Soundgarden
Soundgarden were instrumental in creating the sound that came to be called
grunge.
The band was formed in
1984 by
Chris Cornell (vocals) and Hiro Yamamoto (bass), who were later joined by Kim Thayil (guitar), who had moved to
Seattle from
Illinois with Yamamoto and Bruce Pavitt, who would later start
Sub Pop. The band was named after a sculpture in Seattle.
Cornell originally played drums while singing, but the band enlisted Scott Sundquist to free Cornell up to concentrate on vocals. The band recorded two songs which appeared on a compilation for CZ Records called
Deep Six which also featured songs by
Green River, Skin Yard, and
The Melvins.
In
1986 Sundquist left the band, to be replaced by Matt Cameron, who had been the drummer in Skin Yard. The band signed to Sub Pop, releasing the
Screaming Life EP in
1987, and the
Fopp EP in
1988. A compilation was issued as
Screaming Life/Fopp in
1990.
Though the band were being courted by major labels, in
1988 they signed to
SST Records to release their debut album,
Ultramega OK, for which they earned a
Grammy nomination. In
1989 the band released their first album for a major label,
Louder Than Love, released through
A&M Records. After the release of the album Yamamoto left to go back to college. He was briefly replaced by
Jason Everman, formerly of
Nirvana, who appeared on the
Louder Than Live video, but Ben Shepherd ended up in the band as a permanent replacement.
The new line up recorded
Badmotorfinger in
1991. Though still successful, the album was overshadowed by
Nirvana's Nevermind. The band toured with
Guns n' Roses to support the album, and later released the video
Motorvision which was filmed on that tour.
The band made an appearance in the "grunge movie",
Singles playing "Birth Ritual". The song appeared on the sound track album, as did a solo Cornell song, "Seasons". The film also featured a clip from the demo version of "Spoonman", a song from the band's
1994 album,
Superunknown.
Superunknown was the band's breakout, driven by the single "Black Hole Sun".
The band's final album was
1996's
Down on the Upside. Soundgarden announced its breakup in
April 1997. A greatest-hits compilation,
A-Sides, was released a few years later. Cornell went on to make solo album
Euphoria Morning and later formed the group
Audioslave along with ex-members of
Rage Against The Machine, while Cameron toured with
Pearl Jam for their 1998 Yield Tour and subsequently joined the band as a permanent member. Thayil joined forces with ex-
Dead Kennedys vocalist
Jello Biafra, former
Nirvana bassist
Krist Novoselic and drummer Gina Mainwal for one show, performing as the No WTO Combo during the
WTO ministerial conference in Seattle on
December 1,
1999 and would later contribute guitar tracks to Dave Grohl's side-project's album (
Probot), which was released in 2004.
Following the
September 11, 2001 attacks,
radio conglomerate
Clear Channel Communications sent out of a list of 150 songs that were recommended to be pulled from airplay. Soundgarden's "Blow Up the Outside World" was on the list.
Discography
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External Links
\n*Unofficial Soundgarden page\n*
All Music Guide entry for Soundgarden\n*
Chuck Ayoub's Grunge Music - History Page
Category:Grunge groups Category:American musical groups
