"Badmotorfinger" has been classified by various critics as grunge, alternative metal, heavy metal and hard rock. Steve Huey of AllMusic said that the songwriting on the album "takes a quantum leap in focus and consistency". He added, "It's surprisingly cerebral and arty music for a band courting mainstream metal audiences, but it attacks with scientific precision." Guitarist Kim Thayil jokingly called it the "Heavy Metal "White Album"". Cornell said, "I think there's songs on the new record which are almost more commercially viable because they have that memorable feel to them, and I think if anyone expected us to come out and make something more commercial than "Louder Than Love", then I'm glad that they were surprised." Cornell also added that the album was more representative of how the band was live. Shepherd contributed the song "Somewhere" and collaborated on the musical composition of several other songs on the album. Thayil said that Shepherd's contributions helped make the album "faster" and "weirder".