[gmku]

I take back "pretentious." I throw that around too much for stuff I find boring.

Just boring, then. They just didn't "swing" very much. I find that true for a lot of sort of metal-influenced stuff. It lacks that r&b swing. Sometimes it can be pulled off. For example, Melvins, Boris. And so much of the time Soundgarden just sounds to me like a heavy metal band that takes itself too seriously. They're rather humorless. Humorless rather than pretentious then.