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Soundgarden were an American grunge/alternative rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by lead singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Matt Cameron later became the band's permanent drummer in 1986 and bassist Ben Shepherd later became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990.
Soundgarden were one of the key bands in the creation of grunge music, a musical style that developed in Seattle and was based around the band's record label Sub Pop. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label, but the band did not achieve commercial success until Seattle contemporaries Nirvana and Pearl Jam popularized grunge in the early 1990s.
Soundgarden achieved their biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and yielded the Grammy Award–winning singles "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman". In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction. Soundgarden has sold 8 million records in the U.S, and an estimated 20 million albums worldwide.Formation and early years: 1984–1986
Soundgarden was formed in 1984 by Chris Cornell (drums & vocals) and Hiro Yamamoto (bass), who were later joined by Kim Thayil (guitar). Thayil had moved to Seattle from Park Forest, Illinois, with Yamamoto and Bruce Pavitt, who would later start Sub Pop Records. The band named themselves after a wind-channeling pipe sculpture, "The Sound Garden," located in Magnuson Park, Seattle.
Cornell originally played drums while singing, but the band enlisted Scott Sundquist to allow Cornell to concentrate on vocals. The band's first recordings were three songs that appeared on a compilation for C/Z Records called Deep Six. It also featured songs by fellow grunge pioneers Green River, Skin Yard, Malfunkshun, The U-Men and the Melvins. In 1986 Sundquist left the band and was replaced by Matt Cameron, who was the drummer for Skin Yard.
First Releases: (1987–1990).
KCMU-FM DJ Jonathan Poneman was impressed after seeing Soundgarden perform one night, later saying, "I saw this band that was everything rock music should be." Poneman offered to fund a release by the band, so Thayil told him to team up with Bruce Pavitt. Despite being good friends with Thayil, Pavitt was not impressed by Soundgarden, but agreed since Poneman offered to contribute $20,000 in funding for Sub Pop. The band signed to Sub Pop, releasing the Screaming Life EP in 1987, and the Fopp EP in 1988. A combination of the two was issued as Screaming Life/Fopp in 1990.
Though the band was being courted by major labels, in 1988 it signed to the lesser known SST Records to release its debut album, Ultramega OK, for which the band earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1990. The band's first music video, "Flower", was directed by Mark Miremont, and aired regularly on MTV's 120 Minutes.
In 1989, the band released its first album for a major label, Louder than Love, through A&M Records. The signing caused a rift between Soundgarden and its traditional audience. Thayil said, "In the beginning, our fans came from the punk rock crowd. They abandoned us when they thought we had sold out the punk tenets, getting on a major label and touring with Guns N' Roses. There were fashion issues and social issues, and people thought we no longer belonged to their scene, to their particular sub-culture." 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. However, Ben Shepherd was soon recruited as a permanent replacement.
Popular Acclaim (1991–1995).
The new line up recorded Badmotorfinger in 1991. Though successful, the album was overshadowed by the sudden popularity of Nirvana's Nevermind. At the same time, the focus of attention brought by Nevermind to the Seattle scene brought Soundgarden wider attention, allowing "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage" to find an audience at alternative radio and MTV. The band toured with Guns N' Roses to support the album, and later released the video compilation Motorvision, which was filmed on that tour.
In 1992 the band took a slot on the Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Ministry, among others. The band also made an appearance in the movie Singles performing "Birth Ritual". The song appeared on the soundtrack, as did a Chris Cornell solo song.
Released in 1994, Superunknown was the band's breakout album, driven by the singles "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman", "The Day I Tried to Live", and "Fell on Black Days". The songs on Superunknown captured the creativity and heaviness of the band's earlier works, while showcasing the more radio-friendly aspects of the group. Lyrically, the album was quite dark and mysterious, as much of it is often interpreted to be dealing with substance abuse, suicide, and depression. The album was also more experimental than previous releases, with some songs incorporating Middle-Eastern or Indian music. The band supported the album with tours of Europe and North America. The music video for "Black Hole Sun" became a hit on MTV and received the award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards. Soundgarden won two Grammy Awards in 1995; "Black Hole Sun" received the award for Best Hard Rock Performance and "Spoonman" received the award for Best Metal Performance.
The band's final album was 1996's self-produced Down on the Upside. The album was notably less heavy than the group's preceding albums, and marked a further departure from the band's grunge roots. This album spawned several singles, including "Pretty Noose", "Blow Up the Outside World", and "Burden in My Hand". Soundgarden explained at the time that it wanted to branch out and explore other sounds. However, tensions within the group arose during the sessions, with Thayil and Cornell reportedly clashing over Cornell's desire to shift away from the heavy guitar riffing that had become the band's trademark. Despite strong reviews, the album did not match its predecessor's sales.
Down On The Upside and Break-Up: (1996–1997).
The band took a slot on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour with Metallica. Tensions continued to increase during the band's ensuing tour in support of the album. At the tour's final stop in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 9, 1997, Shepherd threw his bass into the air in frustration after suffering equipment failure, and subsequently stormed off the stage. The band retreated, with Cornell returning to conclude the show with a solo encore. On April 9, 1997, the band announced its disbanding. Soundgarden's final release, a greatest-hits compilation titled A-Sides, was released the following fall.
Post-Soundgarden:
Chris Cornell released a solo album in September 1999, entitled Euphoria Morning. Then in 2001 he formed the supergroup Audioslave with the former instrumental members of Rage Against the Machine. Cornell recorded three albums as Audioslave's vocalist until his departure (and the band's breakup) in early 2007. His second solo album Carry On was released to mixed commercial and critical success in June 2007.
Matt Cameron initially turned his efforts to his side-project Wellwater Conspiracy, to which both Shepherd and Thayil have contributed performances. He then worked briefly with The Smashing Pumpkins and was even rumoured as a replacement for Jimmy Chamberlin. In 1998, he stepped in on drums for Pearl Jam's Yield tour, and subsequently joined the band as a permanent member.
Kim 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. Thayil later contributed guitar tracks to Steve Fisk's 2001 album 999 Levels of Undo, as well as Dave Grohl's side-project album Probot, released in 2004. In 2006, Thayil performed guitar on the album Altar, the collaboration between the bands Sunn O))) and Boris.
Ben Shepherd toured with Mark Lanegan and released the second Hater album in 2005. He was also the vocalist on Wellwater Conspiracy's first studio album, Declaration of Conformity, released in 1997, however he left the band in 1998.
Regarding a future Soundgarden reunion, Chris Cornell stated in an October 2005 interview that it would "probably not happen". He continued, "It's almost like we sealed the lid and said, this is Soundgarden and this is its lifespan, and put it out there. And it looks really great to me. I think getting back together would take the lid off that and then could possibly change what... to me seems like the perfect lifespan of the band. I can't think of any reason to mess with that." In interviews following his departure from Audioslave in February 2007, Cornell reiterated that the members of Soundgarden had no interest in reuniting. In an interview in early August 2007, Cornell mentioned that Thayil has wanted to release a box set or b-side album of Soundgarden rarities, although no further information was given.
Musical Style and Influences:
Soundgarden were a pioneer of the grunge music genre, which mixed elements of punk rock and heavy metal into a dirty, aggressive sound. Soundgarden's sound during the early years of the Seattle grunge scene has been described as consisting of "gnarled neo-Zeppelinisms."Sub Pop viewed the band as having an angle that featured "a hunky lead singer and fused Led Zeppelin and the Butthole Surfers."
Soundgarden would often utilize alternative tunings and odd time signatures in its songs. Many Soundgarden songs were performed in drop D tuning, including "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", "Spoonman", and "Black Hole Sun". The E strings of the instruments were at times tuned lower, such as on "Rusty Cage", where the bottom E string is tuned all the way down to B. Some songs use more unorthodox tunings: "My Wave" and "The Day I Tried to Live" are both in a E-E-B-B-B-E tuning. Soundgarden's use of odd-meter time signatures was varied as well; while such songs as "Jesus Christ Pose" are in typical 4/4 time, "Outshined" is in 7/4, "My Wave" uses 5/4, "Fell on Black Days" is on 6/4, "Never the Machine Forever" uses 9/8, "Rusty Cage" uses 19/8, and "Spoonman" alternates between 7/4 and 4/4 sections. Kim Thayil has said that Soundgarden usually did not consider the time signature of a song until after the band had written it, and said that the use of odd meters was "a total accident."
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