It took me a while to figure out what's going on rhythmically and where to punctuate the one, so what I start hearing is that swirling, kamikaze bat [guitar] sound at the beginning.

"[8] The band explained that the lyrics for "Jesus Christ Pose" concern the exploitation of religion for personal benefit.

Chris Cornell specifically mentioned Jane's Addiction's frontman Perry Farrell[9] as an influence on the song, explaining, "It became fashionable to be the sort of persecuted-deity guy.

[11]"Jesus Christ Pose" was released as a single in 1992 in various versions with the previously unreleased B-sides "Stray Cat Blues" and "Into the Void (Sealth)".

Greg Prato of AllMusic said, "In addition to Cornell's biting lyrics and vocals, the rest of the band helped fuel unquestionably one of Soundgarden's most vicious and venomous rockers.

"[12] Gina Arnold of Entertainment Weekly stated, "On songs like the cynical 'Jesus Christ Pose' ... Soundgarden sound a hell of a lot smarter than their peers, who seldom get beyond extolling booze, girls, and cars.

[14] A live performance of "Jesus Christ Pose" can be found on the "Black Hole Sun" single and the compilation album Telephantasm.

"[15] Cornell said, "It was a pretty unanimous decision by the band to have a woman being crucified in the video ... As a visual, it's powerful and it's also challenging to people, because women basically have been persecuted since before recorded history, and it would almost make more sense than seeing a man on it."

[16] He stated that "on the "Jesus Christ Pose" video we did a lot of experimenting at different kinda fun, cool things.

[18] "Jesus Christ Pose" garnered attention when MTV banned its corresponding music video in 1991—the channel has not shown it in its entirety since.

The song and its video outraged many listeners, who perceived it as anti-Christian, resulting in the band receiving death threats because of it during a UK tour in the early 1990s.

"[8] Cornell additionally attributed the video's lack of airtime due to its length, comparing MTV's programming at the time to that of a commercial radio station.