Soundgarden
Soundgarden was a seminal
Seattle rock band who helped to define the sound that came to be called
grunge. They are often considered one of the "big four" Seattle bands of the era, along with
Nirvana,
Alice in Chains, and
Pearl Jam.
Soundgarden was formed in
1984 by
Chris Cornell (drums & vocals) and
Hiro Yamamoto (bass), and was later joined by
Kim Thayil (guitar). (Thayil had moved to Seattle from
Illinois with Yamamoto and
Bruce Pavitt, who would later start
Sub Pop Records.) The band was named after an outdoor art/sound installation called "
The Sound Garden" located on
NOAA property near Seattle's
Magnuson Park which makes eerie sounds when the wind blows.
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
C/Z 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 was 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 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 the band 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
Motorvision which was filmed on that tour. The band also took a slot on the
1992 Lollapalooza tour with the
Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Pearl Jam, and
Ministry, among others.
The band made an appearance in the movie
Singles playing "Birth Ritual". The song appeared on the soundtrack 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 singles "
Black Hole Sun", "
Spoonman", "
The Day I Tried to Live", and "
Fell on Black Days". The songs on Superunknown captured the creativity of their earlier works, while showcasing the more radio-friendly aspects of the group. Lyrically the album was quite dark and mysterious, as many of the songs dealt with substance abuse, suicide, and depression. Many songs had a Middle-Eastern or Indian flavor, such as "Fell on Black Days" and "Half", the latter featuring the vocals of bassist Ben Shepherd.
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. This album spawned several singles, including "
Pretty Noose", "
Blow Up the Outside World", and "
Burden in My Hand". Soundgarden explained at the time that they 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 their trademark.
[Colopino, John. "Soundgarden Split". Rolling Stone. May 29, 1997.] Despite strong reviews, the album did not top its predecessor's sales.
Tensions continued to increase during the band's ensuing tour in support of the album. At the tour's final stop in
Honolulu, Hawaii in February of
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.
[Berger, John. "'Garden' of supersonic delight". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. February 10, 1997.] On
April 9,
1997, the band announced its disbanding. The band's final release, a greatest-hits compilation titled
A-Sides, was released the following fall.
Cornell went on to make a solo album in 1999,
Euphoria Morning, and later formed the group
Audioslave with former members of
Rage Against the Machine. Cameron turned his efforts to his side-project
Wellwater Conspiracy, and later toured with
Pearl Jam for their 1998 Yield Tour, subsequently joining 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. 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. Shepherd toured with
Mark Lanegan and released the long overdue second
Hater album in 2005, while also occasionally appearing on the
Wellwater Conspiracy albums.
Regarding a future Soundgarden reunion, Chris Cornell stated in an October
2005 interview that it would "probably not happen". "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."
[Hay, Travis. "Transcript of Exclusive Interview with Chris Cornell". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. October 15, 2005.]Studio albums
Image:16030_200_200.jpg|Ultramega OK
1988
Image:Soundgarden - Louder Than Love.jpg|Louder than Love
1989
Image:BadMotorFinger.jpg|Badmotorfinger
1991
Image:superunknown.jpg|Superunknown
1994
Image:SG_DownOnTheUpside.jpg|Down on the Upside
1996
EPs
* 1987
Screaming Life EP (
Sub Pop)
* 1988
Fopp EP (Sub Pop)
* 1989
Flower EP (
SST)
* 1989
Loud Love (
A&M)
* 1990
Loudest Love (
A&M)
* 1992
SOMMS (
A&M)
* 1995
Songs from the Superunknown (
A&M)
* 1995
Alive in the Superunknown CD+ (
A&M)
Live releases and compilations
*1990
Screaming Life/Fopp (Sub Pop)
*1990
Louder Than Live (
A&M)
*1992
Motorvision (
A&M)
*1997
A-Sides (A&M) #63 US
Compilations featuring Soundgarden tracks
* 1985
Deep Six (
C/Z Records) CZ001
* 1988
Sub Pop 200 (
Sub Pop)
* 1992
Singles soundtrack (
Epic Records)
* 1993
No Alternative (
Arista)
* 1993
Born to Choose (
Rykodisc)
* 1994
Alternative NRG (
Hollywood Records)
* 1996
Home Alive (
Epic Records)
* 1987 "
Hunted Down"
* 1989 "
Flower"
* 1990 "
Loud Love"
* 1990 "
Get on the Snake"
* 1990 "
Hands All Over"
* 1990 "
Room a Thousand Years Wide"
* 1991 "
Jesus Christ Pose"
* 1991 "
Outshined"
* 1992 "
Rusty Cage"
* 1994 "
Spoonman"
* 1994 "
Black Hole Sun"
* 1994 "
My Wave" (Australia)
* 1994 "
Fell on Black Days"
* 1995 "
The Day I Tried to Live"
* 1995 "
Superunknown"
* 1996 "
Pretty Noose"
* 1996 "
Burden in My Hand"
* 1996 "
Blow Up the Outside World"
* 1997 "
Ty Cobb"
* 1997 "
Bleed Together"
* Chun, Gary C. W. "Tantrum Mars Soundgarden Show".
Honolulu Advertiser. February 10, 1997.
* Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "
Soundgarden".
All Music Guide. Retrieved June 13, 2005.
* Prato, Greg. "Black Hole Sons".
Classic Rock Magazine. Summer 2005.
*
Unofficial Soundgarden Homepage
