According to Kim Thayil, it was never properly finished: "There was drums and bass and some rhythm guitar and some scratch vocals and that was about it."

Cornell noted that when they listened to the original recording for the first time after almost two decades, he immediately remembered the problems he had with the song.

For the new mix, the music was re-arranged, the chorus vocals were re-written and re-recorded by Cornell, and new guitar overdubs were added.

In an interview with USA Today, Cornell said that "Black Rain" captures "that super heavy version (of the band) we were finally realizing to its fullest potential about 1991.

It was directed by Brendon Small of Metalocalypse and is the first artist-driven music video to be based on the show.