On October 8th, 1991, Soundgarden unleashed another heavy metal classic with their landmark Badmotorfinger — an album that would eventually hit the top of the Billboard 200 and become double-platinum certified. Singles like "Rusty Cage" and "Outshined" were radio gold, and the videos for each were in frequent rotation on MTV thanks to a combination of incendiary performance footage, a mainstream spotlight being shone on Seattle's grunge explosion, and singer Chris Cornell's Adonis-perfect good looks and flowing dark hair.
Those chiseled good looks lent themselves kindly to the singer's crucifixion-cosplay as he flexed and stretched shirtlessly in the video for "Jesus Christ Pose," a tom-heavy banger hellbent on utilizing Christian imagery and provocative lyrics to draw in listeners with a penchant for transgression delivered the old-fashioned riff-fueled way.
A live performance the following year at Lollapalooza's July 22nd Seattle show, reveals just how powerful the track stood out on the album, with the brutal pummeling of the rhythm section whipping the staggering crowd into a fury as Cornell stood at the epicenter of the madness, arms outstretched and screaming the defiant lyrics for all his worshippers to sing back at him.
By the end of the song, Cornell thrashes about wildly, falling down before stripping off his guitar and jacket and standing before the crowd to shout the final refrains into the microphone. The clip above ends just as he tells the crowd, "I just gotta get a look at what a Seattle audience looks like again," explaining he'd just spent 10 weeks touring Europe before ending with, "You all kinda look like family."
