Worker mental health is often overlooked, but businesses are paying more attention to it these days. OSHA in August focused its Safe + Sound Week program on mental health and well-being and resources to help alleviate workplace stress and support mental health. This week, the EHSDA Song of the Week is Soundgarden’s “Fell On Black Days,” a song about dealing with depression.
Mental health, workplace stress, and suicide have very real work-related implications, especially in the construction industry where the suicide rate is 3½ times higher than that of the general population.
Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell said of the song: “It’s a feeling that everyone gets. You’re happy with your life, everything’s going well, things are exciting—when all of a sudden you realize you’re unhappy in the extreme, to the point of being really, really scared.”
The song was the fifth single on the band’s 1994 fourth and most successful album Superunknown. “Fell On Black Days” hit #54 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart and #4 on the Mainstream Rock chart.