuendos and of course the never ending battle between good and evil surely sells a lot more records. Just try playing it again and think of a couple prisoners in their hotel room.




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