About Blow up the Outside World

"Blow Up the Outside World" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Blow Up the Outside World" was released on November 18, 1996, as the third single from the band's fifth studio album, Down on the Upside (1996). The song topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it spent a total of four weeks at number one. The song was included on Soundgarden's 1997 greatest hits album, A-Sides.

Regarding "Blow Up the Outside World", drummer Matt Cameron stated that "there's certain points in that tune that are just a really nice, emotional crunch that happens somehow ... that one in particular, that made my girlfriend cry the first time she heard it". "Blow Up the Outside World" was released as a single in 1996 with a previously unreleased B-side titled "A Splice of Space Jam". The cover art is taken from a series of photographs by Catherine Chalmers featuring a tomato being eaten by caterpillars, which at one point were considered for use for the Down on the Upside cover. It appeared on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Airplay chart, reaching the top 60. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number eight on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song spent a total of four weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock chart. Outside the United States, the single was released commercially in Australia. In Canada, the song reached the top 90 on the Canadian Singles Chart, and later it charted on the Canadian Alternative Top 30 chart where it reached number two. Neil Strauss of The New York Times said that "the band can harness grunge's self-absorption to heavy metal's destructive energy and come up with a song like 'Blow Up the Outside World'."