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Article milestones Date Process Result April 2, 2010 Good article nominee Not listed June 1, 2017 Good article nominee Listed
Current status: Good article

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Does anyone know where the name comes from? I've always assumed it's a combination of "Badfinger" and "Bad Motor Scooter" (a track from the first Montrose album). Both Badfinger and Montrose are bands of the right era to have influenced the members of Soundgarden and/or their associates - but I can't find any evidence to support this theory. It's one of the more intriguing album titles out there, so if anyone does know where it comes from it would be helpful to add it to the article. Magnate 13:14, 18 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I always thought it was just a play on the phrase "Bad Mother fucker" - Ross... (I help edit articles)

In 1994 a Soundgarden interview CD was released entitled "Superuninterview." In one of the interview tracks, where Cornell is asked about album titles, he mentions in passing that both "Ultramega OK" and "Badmotorfinger" were titles Kim Thayil jokingly created. Does anyone own this CD who can help me with citation? Regards, --199.29.6.2 21:15, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Although it wasn't a single this song is famous for being Soundgarden's big closer at many concerts. Also it is a fan favorite. Because Soundgarden themselves seem to play this song in concert more than any other in their discography I feel it is important enough to have it's own article. --Mrmoustache14 (talk) 01:32, 25 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

As the personnel section is so cluttered, I feel that columns are necessary for clarity purposes. Darwin's Bulldog (talk) 03:58, 5 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would rather go by Wikipedia policy for this. I'm awaiting clarification for what that is.-5- (talk) 04:11, 5 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The lead says October 8, the infobox August 10. Which is it? --Jameboy (talk) 23:57, 9 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Sunday, September 29, 1991 (page K1) Seattle Times says that '"Badmotorfinger," Soundgarden's new album, [was] released last Tuesday on A&M Records'. That would be September 24. According to the article this was the same week as Nirvana's Nevermind and Rock the House Live! by Heart. Roket (talk) 05:51, 22 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a link to this page? dannymusiceditor ^{Speak up!} 11:22, 22 May 2017 (UTC) Nevermind, I found one. dannymusiceditor ^{Speak up!} 01:58, 29 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Danny thank you for your persistence on the release date. For a second though offline source, Seattle's Museum of History & Industry has a run of The Rocket magazine from 1980 to 2000 -- unfortunately missing the October 1991 issue. That was an arts & entertainment paper that excelled at local independent music. They likely mentioned the release date explicitly and should be viewed as more authoritative than a retrospective catalog. Hopefully the September or November issue covers the release. Link: Collection of The Rocket newspapers. Roket (talk) 16:09, 16 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Allmusic lists the Oct date. I'm not certain where Allmusic gets their information. www.allmusic.com%2Falbum%2Fbadmotorfinger-mw0000265433%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR30gSlQTib0HhnInE8s1TQEhv77n_p10CW2tgxL3sj3NHwjWsCmfCSKrFs&h=AT2gq-dycXX55AfhLvFldcXcEaBvQB_pLa_fBCDq2M561E0oc8fj_gB7nmXedn9XgdLk5_JtLRMwsde0XlFpUOg-m7BFdEZBJ1n52tRku5uVBOR1qeW529xeH-ZOoEhKdTz2FuWc-A8XoOeP — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:2D61:3C40:1448:3EBD:39A9:C209 (talk) 03:36, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I now have a second source. I reached out to Seattle's MoPop (Museum of Pop Culture) and received photographs of the Badmotorfinger reviews in the October 1991 issue of The Rocket and in Spin Magazine. The Rocket had an extremely short review, simply "TotalFuckingRelease" with no release date. Spin had a much longer review and ended with "available mid-September". That is not as precise as Seattle Times, but we're 2 for 2 on contemporary sources that point to September, the most local giving an exact date in its recent past. Spin's October 1991 issue is available through Google Books. Here is a link. Roket (talk) 05:42, 7 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A discussion on Library Think Tank has brought up new sources. Rob Sage referenced Billboard Magazine. September 21: "But A&M's approach to selling "Badmotorfinger," the group's second album for the label, is just a little out of the ordinary. The first track out of the chute to precede the album's SEPT. 24 release will be "Jesus Christ Pose," a thundering opus that clocks in at nearly seven minutes." ... versus November 19: "The first phase of the campaign for the band's album "Badmotorfinger" began in September, a month before the OCT. 8 release date. " One poster said they specifically remember shelving Nevermind and other records on September 24, 1991 but not Badmotorfinger the same day. Roket (talk) 15:17, 8 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I've found an alt.rock-n-roll.metal.heavy post from 9/5/1991 listing upcoming releases. It said that Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger would come out September 24. Roket (talk) 16:34, 24 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Looping back to the Seattle Times, I've found another article that supports the September 24 release date. Previously I shared a September 27th article that said "last Tuesday". Also on September 20 there was an article titled "Opening for GN'R is Latest Break for Soundgarden", describing them taking the second leg of the Use Your Illusion Tour. The article said, 'The job is plum for Soundgarden... because the tour will help promote its new album, 'Badmotorfinger,' set for release this coming Tuesday." Roket (talk) 19:54, 24 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Jumping into this conversation as I'm a music journalist and historian doing an upcoming 30th anniversary piece on the album. It was indeed delayed from the initial release date of Sept. 24 to October 8 due to production issues. This was a much different time obviously with there being no internet or social media, which is why some archival newspapers had it listed as Sept. 24. For all the infomation they had, that was the release date. The three most reliable sources for Oct. 8 are as such: 1) 'Badmotorfinger' didn't debut on the Billboard charts until the Oct. 26th issue. That's the same week all the other Oct. 8 releases appeared for the first time on the chart, including John Mellencamp's 'Whenever We Wanted' and Eric Clapton's '24 Nights.' 2) In Corbin Reiff's acclaimed 2020 book 'Total F*cking Godhead: The Biography of Chris Cornell', he states on page 143: "A&M started gearing up to release 'Badmotorfinger' around the end of summer. The label had originally pegged September 24, 1991, for the release date, the same day Nirvana planned on releasing their second album, 'Nevermind,' but production problems caused it to be pushed back a couple of weeks to October 8." 3) Udiscovermusic, which is owned by Universal Records, the company who now owns the rights to 'Badmotorfinger,' acknowledges the date as Oct. 8. This should (hopefully!) put an end to the debate over the release date. Whigged (talk) 9:40, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Badmotorfinger/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Last edited at 15:02, 6 August 2008 (UTC). Substituted at 08:50, 29 April 2016 (UTC)