Soundgarden
Encyclopedia
Soundgarden is an American rock
band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell
, lead guitarist Kim Thayil
, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto
. Matt Cameron
became the band's full time drummer in 1986 while bassist Ben Shepherd
became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990.
Soundgarden was one of the seminal bands in the creation of grunge
, a style of alternative rock
that developed in Seattle, and was one of a number of grunge bands signed to the record label Sub Pop
. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label (A&M Records
, in 1988), though the band did not achieve commercial success until they popularized "grunge" in the early 1990s with Seattle contemporaries Nirvana
, Alice in Chains
and Pearl Jam
.
Soundgarden achieved its 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. On January 1, 2010, Cornell alluded to a Soundgarden reunion. On April 5, 2010, it was announced that Soundgarden would play Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 6–8, 2010. A secret reunion concert under the name "Nudedragons" was held at the Showbox at the Market in Seattle on April 16, 2010. It was Soundgarden's first show since 1997. The band is currently working on a new album, which is slated for release in the spring of 2012.
As of 2010, Soundgarden had sold over 9 million records in the United States, and an estimated 21 million worldwide.
and drummer and singer Chris Cornell
. Following Yamamoto's departure, the band recruited guitarist Kim Thayil
as its new bassist. Thayil had moved to Seattle from Park Forest, Illinois
, with Yamamoto and Bruce Pavitt
, who would later start the independent record label
Sub Pop
. Cornell and Yamamoto stayed in contact, and after The Shemps broke up Cornell and Yamamoto started jamming
together, and were eventually joined by Thayil.
Soundgarden was formed in 1984 by Cornell (drums and vocals), Yamamoto (bass), and Thayil (guitar). The band named themselves after a wind-channeling pipe sculpture, "A Sound Garden
", located on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
property at 7600 Sand Point Way next to Magnuson Park
, Seattle. Cornell originally played drums while singing, but in 1985 the band enlisted Scott Sundquist
to allow Cornell to concentrate on vocals. The band traveled around playing various concerts with this line-up for about a year. Their first recordings were three songs that appeared on a 1986 compilation album 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 to spend time with his family, and was replaced by Matt Cameron
, the drummer from Skin Yard
.
KCMU 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. Poneman offered to contribute $20,000 in funding for Sub Pop, effectively turning it into a full-fledged record label. Soundgarden signed to Sub Pop, and the label released "Hunted Down
" in 1987 as the band's first single. The B-side
of the "Hunted Down" single, "Nothing to Say", appeared on the KCMU compilation tape Bands That Will Make Money, which was distributed to record companies, many of whom showed interest in Soundgarden. Through Sub Pop, the band released 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.
for its debut album, Ultramega OK
, released on October 31, 1988. Cornell said that the band "made a huge mistake with Ultramega OK" since they used a producer suggested by SST who "didn't know what was happening in Seattle." On that album, Soundgarden demonstrates, according to Steve Huey of Allmusic, a "Stooges
/MC5
-meets-Zeppelin
/Sabbath
sound." The band's first music video, "Flower", was directed by Mark Miremont
, and aired regularly on MTV
's 120 Minutes
. Soundgarden supported Ultramega OK with a tour in the United States in the spring of 1989 and a tour in Europe, which began in May 1989 and was the band's first overseas tour. Ultramega OK earned the band a Grammy Award
nomination for Best Metal Performance
in 1990.
After touring in support of Ultramega OK the band signed with A&M Records
, which 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." The band subsequently began work on its first album for a major label, and personnel difficulties caused a shift in the band's songwriting process, according to Cornell: "At the time Hiro [Yamamoto] had excommunicated himself from the band and there wasn't a free-flowing system as far as music went, so I ended up writing a lot of it." On September 5, 1989, the band released its second album, Louder Than Love
, which saw the band take "a step toward the [heavy] metal mainstream," according to Steve Huey of Allmusic, describing "a slow, grinding, detuned mountain of Sabbath/Zeppelin riffs and Chris Cornell wailing." Because of some of the lyrics, most notably on "Hands All Over" and "Big Dumb Sex", the band faced various retail and distribution problems upon the album's release. Louder Than Love became the band's first album to chart on the Billboard 200
, peaking at number 108 on the chart in 1990.
A month before touring for Louder Than Love commenced, bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who was becoming frustrated that he wasn't contributing much, left to go back to college. He was replaced by Jason Everman
, formerly of Nirvana
. The band toured North America from December 1989 to March 1990, opening for Voivod
, which was supporting their album Nothingface
tour, with Faith No More
also serving as an opening act at the beginning and end of the tour. The band then went on to tour Europe. Bassist Jason Everman was fired immediately after Soundgarden completed its promotional tour for Louder Than Love in mid-1990; Thayil said that "Jason just didn't work out." Louder Than Love spawned the EP Loudest Love
and the video compilation Louder Than Live
, both released in 1990.
replaced previous bassist Jason Everman and the new line-up recorded Soundgarden's third album in 1991. Cornell said that Shepherd brought a "fresh and creative" approach to the recording sessions, and the band as a whole said that his knowledge of music and writing skills redefined the band. The resulting album, Badmotorfinger
, was released on October 8, 1991. Steve Huey of Allmusic said that the songwriting on Badmotorfinger "takes a quantum leap in focus and consistency." He added, "It's surprisingly cerebral and arty music for a band courting mainstream metal audiences." Thayil suggested that the album's lyrics are "like reading a novel [about] man's conflict with himself and society, or the government, or his family, or the economy, or anything." The first single from Badmotorfinger, "Jesus Christ Pose
", garnered attention when MTV decided to ban its corresponding music video
in 1991. Many listeners were outraged by the song and its video, perceiving it as anti-Christian. The band received death threats while on tour in the United Kingdom in support of the album. Cornell explained that the lyrics criticize public figures who use religion (particularly the image of Jesus Christ
) to portray themselves as being persecuted. Although overshadowed at the time of its release by the sudden popularity of Nirvana's Nevermind
, the focus of attention brought by Nevermind to the Seattle scene helped Soundgarden gain wider attention. The singles "Outshined
" and "Rusty Cage
" were able to find an audience at alternative rock radio and MTV. Badmotorfinger was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1992. The album was among the 100 top selling albums of 1992.
Following the release of Badmotorfinger, Soundgarden went on a tour in North America that ran from October 1991 to November 1991. Afterward, the band took a slot opening for Guns N' Roses in North America on the band's Use Your Illusion Tour
. Soundgarden was personally selected by Guns N' Roses as its opening band. The band took a slot opening for Skid Row in North America in February 1992 on the band's Slave to the Grind
tour, and then headed to Europe for a month-long headlining theater tour. The band returned for a tour in the United States and subsequently rejoined Guns N' Roses in the summer of 1992 in Europe as part of the Use Your Illusion Tour along with fellow opening act Faith No More. Regarding the time spent opening for Guns N' Roses, Cornell said, "It wasn't a whole lot of fun going out in front of 40,000 people for 35 minutes every day. Most of them hadn't heard our songs and didn't care about them. It was a bizarre thing." The band would go on to play the 1992 Lollapalooza
tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers
, Pearl Jam
, and Ministry
, among others. In anticipation of the band's appearance at Lollapalooza, a limited edition of Badmotorfinger was released in 1992 with a second disc containing the EP Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas (a palindrome
), featuring Soundgarden's cover of Black Sabbath
's "Into the Void
", titled "Into the Void (Sealth)", which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1993. The band later released the video compilation Motorvision
, which was filmed at the Paramount Theatre
in 1992. The band also made an appearance in the movie Singles performing "Birth Ritual". The song appeared on the soundtrack, as did a Cornell solo song, "Seasons".
In 1993, the band contributed the track "Show Me" to the AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative
produced by the Red Hot Organization
.
became the band's breakthrough album, driven by the singles "Spoonman
", "The Day I Tried to Live
", "Black Hole Sun
", "My Wave
", and "Fell on Black Days"; Superunknown debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. The songs on Superunknown captured the creativity and heaviness of the band's earlier works, while showcasing the group's newly evolving style. Lyrically, the album was quite dark and mysterious, and of it is often interpreted to be dealing with substance abuse, suicide, and depression. Cornell was inspired by the writings of Sylvia Plath
at the time. The album was also more experimental than previous releases, with some songs incorporating Middle-Eastern or Indian music. J. D. Considine
of Rolling Stone
said Superunknown "demonstrates far greater range than many bands manage in an entire career." He also stated, "At its best, Superunknown offers a more harrowing depiction of alienation and despair than anything on In Utero
." 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
and in 1995 it received the Clio Award
for Alternative Music Video. 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. Superunknown was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
in 1995. Superunknown has been certified five times platinum
in the United States and remains Soundgarden's most successful album.
The band began touring in January 1994 in Oceania
and Japan
, areas where the record came out early and where the band had never toured before. This round of touring ended in February 1994, and then in March 1994 the band moved on to Europe. They began a theater tour of the United States
on May 27, 1994, with the opening acts Tad
and Eleven
. In late 1994, after touring in support of Superunknown, doctors discovered that Cornell had severely strained his vocal cords
, and Soundgarden canceled several shows to avoid causing any permanent damage. Cornell said, "I think we kinda overdid it! We were playing five or six nights a week and my voice pretty much took a beating. Towards the end of the American tour I felt like I could still kinda sing, but I wasn't really giving the band a fair shake. You don't buy a ticket to see some guy croak for two hours! That seemed like kind of a rip off." The band would make up the dates later in 1995. Superunknown spawned the EP Songs from the Superunknown
and the CD-ROM
Alive in the Superunknown, both released in 1995.
, was released on May 21, 1996. The album was notably less heavy than the group's preceding albums, and marked a further departure from the band's grunge roots; Soundgarden explained at the time that it wanted to experiment with other sounds, which included acoustic instrumentation
: David Browne of Entertainment Weekly
said, "Few bands since Led Zeppelin
have so crisply mixed instruments both acoustic and electric." The overall mood of the album's lyrics is less dark as on previous Soundgarden albums, with Cornell describing some songs as "self-affirming." The album spawned several singles, including "Pretty Noose
", "Burden in My Hand
", and "Blow Up the Outside World
". "Pretty Noose" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1997. Despite favorable reviews, the album did not match the sales of Superunknown.
The band took a slot on the 1996 Lollapalooza
tour with Metallica
, who had insisted on Soundgarden's appearance on the tour. After Lollapalooza, the band embarked on a worldwide tour, and already-existing tensions increased during that tour. When asked whether the band hated touring, Cornell replied "We really enjoy it to a point, and then it gets tedious, because it becomes repetitious. You feel like fans have paid their money and they expect you to come out and play them your songs like the first time you ever played them. That's the point where we hate touring." 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 it was disbanding. Thayil said, "It was pretty obvious from everybody's general attitude over the course of the previous half year that there was some dissatisfaction." Cameron later said that Soundgarden was "eaten up by the business." Soundgarden's final release, a greatest hits collection entitled A-Sides
, was released on November 4, 1997. The album includes 17 songs, including one previously-unreleased song titled "Bleed Together
". The track had been recorded during the Down On The Upside recording sessions.
Cornell released a solo album in September 1999, entitled Euphoria Morning
. Later, in 2001, he formed the supergroup Audioslave
with Tom Morello
, Tim Commerford
and Brad Wilk
, then-former members of Rage Against the Machine
, which recorded three albums (Audioslave
(2002), Out of Exile
(2005), and Revelations (2006)). Cornell left Audioslave in early 2007, resulting in the band's break-up. His second solo album, Carry On
, was released in June 2007 and his third solo album, Scream
, produced by Timbaland
, was released in March 2009, both to mixed commercial and critical success. In 2009 Cornell also provided the vocals for "Promise" on Slash
's debut solo album Slash.
Thayil joined forces with former Dead Kennedys
singer Jello Biafra
and 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 2004 side-project album, Probot
. In 2006, Thayil played guitar on the album Altar
, the collaboration between the bands Sunn O)))
and Boris
.
Cameron initially turned his efforts to his side-project Wellwater Conspiracy
, to which both Shepherd and Thayil have contributed. He then worked briefly with The Smashing Pumpkins
on the band's 1998 album, Adore. In 1998, he stepped in on drums for Pearl Jam's Yield Tour
following Jack Irons
's health problems, and subsequently joined Pearl Jam as an official member; he has recorded four albums as the band's drummer (Binaural
(2000), Riot Act
(2002), Pearl Jam
(2006), and Backspacer
(2009)).
Shepherd was the singer on Wellwater Conspiracy's 1997 debut studio album, Declaration of Conformity
, but left the band in 1998. He has toured with Mark Lanegan
and played bass on two of Lanegan's albums, I'll Take Care of You
(1999) and Field Songs
(2001). Shepherd and Cameron lent a hand with recording Tony Iommi's album IOMMI
(2000); they were part of the side-project band Hater
while they were members of Soundgarden and in 2005 Shepherd released the band's long-delayed second album, The 2nd.
Regarding a future Soundgarden reunion, 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 a July 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, Cornell shot down rumors of a reunion, saying that conversations between the band members had been limited to discussion about the release of a box set or B-sides album of Soundgarden rarities, and that there had been no discussion of a reunion at all.
On October 6, 2009, all the members of Soundgarden attended Night 3 of Pearl Jam's four-night stand at the Gibson Amphitheatre
in Universal City, CA. During an encore, Temple of the Dog
reunited for the first time since Pearl Jam
's show at the Santa Barbara Bowl on October 28, 2003. Chris Cornell
joined the band to sing "Hunger Strike
". It was the first public appearance of Soundgarden together since their breakup in April 1997. Consequently, rumors of an impending reunion were circulating on the internet.
, writing: "The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!" The message linked to a website that features a picture of the group performing live and a place for fans to enter their e-mail addresses to get updates on the reunion. Entering that information unlocks an archival video for the song "Get on the Snake", from Soundgarden's second studio album, 1989's Louder Than Love
. The press had speculated that the band would be headlining festivals such as Lollapalooza
, and the Reading & Leeds Festivals in the UK, although no official confirmation was issued by the band. On March 1, 2010, Soundgarden announced to the people who signed their e-mail subscribers that they are re-releasing an old single "Hunted Down" with the song "Nothing to Say" on a 7-inch vinyl released on April 17 only at Record Store Day
. Also, they released "Spoonman" live at the Del Mar Fairgrounds
in San Diego, California from 1996.
Rumors that Soundgarden could headline Lollapalooza were confirmed on April 5, 2010. The band announced on their website that they would play on August 8.
On April 15, 2010, it was announced that Soundgarden would play its first show since 1997 the following day at the Showbox at the Market
in the band's hometown of Seattle. On April 16, an email went out to random Soundgardenworld.com newsletter subscribers with a link to purchase tickets. The show was billed under the pseudonym 'Nudedragons', an anagram
for Soundgarden. Tickets sold out in just 15 minutes. In addition, a contest was posted on the Soundgarden Twitter page, giving one fan a chance to win a ticket to the show.
Billboard confirmed that on August 5, 2010, Soundgarden would play a precursor to their Lollapalooza show in Chicago's Vic Theater. Tickets were only available to members of Soundgarden's fan club at Soundgardenworld.com.
Telephantasm: A Retrospective
, a new Soundgarden compilation album, was packaged with initial shipments of the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
video game and released on September 28, 2010. This is the first time a retail music CD has been packaged with a video game, and is one week before the same CD is available in stores on October 5, 2010. An expanded version of Telephantasm consisting of two CDs and one DVD is currently available for sale. A previously unreleased Soundgarden song—"Black Rain
"—debuted on the Guitar Hero video game and appears on the compilation album. The compilation album achieved platinum certification status after its first day of retail availability. "Black Rain" hit rock radio stations on August 10, 2010. It became the band's first single since 1997.
Asked in August 2010 whether Soundgarden will record new material, Cornell replied "it would be exciting to record one song, to hear how Soundgarden-ish that might be, this much time later. But for me, it's been more of a trip relearning the songs and playing them together. Some of the songs we're approaching, we've never played live."
Soundgarden was the second musical guest on the show Conan, making it their first television appearance in 13 years.
On November 26, 2010, (Black Friday
) Soundgarden released a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 7-inch vinyl called The Telephantasm for independent record stores. The vinyl features two previously unreleased tracks, "The Telephantasm
" and a live version of "Gun".
In a December 2010 interview with Canada's 102.1 The Edge
, guitarist Kim Thayil
revealed that Soundgarden is planning a live album and wanted to do "B-side albums and that might be two or three albums". Asked if new material is in the works, Thayil replied, "When we get together to rehearse, it's natural for us, being guys who have a rapport, to start jamming and inventing. We've come up with instrumental, and certainly on occasion, lyrical ideas. I'm not confirming anything, but it's impossible for us to get in a room and not come up with ideas. It's very likely in the future, perhaps sooner than later, we'll get together and de-emphasise the rehearsing part and emphasise the jamming part." Thayil also mentioned that Soundgarden would be "doing other shows and working on releasing some albums from deeper in our catalog." The year before, Thayil named several unreleased tracks that would probably be included in the box set such as "Dirty Candy", "Ocean Fronts", "No Shame", "Summation", "Beast", and "Open Up".
On January 13, 2011, Soundgarden announced that they will release their first live album, Live on I-5
, on March 22. A full track listing has been posted.
On February 15, 2011, it was announced on Soundgarden's homepage that they had written new material and hoped to release a new album at some point in 2011.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Cornell
confirmed that Adam Kasper
would produce the new album. Four days later, the band stated it would consist of material that was "90 percent new" and the rest consisting of updated versions of older ideas. They also noted that they had 12 to 14 songs that were "kind of ready to go".
On April 14, 2011, Soundgarden announced a summer tour consisting of four dates all in July with more dates to come. Three days later, Kim Thayil explained that the new album would sound quite different as the band did not want to "make another grunge or metal record". On April 29, 2011, drummer Matt Cameron
told MTV
that the album would be finished by "the end of May". However, Thayil told Reuters.com
in May 2011 that it may not surface until 2012. He explained, "If we were to say, 'Let's get this record out by the fall', I think it would put a lot of pressure on us and the quality would at some point suffer. And the more we enjoy it, the more our fans should end up enjoying it."
On June 1, 2011 it was announced that Soundgarden would be the headliner for The Voodoo Experience
at City Park in New Orleans Halloween weekend 2011.
On June 21, 2011 Kim Thayil
reported that some songs sound "similar in a sense to Down on the Upside
" and that the album would be "picking up where we left off. There are some heavy moments, and there are some fast songs." The next day, Chris Cornell
reported that the new album would not be released until the spring of 2012.
On September 30, 2011 it was announced that Soundgarden would play the 20th Big Day Out
festival of Australia and New Zealand in the upcoming year.
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." The influence of Led Zeppelin
was evident, with Q
magazine noting that Soundgarden were "in thrall to '70s rock, but contemptuous of the genre's overt sexism and machismo." According to Sub Pop, the band had "a hunky lead singer and fused Led Zeppelin and the Butthole Surfers." The Butthole Surfers
' mix of punk, heavy metal and noise rock was a major influence on the early work of Soundgarden. Soundgarden, like other early grunge bands, were also influenced by British post-punk bands such as Gang of Four
and Bauhaus
which were popular in the early 1980s Seattle scene. Soundgarden broadened its musical range with its later releases. By 1994’s Superunknown
, the band began to incorporate more pop
and psychedelic
influences into its music. As a member of Soundgarden, Cornell became known for his wide vocal range
and his dark, existentialist
lyrics.
Soundgarden often utilized alternative tunings in its songs. Many Soundgarden songs were performed in drop D tuning
, including "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", "Spoonman", "Black Hole Sun" and "Black Rain". The E strings of the instruments were at times tuned even lower, such as on "Rusty Cage", where the lower E 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–B tuning and "Burden in My Hand", "Head Down" and "Pretty Noose" in a tuning of C-G-C-G-G-E".
Soundgarden also used unorthodox time signature
s; while such songs as "Jesus Christ Pose", "4th Of July", and "Blow Up The Outside World" are in typical 4/4 time, "Outshined" is in 7/4, "My Wave" is in 5/4 and 4/4, "He Didn't" is in 5/4 and 6/4, "Black Hole Sun" is in 4/4 and 9/8, "The Day I Tried To Live" switches between 15/8 and 4/4, "Fell On Black Days" and "Somewhere" are in 6/4, "Never The Machine Forever" and "Black Rain" are in 9/8, "Beyond The Wheel", "Get On The Snake" and "New Damage" are in 9/4, "Face Pollution" uses 9/8 and 6/4, "Rusty Cage" is in 4/4, 7/4, and 19/8, "Ugly Truth" is in 4/4 and 6/8, "Limo Wreck" alternates between 12/8, 15/8, 9/8, and 6/8, "Half" is in 5/8 with a measure of 11/16 before a 4/4 section, and "Spoonman" alternates between 7/4 choruses and 4/4 verses with a section in 6/4. 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."
frontman Kurt Cobain
was a fan of Soundgarden's early music, and reportedly Soundgarden's involvement with Sub Pop influenced Cobain to sign Nirvana with the label. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label when the band joined the roster of A&M Records in 1989. Soundgarden, however, did not achieve initial success, and only with successive album releases did the band meet with increased sales and wider attention. They were ranked #14 on VH1
's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
Regarding Soundgarden's legacy, in a 2007 interview Cornell said,
Soundgarden has been praised for its technical musical ability and the expansion of its sound as the band's career progressed. "Heavy yet ethereal, powerful yet always-in-control, Soundgarden's music was a study in contrasts," said Henry Wilson of Hit Parader
. Wilson proclaimed the band's music as "a brilliant display of technical proficiency tempered by heart-felt emotion." Soundgarden is one of the bands credited with the development of the genre of alternative metal
, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of Allmusic stating that "Soundgarden made a place for heavy metal in alternative rock." Ben Ratliff of Rolling Stone defined Soundgarden as the "standard-bearers of stoner rock
" during the 1990s. The band inspired and influenced a number of bands, ranging from Between the Buried and Me
to The Dillinger Escape Plan
.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
, lead guitarist Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil is an American guitarist best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden, which he cofounded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984...
, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto
Hiro Yamamoto
Hiro Yamamoto is an American bassist who was a founding member of grunge band Soundgarden, along with Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell in 1984...
. Matt Cameron
Matt Cameron
Matthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...
became the band's full time drummer in 1986 while bassist Ben Shepherd
Ben Shepherd
Ben Shepherd is an American musician, two-time Grammy Award Winner best known for playing bass in the grunge band Soundgarden from 1990 until the band's 1997 break-up...
became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990.
Soundgarden was one of the seminal bands in the creation of grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
, a style of alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
that developed in Seattle, and was one of a number of grunge bands signed to the record label Sub Pop
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label (A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, in 1988), though the band did not achieve commercial success until they popularized "grunge" in the early 1990s with Seattle contemporaries Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...
and Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
.
Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown
Superunknown
Superunknown is the fourth album by American grunge band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994 through A&M Records. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger...
, which debuted at number one on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts and yielded the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning singles "Black Hole Sun
Black Hole Sun
"Black Hole Sun" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris finneran, "Black Hole Sun" was released in 1994 as the third single from the band's fourth studio album Superunknown . It is arguably the band's most recognizable and most popular song, and remains a well...
" and "Spoonman
Spoonman
"Spoonman" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Spoonman" was released on February 15, 1994 as the first single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown . "Spoonman" is often credited as one of the songs that launched Soundgarden's career...
". In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction. On January 1, 2010, Cornell alluded to a Soundgarden reunion. On April 5, 2010, it was announced that Soundgarden would play Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 6–8, 2010. A secret reunion concert under the name "Nudedragons" was held at the Showbox at the Market in Seattle on April 16, 2010. It was Soundgarden's first show since 1997. The band is currently working on a new album, which is slated for release in the spring of 2012.
As of 2010, Soundgarden had sold over 9 million records in the United States, and an estimated 21 million worldwide.
Formation and early recordings (1984–1988)
Soundgarden's origins can be found in a band called The Shemps, which performed around Seattle in the early 1980s, and featured bassist Hiro YamamotoHiro Yamamoto
Hiro Yamamoto is an American bassist who was a founding member of grunge band Soundgarden, along with Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell in 1984...
and drummer and singer Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
. Following Yamamoto's departure, the band recruited guitarist Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil is an American guitarist best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden, which he cofounded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984...
as its new bassist. Thayil had moved to Seattle from Park Forest, Illinois
Park Forest, Illinois
Park Forest is a village located south of Chicago in Cook County and Will County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 23,462...
, with Yamamoto and Bruce Pavitt
Bruce Pavitt
-History:After briefly attending Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois and subsequently transferring to The Evergreen State College in Washington State, Pavitt started a fanzine entitled Subterranean Pop in Olympia, Washington in 1980, about American independent rock bands. Three cassette...
, who would later start the independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Sub Pop
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
. Cornell and Yamamoto stayed in contact, and after The Shemps broke up Cornell and Yamamoto started jamming
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
together, and were eventually joined by Thayil.
Soundgarden was formed in 1984 by Cornell (drums and vocals), Yamamoto (bass), and Thayil (guitar). The band named themselves after a wind-channeling pipe sculpture, "A Sound Garden
A Sound Garden
A Sound Garden is a public art work on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration property adjacent to Magnuson Park in Seattle, Washington. It was created in 1982 by Doug Hollis...
", located on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
property at 7600 Sand Point Way next to Magnuson Park
Magnuson Park (Seattle)
Magnuson Park is a 350 acre park on Sand Point at Pontiac Bay, Lake Washington, in the Sand Point neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The park is the second largest in Seattle, after 534 acre Discovery Park in Magnolia. It is located on the spot of the former Naval Station Puget Sound...
, Seattle. Cornell originally played drums while singing, but in 1985 the band enlisted Scott Sundquist
Scott Sundquist
-Soundgarden:In 1985, Soundgarden was a recently formed three-piece band with Chris Cornell on vocals and drums, Kim Thayil on guitar, and Hiro Yamamoto on bass guitar. The band enlisted Sundquist as their drummer so Cornell could focus on the vocals. They traveled around playing various gigs with...
to allow Cornell to concentrate on vocals. The band traveled around playing various concerts with this line-up for about a year. Their first recordings were three songs that appeared on a 1986 compilation album for C/Z Records
C/Z Records
C/Z Records is a Seattle-based record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale with the release of the now-legendary, Deep Six LP, which collected the earliest recordings of the real pro-genitors of what later came to be known as grunge...
called Deep Six
Deep Six (album)
The Deep Six compilation was released March 1986 . It was the very first release by C/Z Records, a few months before the release of Sub Pop 100 from Sub Pop Records. It was also arguably the second record to influence the later "Seattle sound" that would be known worldwide as grunge...
. It also featured songs by fellow grunge pioneers Green River
Green River (band)
Green River was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington that was active from 1984 to 1988. Although the band had little commercial impact outside of its native Seattle, Green River proved to have significant influence on the genre later known as grunge, both with its own music and with the...
, Skin Yard
Skin Yard
Skin Yard was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on their contemporaries – most notably Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, The Melvins, and Green River – alongside whom they are considered...
, Malfunkshun
Malfunkshun
Malfunkshun is a band formed in 1980 by Andrew Wood and his brother Kevin Wood. Malfunkshun, along with Skin Yard, Green River, U-Men, and Melvins are considered the "godfathers" of grunge, with Malfunkshun being the first of those bands to form.-History:...
, The U-Men
The U-Men
The U-Men were a Seattle-based post-punk band active in the early to late 1980s. They toured extensively across America and even had a song by the Butthole Surfers named in their honor...
, and The Melvins
The Melvins
The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...
. In 1986, Sundquist left the band to spend time with his family, and was replaced by Matt Cameron
Matt Cameron
Matthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...
, the drummer from Skin Yard
Skin Yard
Skin Yard was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on their contemporaries – most notably Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, The Melvins, and Green River – alongside whom they are considered...
.
KCMU 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. Poneman offered to contribute $20,000 in funding for Sub Pop, effectively turning it into a full-fledged record label. Soundgarden signed to Sub Pop, and the label released "Hunted Down
Hunted Down
"Hunted Down" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Featuring lyrics written by frontman Chris Cornell and music written by guitarist Kim Thayil, "Hunted Down" was released in June 1987 as the band's first single. It is the first track on the band's first release, the Screaming Life EP...
" in 1987 as the band's first single. The B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of the "Hunted Down" single, "Nothing to Say", appeared on the KCMU compilation tape Bands That Will Make Money, which was distributed to record companies, many of whom showed interest in Soundgarden. Through Sub Pop, the band released the Screaming Life
Screaming Life
-Outtakes:The song "Toy Box" was recorded during the sessions for Screaming Life. It was later featured on the "Flower" single. The instrumental track "The Telephantasm" was recorded mostly during these sessions and was released as a separate single in late 2010 and as an iTunes bonus track on...
EP in 1987, and the Fopp
Fopp (EP)
-Personnel:Soundgarden*Matt Cameron – drums*Chris Cornell – vocals*Kim Thayil – guitar*Hiro Yamamoto – bass guitarProduction*Drew Canulette – engineering*Steve Fisk – production...
EP in 1988. A combination of the two was issued as Screaming Life/Fopp
Screaming Life/Fopp
Screaming Life/Fopp is a compilation album by the American rock band Soundgarden. It was released on May 11, 1990 through Sub Pop Records.-Overview:...
in 1990.
Debut album, major label signing, and rift with audience (1988–1990)
Though the band was being courted by major labels, in 1988 it signed to the smaller label SST RecordsSST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment...
for its debut album, Ultramega OK
Ultramega OK
Ultramega OK is the debut studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on October 31, 1988 through SST Records. Following the release of the EPs Screaming Life , and Fopp , both for the Sub Pop record label, Soundgarden signed with the independent record label SST and went to work...
, released on October 31, 1988. Cornell said that the band "made a huge mistake with Ultramega OK" since they used a producer suggested by SST who "didn't know what was happening in Seattle." On that album, Soundgarden demonstrates, according to Steve Huey of Allmusic, a "Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
/MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
-meets-Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
/Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
sound." The band's first music video, "Flower", was directed by Mark Miremont
Mark Miremont
Mark Miremont is an American philosopher, photographer, filmmaker, music video director and occasional street artist.He was born in Madrid, Spain and studied philosophy at UCLA and Harvard...
, and aired regularly on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's 120 Minutes
120 Minutes
120 Minutes is a television show in the United States dedicated to alternative music, originally airing on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then on MTV's sister channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003....
. Soundgarden supported Ultramega OK with a tour in the United States in the spring of 1989 and a tour in Europe, which began in May 1989 and was the band's first overseas tour. Ultramega OK earned the band a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination for Best Metal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre...
in 1990.
After touring in support of Ultramega OK the band signed with A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, which 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
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
. There were fashion issues and social issues, and people thought we no longer belonged to their scene, to their particular sub-culture." The band subsequently began work on its first album for a major label, and personnel difficulties caused a shift in the band's songwriting process, according to Cornell: "At the time Hiro [Yamamoto] had excommunicated himself from the band and there wasn't a free-flowing system as far as music went, so I ended up writing a lot of it." On September 5, 1989, the band released its second album, Louder Than Love
Louder than Love
Louder Than Love is the second studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on September 5, 1989 through A&M Records. After touring in support of its first full-length studio album, Ultramega OK , Soundgarden signed with A&M and began work on its first album for a major label...
, which saw the band take "a step toward the [heavy] metal mainstream," according to Steve Huey of Allmusic, describing "a slow, grinding, detuned mountain of Sabbath/Zeppelin riffs and Chris Cornell wailing." Because of some of the lyrics, most notably on "Hands All Over" and "Big Dumb Sex", the band faced various retail and distribution problems upon the album's release. Louder Than Love became the band's first album to chart on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, peaking at number 108 on the chart in 1990.
A month before touring for Louder Than Love commenced, bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who was becoming frustrated that he wasn't contributing much, left to go back to college. He was replaced by Jason Everman
Jason Everman
Jason Mark Everman is an American guitarist/bassist who played with Nirvana and Soundgarden. Everman is currently studying philosophy at Columbia University.-Nirvana:...
, formerly of Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
. The band toured North America from December 1989 to March 1990, opening for Voivod
Voivod (band)
Voivod are a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière, Quebec, Canada. Their musical style has changed several times since the band's origin in the early 1980s...
, which was supporting their album Nothingface
Nothingface (album)
Nothingface is the fifth album by Canadian thrash metal/progressive metal band Voivod. It was released by Mechanic/MCA Records on October 13, 1989. The album marked a change for the band, expanding their sound and exploring more progressive sounds...
tour, with Faith No More
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, vocalist Michael Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike...
also serving as an opening act at the beginning and end of the tour. The band then went on to tour Europe. Bassist Jason Everman was fired immediately after Soundgarden completed its promotional tour for Louder Than Love in mid-1990; Thayil said that "Jason just didn't work out." Louder Than Love spawned the EP Loudest Love
Loudest Love
Loudest Love is an EP by the American rock band Soundgarden. It was released in October 1990 through A&M Records.-Overview:The EP was first released in Japan, and later released in the United States. The track listing is the same as that for the "Loud Love" single, but with the addition of "Hands...
and the video compilation Louder Than Live
Louder Than Live
Louder Than Live is a home video by the American rock band Soundgarden featuring songs performed live at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, California on December 7, 1989 and December 10, 1989. It was released on May 22, 1990.-Overview:...
, both released in 1990.
Established lineup, censorship, and rise in popularity (1991–1993)
Bassist Ben ShepherdBen Shepherd
Ben Shepherd is an American musician, two-time Grammy Award Winner best known for playing bass in the grunge band Soundgarden from 1990 until the band's 1997 break-up...
replaced previous bassist Jason Everman and the new line-up recorded Soundgarden's third album in 1991. Cornell said that Shepherd brought a "fresh and creative" approach to the recording sessions, and the band as a whole said that his knowledge of music and writing skills redefined the band. The resulting album, Badmotorfinger
Badmotorfinger
Badmotorfinger is the third studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on October 8, 1991 through A&M Records. After touring in support of its previous album, Louder Than Love , Soundgarden began the recording sessions for its next album with new bassist Ben Shepherd...
, was released on October 8, 1991. Steve Huey of Allmusic said that the songwriting on Badmotorfinger "takes a quantum leap in focus and consistency." He added, "It's surprisingly cerebral and arty music for a band courting mainstream metal audiences." Thayil suggested that the album's lyrics are "like reading a novel [about] man's conflict with himself and society, or the government, or his family, or the economy, or anything." The first single from Badmotorfinger, "Jesus Christ Pose
Jesus Christ Pose
"Jesus Christ Pose" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden, released in 1991 as the first single from the band's third studio album, Badmotorfinger...
", garnered attention when MTV decided to ban its corresponding music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
in 1991. Many listeners were outraged by the song and its video, perceiving it as anti-Christian. The band received death threats while on tour in the United Kingdom in support of the album. Cornell explained that the lyrics criticize public figures who use religion (particularly the image of Jesus Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
) to portray themselves as being persecuted. Although overshadowed at the time of its release by the sudden popularity of Nirvana's Nevermind
Nevermind
Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records...
, the focus of attention brought by Nevermind to the Seattle scene helped Soundgarden gain wider attention. The singles "Outshined
Outshined
"Outshined" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Outshined" was released in 1991 as the second single from the band's third studio album, Badmotorfinger...
" and "Rusty Cage
Rusty Cage
"Rusty Cage" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Rusty Cage" was released in 1992 as the third single from the band's third studio album, Badmotorfinger . The song became an instant hit and was released as a single in several different formats...
" were able to find an audience at alternative rock radio and MTV. Badmotorfinger was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1992. The album was among the 100 top selling albums of 1992.
Following the release of Badmotorfinger, Soundgarden went on a tour in North America that ran from October 1991 to November 1991. Afterward, the band took a slot opening for Guns N' Roses in North America on the band's Use Your Illusion Tour
Use Your Illusion Tour
The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by the rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from January 20, 1991 to July 17, 1993. It was not only the band's longest tour, but one of the longest concert tours in rock history, consisting of 194 shows in 27 countries...
. Soundgarden was personally selected by Guns N' Roses as its opening band. The band took a slot opening for Skid Row in North America in February 1992 on the band's Slave to the Grind
Slave to the Grind
Slave to the Grind is Skid Row's second album, released on June 11, 1991. Slave to the Grind is notable for being the first heavy metal album to enter the Billboard 200 at #1 during the SoundScan era,....
tour, and then headed to Europe for a month-long headlining theater tour. The band returned for a tour in the United States and subsequently rejoined Guns N' Roses in the summer of 1992 in Europe as part of the Use Your Illusion Tour along with fellow opening act Faith No More. Regarding the time spent opening for Guns N' Roses, Cornell said, "It wasn't a whole lot of fun going out in front of 40,000 people for 35 minutes every day. Most of them hadn't heard our songs and didn't care about them. It was a bizarre thing." The band would go on to play the 1992 Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
, Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
, and Ministry
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
, among others. In anticipation of the band's appearance at Lollapalooza, a limited edition of Badmotorfinger was released in 1992 with a second disc containing the EP Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas (a palindrome
Palindrome
A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction, with general allowances for adjustments to punctuation and word dividers....
), featuring Soundgarden's cover of Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
's "Into the Void
Into the Void (Black Sabbath song)
"Into the Void" is a song by Black Sabbath, released in 1971 on their album, Master of Reality. An early version of "Into the Void" called "Spanish Sid" was released on the deluxe edition of Master of Reality...
", titled "Into the Void (Sealth)", which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1993. The band later released the video compilation Motorvision
Motorvision
Motorvision is a home video by the American rock band Soundgarden. It was released on November 17, 1992.- Overview :It features eight songs performed live at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington on March 5, 1992 and March 6, 1992 during the Badmotorfinger tour. Allmusic gave it three out of...
, which was filmed at the Paramount Theatre
Paramount Theatre (Seattle, Washington)
The Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington is a 2,807-seat performing arts venue at 9th Avenue and Pine Street in Downtown Seattle in the United States of America. The theater originally opened March 1, 1928 as the Seattle Theatre with 3,000 seats, the theater was placed on the National Register...
in 1992. The band also made an appearance in the movie Singles performing "Birth Ritual". The song appeared on the soundtrack, as did a Cornell solo song, "Seasons".
In 1993, the band contributed the track "Show Me" to the AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative
No Alternative
-Home video track listing:# Matthew Sweet "Superdeformed"#*directed by Kevin Kerslake# Neneh Cherry "Athens, Georgia 1993"#*directed by Jim McKay & Michael Stipe# Urge Overkill "Take a Walk"#*directed by Matt Mahurin...
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
.
Breakthrough album and mainstream success (1994–1995)
Soundgarden began working on its fourth album after touring in support of Badmotorfinger. Cornell said that while working on the album, the band members allowed each other more freedom than on past records, and Thayil observed that the band spent a lot more time working on the actual recording of the songs than on previous records. Released on March 8, 1994, SuperunknownSuperunknown
Superunknown is the fourth album by American grunge band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994 through A&M Records. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger...
became the band's breakthrough album, driven by the singles "Spoonman
Spoonman
"Spoonman" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Spoonman" was released on February 15, 1994 as the first single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown . "Spoonman" is often credited as one of the songs that launched Soundgarden's career...
", "The Day I Tried to Live
The Day I Tried to Live
"The Day I Tried to Live" is a song by the American grunge band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "The Day I Tried to Live" was released in 1994 as the second single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown . The song peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock...
", "Black Hole Sun
Black Hole Sun
"Black Hole Sun" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris finneran, "Black Hole Sun" was released in 1994 as the third single from the band's fourth studio album Superunknown . It is arguably the band's most recognizable and most popular song, and remains a well...
", "My Wave
My Wave
"My Wave" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Featuring lyrics written by frontman Chris Cornell and music co-written by Cornell and guitarist Kim Thayil, "My Wave" was released in 1994 as the fourth single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown...
", and "Fell on Black Days"; Superunknown debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. The songs on Superunknown captured the creativity and heaviness of the band's earlier works, while showcasing the group's newly evolving style. Lyrically, the album was quite dark and mysterious, and of it is often interpreted to be dealing with substance abuse, suicide, and depression. Cornell was inspired by the writings of Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...
at the time. The album was also more experimental than previous releases, with some songs incorporating Middle-Eastern or Indian music. J. D. Considine
J. D. Considine
J. D. Considine is an established music critic who has been writing about music professionally since 1977. His work has been published in numerous newspapers and music magazines, and he has contributed to several books. Over the years, he has claimed to have put over three million words into...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said Superunknown "demonstrates far greater range than many bands manage in an entire career." He also stated, "At its best, Superunknown offers a more harrowing depiction of alienation and despair than anything on In Utero
In Utero
In Utero is the third and final studio album by the American grunge band Nirvana, released on September 13, 1993, on DGC Records. Nirvana intended the record to diverge significantly from the polished production of its previous album, Nevermind...
." The music video for "Black Hole Sun" became a hit on MTV and received the award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video was first given out in , and it was one of the four original genre categories added to the VMAs that year. That year, though, the award was called the Best Heavy Metal Video. From 1990 to 1995, the award was called the Best Metal/Hard Rock Video, and...
at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
and in 1995 it received the Clio Award
Clio Awards
The Clio Awards are annual awards bestowed to reward innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design and communication. The categories include work in nearly all types of media, and the judges are advertising professionals from around the world....
for Alternative Music Video. Soundgarden won two Grammy Awards in 1995; "Black Hole Sun" received the award for Best Hard Rock Performance
Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, for works containing quality performances in the hard rock music genre...
and "Spoonman" received the award for Best Metal Performance. Superunknown was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre...
in 1995. Superunknown has been certified five times platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in the United States and remains Soundgarden's most successful album.
The band began touring in January 1994 in Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, areas where the record came out early and where the band had never toured before. This round of touring ended in February 1994, and then in March 1994 the band moved on to Europe. They began a theater tour of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on May 27, 1994, with the opening acts Tad
Tad (band)
Tad was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington led by Tad Doyle. Among the first of the many bands which came out of Seattle in the grunge era, Tad was notable for the fact that its music had a noticeable 1970s metal influence, rather than the punk which influenced most other grunge bands...
and Eleven
Eleven (band)
Eleven was a hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1990 by Alain Johannes , Natasha Shneider , and Jack Irons .-History:...
. In late 1994, after touring in support of Superunknown, doctors discovered that Cornell had severely strained his vocal cords
Vocal folds
The vocal folds, also known commonly as vocal cords, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the larynx...
, and Soundgarden canceled several shows to avoid causing any permanent damage. Cornell said, "I think we kinda overdid it! We were playing five or six nights a week and my voice pretty much took a beating. Towards the end of the American tour I felt like I could still kinda sing, but I wasn't really giving the band a fair shake. You don't buy a ticket to see some guy croak for two hours! That seemed like kind of a rip off." The band would make up the dates later in 1995. Superunknown spawned the EP Songs from the Superunknown
Songs from the Superunknown
Songs from the Superunknown is an EP by the American rock band Soundgarden. It was released on November 21, 1995 through A&M Records. It was released on the same day as the CD-ROM Alive in the Superunknown.-Overview:...
and the CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
Alive in the Superunknown, both released in 1995.
Internal conflicts and breakup (1996–1997)
Following the worldwide tour in support of Superunknown, the band members began working on what would become their final album, having chosen to produce the record themselves. However, tensions within the group reportedly arose during the sessions, with Thayil and Cornell allegedly clashing over Cornell's desire to shift away from the heavy guitar riffing that had become the band's trademark. Cornell said, "By the time we were finished, it felt like it had been kind of hard, like it was a long, hard haul. But there was stuff we were discovering." The band's fifth album, Down on the UpsideDown on the Upside
Down on the Upside is the fifth studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on May 21, 1996 through A&M Records. Following a worldwide tour in support of its previous album, Superunknown , Soundgarden commenced work on a new album...
, was released on May 21, 1996. The album was notably less heavy than the group's preceding albums, and marked a further departure from the band's grunge roots; Soundgarden explained at the time that it wanted to experiment with other sounds, which included acoustic instrumentation
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
: David Browne of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said, "Few bands since Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
have so crisply mixed instruments both acoustic and electric." The overall mood of the album's lyrics is less dark as on previous Soundgarden albums, with Cornell describing some songs as "self-affirming." The album spawned several singles, including "Pretty Noose
Pretty Noose
"Pretty Noose" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Pretty Noose" was released in March 1996 as the first single from the band's fifth studio album, Down on the Upside . The song reached number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart...
", "Burden in My Hand
Burden in My Hand
"Burden in My Hand" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Burden in My Hand" was released on September 18, 1996 as the second single from the band's fifth studio album, Down on the Upside . The song topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart,...
", and "Blow Up the Outside World
Blow Up the Outside World
"Blow Up the Outside World" is a song by the American grunge band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Blow Up the Outside World" was released on November 18, 1996 as the third single from the band's fifth studio album, Down on the Upside . The song topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock...
". "Pretty Noose" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1997. Despite favorable reviews, the album did not match the sales of Superunknown.
The band took a slot on the 1996 Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
tour with Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
, who had insisted on Soundgarden's appearance on the tour. After Lollapalooza, the band embarked on a worldwide tour, and already-existing tensions increased during that tour. When asked whether the band hated touring, Cornell replied "We really enjoy it to a point, and then it gets tedious, because it becomes repetitious. You feel like fans have paid their money and they expect you to come out and play them your songs like the first time you ever played them. That's the point where we hate touring." At the tour's final stop in Honolulu
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
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 it was disbanding. Thayil said, "It was pretty obvious from everybody's general attitude over the course of the previous half year that there was some dissatisfaction." Cameron later said that Soundgarden was "eaten up by the business." Soundgarden's final release, a greatest hits collection entitled A-Sides
A-Sides
A-Sides is a compilation album by the American rock band Soundgarden with songs spanning the band's thirteen year career. It was released on November 4, 1997 through A&M Records.-Overview:...
, was released on November 4, 1997. The album includes 17 songs, including one previously-unreleased song titled "Bleed Together
Bleed Together
"Bleed Together" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, "Bleed Together" was first released in the United States on Soundgarden's post-breakup greatest hits album, A-Sides . It had previously appeared as a B-side on some foreign copies of the band's 1996...
". The track had been recorded during the Down On The Upside recording sessions.
Post-breakup activities (1998–2009)
Euphoria Morning
Euphoria Morning is the first solo studio album released by American musician Chris Cornell. It was released on September 21, 1999 through Interscope Records. Euphoria Morning sold over 75,000 copies in its first week of release and eventually sold 343,000 copies in the U.S. alone...
. Later, in 2001, he formed the supergroup Audioslave
Audioslave
Audioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...
with Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
, Tim Commerford
Tim Commerford
Timothy Robert Commerford , also known by his various monikers/stage names is the bassist/backing vocalist for American alternative metal band Rage Against The Machine and the now-defunct supergroup Audioslave.-Biography:Tim Commerford was born on February...
and Brad Wilk
Brad Wilk
Brad Wilk is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the American rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.-Family and early life:...
, then-former members of Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
, which recorded three albums (Audioslave
Audioslave (album)
Audioslave is the eponymous debut studio album by the American rock supergroup Audioslave and was released on November 19, 2002 . The album's music features Chris Cornell providing his familiar classic rock-esque wails and croons to the songs. It features the hit singles "Cochise", "Show Me How to...
(2002), Out of Exile
Out of Exile
Out of Exile is the second studio album by the American rock supergroup Audioslave, first released on May 23, 2005 internationally and a day later in the United States. It is the band's only number one album on the Billboard 200. Four singles were released: "Be Yourself", "Your Time Has Come",...
(2005), and Revelations (2006)). Cornell left Audioslave in early 2007, resulting in the band's break-up. His second solo album, Carry On
Carry On (Chris Cornell album)
Carry On is the second solo studio album released by American musician Chris Cornell. It was released on May 28, 2007 in the United Kingdom and June 5, 2007 in the United States. This album is Cornell's second after Euphoria Morning in 1999, and his first since leaving his former band Audioslave...
, was released in June 2007 and his third solo album, Scream
Scream (Chris Cornell album)
Scream is the third solo studio album by American musician Chris Cornell. Released on March 10, 2009 through Suretone Records and Mosley Music Group, it marked a shift from Cornell's previous musical efforts with the exclusion of some guitar and rock elements that were replaced with producer...
, produced by Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
, was released in March 2009, both to mixed commercial and critical success. In 2009 Cornell also provided the vocals for "Promise" on Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
's debut solo album Slash.
Thayil joined forces with former Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
singer Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic
Krist Novoselic
Krist Anthony Novoselic II is a Croatian-American rock musician, best known for being the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana. After Nirvana ended, Novoselic formed Sweet 75 and then Eyes Adrift, releasing one album with each band...
and drummer Gina Mainwal
Gina Mainwal
Gina Mainwal is an American rock musician and filmmaker. She is best known as the drummer for Sweet 75, a band formed by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic after Nirvana disbanded...
for one show, performing as The No WTO Combo during the WTO
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
ministerial conference in Seattle on December 1, 1999. Thayil later contributed guitar tracks to Steve Fisk
Steve Fisk
Steve Fisk is a Washington-based audio engineer, record producer and musician.Fisk joined the instrumental rock band Pell Mell in 1982. With vocalist Shawn Smith, he formed Pigeonhed, which released its first album in 1993....
's 2001 album, 999 Levels of Undo, as well as Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
's 2004 side-project album, Probot
Probot
Probot was a heavy metal side project of ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters rhythm guitarist and lead-singer Dave Grohl. An album was recorded out of the material and released in February 2004...
. In 2006, Thayil played guitar on the album Altar
Altar (album)
Altar is a collaboration album between Japanese doom band Boris and American drone doom duo Sunn O))), released on October 31, 2006 through Southern Lord Records. A limited two-CD edition was released on October 23 via Southern Lord with a 28 minute bonus track with Sunn O))), Boris, and Dylan...
, the collaboration between the bands Sunn O)))
Sunn O)))
Sunn O))) is an American doom metal band known for its synthesis of diverse genres including drone, ambient, noise, and black metal. Supported by a varying cast of collaborators, the band has two core members: Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson .-History:Sunn O))) is named after the Sunn...
and Boris
Boris (band)
is a Japanese experimental rock band, known for often combining and switching between different music genres including drone metal, sludge metal, noise rock, psychedelic rock, ambient and pop...
.
Cameron initially turned his efforts to his side-project Wellwater Conspiracy
Wellwater Conspiracy
Wellwater Conspiracy was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1993. The band was created by members of the grunge-era side project Hater. Wellwater Conspiracy featured Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and ex-Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain. The band originally featured...
, to which both Shepherd and Thayil have contributed. He then worked briefly with The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
on the band's 1998 album, Adore. In 1998, he stepped in on drums for Pearl Jam's Yield Tour
Yield Tour
The Yield Tour was a concert tour by the American rock band Pearl Jam to support its fifth album, Yield.-History:Pearl Jam promoted Yield with tours in Oceania, and North America in 1998. Following the tour of Australia and before its summer tour of North America began, drummer Jack Irons left the...
following Jack Irons
Jack Irons
Jack Steven Irons is an American musician who is best known as the original drummer of the American rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as the former drummer for Eleven and Pearl Jam. He has also worked with Joe Strummer and The Latino Rockabilly War, Redd Kross, Raging Slab, Spinnerette...
's health problems, and subsequently joined Pearl Jam as an official member; he has recorded four albums as the band's drummer (Binaural
Binaural (album)
Binaural is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on May 16, 2000 through Epic Records. Following a full-scale tour in support of its previous album, Yield , Pearl Jam took a short break before reconvening toward the end of 1999 to commence work on a new...
(2000), Riot Act
Riot Act (album)
Riot Act is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released November 12, 2002 through Epic Records. Following a full-scale tour in support of its previous album, Binaural , Pearl Jam took a year-long break. The band then reconvened in the beginning of 2002 and...
(2002), Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam (album)
Pearl Jam is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam and its debut and only release for J Records...
(2006), and Backspacer
Backspacer
Backspacer is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on September 20, 2009. Pearl Jam began work for the follow-up to its previous album—2006's Pearl Jam—in early 2008. In 2009, the band began to build on instrumental and demo tracks written...
(2009)).
Shepherd was the singer on Wellwater Conspiracy's 1997 debut studio album, Declaration of Conformity
Declaration of Conformity
Japanese bonus tracks-Personnel:Wellwater Conspiracy*Matt Cameron – drums, vocals, mini-moog, simulated rain, acoustic guitar, guitar solo on "Lucy Leave"*John McBain – guitars, bass guitar, drums on "Far Side of Your Moon" and "Palomar Observatory"...
, but left the band in 1998. He has toured with Mark Lanegan
Mark Lanegan
Mark Lanegan is an American rock musician and songwriter. Lanegan began his music career in the 1980s, forming the grunge group Screaming Trees with Gary Lee Conner, Van Conner and Mark Pickerel. During his time in the band Lanegan would start a low-key solo career...
and played bass on two of Lanegan's albums, I'll Take Care of You
I'll Take Care of You
I'll Take Care of You is the fourth solo album by former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan. This album consists of cover songs.It features Lanegan's interpretation of songs from a wide variety of songwriters, including Tim Rose, Tim Hardin, Booker T. Jones, and Buck Owens...
(1999) and Field Songs
Field Songs
Field Songs is an album by Mark Lanegan, released in 2001 on the Beggars Banquet label.The two largest instrumental contributors are Mike Johnson and Ben Shepherd. The album also features Duff McKagan of Velvet Revolver as well as Lanegan's ex-wife, Wendy Rae Fowler.The album represents a...
(2001). Shepherd and Cameron lent a hand with recording Tony Iommi's album IOMMI
Iommi (album)
Iommi is a heavy metal album by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and myriad guest musicians and vocalists, including:*Henry Rollins of Black Flag and Rollins Band*Skin of Skunk Anansie*Brian May of Queen*Dave Grohl of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters...
(2000); they were part of the side-project band Hater
Hater (band)
Hater was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1993. The band formed as a side project mostly under the direction of Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd...
while they were members of Soundgarden and in 2005 Shepherd released the band's long-delayed second album, The 2nd.
Regarding a future Soundgarden reunion, 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 a July 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, Cornell shot down rumors of a reunion, saying that conversations between the band members had been limited to discussion about the release of a box set or B-sides album of Soundgarden rarities, and that there had been no discussion of a reunion at all.
On October 6, 2009, all the members of Soundgarden attended Night 3 of Pearl Jam's four-night stand at the Gibson Amphitheatre
Gibson Amphitheatre
The Gibson Amphitheatre is a theatre located in Universal City, California, USA. It seats up to 6,189 for concerts, including 6,089 chairback seats...
in Universal City, CA. During an encore, Temple of the Dog
Temple of the Dog
Temple of the Dog was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. It was conceived by vocalist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden as a tribute to his friend, the late Andrew Wood, lead singer of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone...
reunited for the first time since Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
's show at the Santa Barbara Bowl on October 28, 2003. Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
joined the band to sing "Hunger Strike
Hunger Strike (song)
"Hunger Strike" is a song by the American rock band Temple of the Dog. Written by vocalist Chris Cornell, "Hunger Strike" was released in 1991 as the first single from the band's sole studio album, Temple of the Dog . It was Temple of the Dog's most popular song...
". It was the first public appearance of Soundgarden together since their breakup in April 1997. Consequently, rumors of an impending reunion were circulating on the internet.
Reunion, new album and subsequent events (2010–present)
On January 1, 2010, Cornell alluded to a Soundgarden reunion via his TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, writing: "The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!" The message linked to a website that features a picture of the group performing live and a place for fans to enter their e-mail addresses to get updates on the reunion. Entering that information unlocks an archival video for the song "Get on the Snake", from Soundgarden's second studio album, 1989's Louder Than Love
Louder than Love
Louder Than Love is the second studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on September 5, 1989 through A&M Records. After touring in support of its first full-length studio album, Ultramega OK , Soundgarden signed with A&M and began work on its first album for a major label...
. The press had speculated that the band would be headlining festivals such as Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
, and the Reading & Leeds Festivals in the UK, although no official confirmation was issued by the band. On March 1, 2010, Soundgarden announced to the people who signed their e-mail subscribers that they are re-releasing an old single "Hunted Down" with the song "Nothing to Say" on a 7-inch vinyl released on April 17 only at Record Store Day
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music...
. Also, they released "Spoonman" live at the Del Mar Fairgrounds
Del Mar Fairgrounds
The Del Mar Fairgrounds is a property that is the site of the annual San Diego County Fair . Its Del Mar Racetrack was built by the Thoroughbred Club in 1937 by founding members Bing Crosby and Pat O'Brien with Paramount Studios as corporate sponsor.The fairgrounds is owned by the State of...
in San Diego, California from 1996.
Rumors that Soundgarden could headline Lollapalooza were confirmed on April 5, 2010. The band announced on their website that they would play on August 8.
On April 15, 2010, it was announced that Soundgarden would play its first show since 1997 the following day at the Showbox at the Market
Showbox at the Market
The Showbox at the Market, or simply known as the Showbox, is a music venue located at 1426 1st Avenue, Seattle, Washington.-History and Usage:...
in the band's hometown of Seattle. On April 16, an email went out to random Soundgardenworld.com newsletter subscribers with a link to purchase tickets. The show was billed under the pseudonym 'Nudedragons', an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
for Soundgarden. Tickets sold out in just 15 minutes. In addition, a contest was posted on the Soundgarden Twitter page, giving one fan a chance to win a ticket to the show.
Billboard confirmed that on August 5, 2010, Soundgarden would play a precursor to their Lollapalooza show in Chicago's Vic Theater. Tickets were only available to members of Soundgarden's fan club at Soundgardenworld.com.
Telephantasm: A Retrospective
Telephantasm
Telephantasm is a compilation album by the American grunge band Soundgarden. Featuring songs spanning the band's 13-year career, it was released on September 28, 2010 through A&M Records...
, a new Soundgarden compilation album, was packaged with initial shipments of the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a music video game and the sixth main entry in the Guitar Hero series for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles. The game was released September 24, 2010 in Europe, September 28, 2010 in North America and September 29, 2010 in Australia...
video game and released on September 28, 2010. This is the first time a retail music CD has been packaged with a video game, and is one week before the same CD is available in stores on October 5, 2010. An expanded version of Telephantasm consisting of two CDs and one DVD is currently available for sale. A previously unreleased Soundgarden song—"Black Rain
Black Rain (Soundgarden song)
- Track listing :- Chart performances :...
"—debuted on the Guitar Hero video game and appears on the compilation album. The compilation album achieved platinum certification status after its first day of retail availability. "Black Rain" hit rock radio stations on August 10, 2010. It became the band's first single since 1997.
Asked in August 2010 whether Soundgarden will record new material, Cornell replied "it would be exciting to record one song, to hear how Soundgarden-ish that might be, this much time later. But for me, it's been more of a trip relearning the songs and playing them together. Some of the songs we're approaching, we've never played live."
Soundgarden was the second musical guest on the show Conan, making it their first television appearance in 13 years.
On November 26, 2010, (Black Friday
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
) Soundgarden released a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 7-inch vinyl called The Telephantasm for independent record stores. The vinyl features two previously unreleased tracks, "The Telephantasm
The Telephantasm (song)
"The Telephantasm" is a single by the American rock band Soundgarden. The single was released on black friday, November 26, 2010. The track has also appeared as a bonus track of the deluxe edition of Telephantasm upon purchasing the full album download from iTunes...
" and a live version of "Gun".
In a December 2010 interview with Canada's 102.1 The Edge
CFNY-FM
CFNY-FM, promoted under the branding 102.1 The Edge, is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 FM. The station rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s due to its freestyle DJing format and unique choice to play alternative music...
, guitarist Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil is an American guitarist best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden, which he cofounded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984...
revealed that Soundgarden is planning a live album and wanted to do "B-side albums and that might be two or three albums". Asked if new material is in the works, Thayil replied, "When we get together to rehearse, it's natural for us, being guys who have a rapport, to start jamming and inventing. We've come up with instrumental, and certainly on occasion, lyrical ideas. I'm not confirming anything, but it's impossible for us to get in a room and not come up with ideas. It's very likely in the future, perhaps sooner than later, we'll get together and de-emphasise the rehearsing part and emphasise the jamming part." Thayil also mentioned that Soundgarden would be "doing other shows and working on releasing some albums from deeper in our catalog." The year before, Thayil named several unreleased tracks that would probably be included in the box set such as "Dirty Candy", "Ocean Fronts", "No Shame", "Summation", "Beast", and "Open Up".
On January 13, 2011, Soundgarden announced that they will release their first live album, Live on I-5
Live on I-5
Live on I-5 is a live album by the American rock band Soundgarden. It was recorded during the West Coast leg of their 1996 tour, and released on March 22, 2011. They announced the album, the band's first live album, on their website on January 13, 2011....
, on March 22. A full track listing has been posted.
On February 15, 2011, it was announced on Soundgarden's homepage that they had written new material and hoped to release a new album at some point in 2011.
On March 1, 2011, Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
confirmed that Adam Kasper
Adam Kasper
Adam Kasper is a Seattle area record producer and engineer, working with such bands as Cat Power, Pond, Seaweed, The Tragically Hip, Truly, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, R.E.M., Soundgarden and Pearl Jam...
would produce the new album. Four days later, the band stated it would consist of material that was "90 percent new" and the rest consisting of updated versions of older ideas. They also noted that they had 12 to 14 songs that were "kind of ready to go".
On April 14, 2011, Soundgarden announced a summer tour consisting of four dates all in July with more dates to come. Three days later, Kim Thayil explained that the new album would sound quite different as the band did not want to "make another grunge or metal record". On April 29, 2011, drummer Matt Cameron
Matt Cameron
Matthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...
told MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
that the album would be finished by "the end of May". However, Thayil told Reuters.com
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
in May 2011 that it may not surface until 2012. He explained, "If we were to say, 'Let's get this record out by the fall', I think it would put a lot of pressure on us and the quality would at some point suffer. And the more we enjoy it, the more our fans should end up enjoying it."
On June 1, 2011 it was announced that Soundgarden would be the headliner for The Voodoo Experience
Voodoo Experience
Voodoo Experience, also commonly referred to as Voodoo or Voodoo Fest, is a multi-day music and arts festival held in City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana. It was first held on Halloween weekend in 1999. It has since moved between the weekend before Halloween and Halloween weekend throughout the years...
at City Park in New Orleans Halloween weekend 2011.
On June 21, 2011 Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil
Kim Thayil is an American guitarist best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden, which he cofounded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984...
reported that some songs sound "similar in a sense to Down on the Upside
Down on the Upside
Down on the Upside is the fifth studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on May 21, 1996 through A&M Records. Following a worldwide tour in support of its previous album, Superunknown , Soundgarden commenced work on a new album...
" and that the album would be "picking up where we left off. There are some heavy moments, and there are some fast songs." The next day, Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
reported that the new album would not be released until the spring of 2012.
On September 30, 2011 it was announced that Soundgarden would play the 20th Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
festival of Australia and New Zealand in the upcoming year.
Musical style and influences
Soundgarden was a pioneer of the grunge music genre, which mixed elements of punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
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." The influence of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
was evident, with Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine noting that Soundgarden were "in thrall to '70s rock, but contemptuous of the genre's overt sexism and machismo." According to Sub Pop, the band had "a hunky lead singer and fused Led Zeppelin and the Butthole Surfers." The Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
' mix of punk, heavy metal and noise rock was a major influence on the early work of Soundgarden. Soundgarden, like other early grunge bands, were also influenced by British post-punk bands such as Gang of Four
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...
and Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
which were popular in the early 1980s Seattle scene. Soundgarden broadened its musical range with its later releases. By 1994’s Superunknown
Superunknown
Superunknown is the fourth album by American grunge band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994 through A&M Records. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger...
, the band began to incorporate more pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and psychedelic
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
influences into its music. As a member of Soundgarden, Cornell became known for his wide vocal range
Vocal range
Vocal range is the measure of the breadth of pitches that a human voice can phonate. Although the study of vocal range has little practical application in terms of speech, it is a topic of study within linguistics, phonetics, and speech and language pathology, particularly in relation to the study...
and his dark, existentialist
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
lyrics.
Soundgarden often utilized alternative tunings in its songs. Many Soundgarden songs were performed in drop D tuning
Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning, also known as DADGBE, is an alternate, or scordatura, form of guitar tuning — specifically, a dropped tuning — in which the lowest string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D.- Uses of drop D tuning :In drop D the three bass strings...
, including "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", "Spoonman", "Black Hole Sun" and "Black Rain". The E strings of the instruments were at times tuned even lower, such as on "Rusty Cage", where the lower E 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–B tuning and "Burden in My Hand", "Head Down" and "Pretty Noose" in a tuning of C-G-C-G-G-E".
Soundgarden also used unorthodox time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
s; while such songs as "Jesus Christ Pose", "4th Of July", and "Blow Up The Outside World" are in typical 4/4 time, "Outshined" is in 7/4, "My Wave" is in 5/4 and 4/4, "He Didn't" is in 5/4 and 6/4, "Black Hole Sun" is in 4/4 and 9/8, "The Day I Tried To Live" switches between 15/8 and 4/4, "Fell On Black Days" and "Somewhere" are in 6/4, "Never The Machine Forever" and "Black Rain" are in 9/8, "Beyond The Wheel", "Get On The Snake" and "New Damage" are in 9/4, "Face Pollution" uses 9/8 and 6/4, "Rusty Cage" is in 4/4, 7/4, and 19/8, "Ugly Truth" is in 4/4 and 6/8, "Limo Wreck" alternates between 12/8, 15/8, 9/8, and 6/8, "Half" is in 5/8 with a measure of 11/16 before a 4/4 section, and "Spoonman" alternates between 7/4 choruses and 4/4 verses with a section in 6/4. 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."
Legacy
Soundgarden was one of the early bands of the 1980s Seattle music scene and is regarded as being one of the originators of the genre later known as grunge. The development of the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop is tied closely to Soundgarden, since Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman funded Soundgarden's early releases, and the band's success led to the expansion of Sub Pop as a serious record label. NirvanaNirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
frontman Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
was a fan of Soundgarden's early music, and reportedly Soundgarden's involvement with Sub Pop influenced Cobain to sign Nirvana with the label. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label when the band joined the roster of A&M Records in 1989. Soundgarden, however, did not achieve initial success, and only with successive album releases did the band meet with increased sales and wider attention. They were ranked #14 on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
Regarding Soundgarden's legacy, in a 2007 interview Cornell said,
I think, and this is now with some distance in listening to the records, but on the outside looking in with all earnestness I think Soundgarden made the best records out of that scene. I think we were the most daring and experimental and genre pushing really and I'm really proud of it. And I guess that's why I have trepidation about the idea of reforming. I don't know what it would mean. I guess I just have this image of who we were and I had probably a lot of anxiety during the period of being Soundgarden, as we all did, that it was a responsibility and it was an important band of music and we didn't want to mess it up and we managed to not, which I felt is a great achievement.
Soundgarden has been praised for its technical musical ability and the expansion of its sound as the band's career progressed. "Heavy yet ethereal, powerful yet always-in-control, Soundgarden's music was a study in contrasts," said Henry Wilson of Hit Parader
Hit Parader
Hit Parader is an American music magazine focusing on the genres of hard rock, pop, and heavy metal.The magazine was originally started as a pop song lyric magazine by Charlton Publications in 1942. Charlton sold off the magazine before the company went under in 1991...
. Wilson proclaimed the band's music as "a brilliant display of technical proficiency tempered by heart-felt emotion." Soundgarden is one of the bands credited with the development of the genre of alternative metal
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic stating that "Soundgarden made a place for heavy metal in alternative rock." Ben Ratliff of Rolling Stone defined Soundgarden as the "standard-bearers of stoner rock
Stoner rock
Stoner rock or stoner metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, combining elements of psychedelic rock, blues rock, traditional heavy metal and doom metal. Stoner rock is typically slow-to-mid tempo and features a bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and 'retro' production...
" during the 1990s. The band inspired and influenced a number of bands, ranging from Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They have released a total of five studio albums, as well as a cover album, an EP and a live DVD/CD...
to The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...
.
Discography
- Ultramega OKUltramega OKUltramega OK is the debut studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on October 31, 1988 through SST Records. Following the release of the EPs Screaming Life , and Fopp , both for the Sub Pop record label, Soundgarden signed with the independent record label SST and went to work...
(1988) - Louder Than LoveLouder than LoveLouder Than Love is the second studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on September 5, 1989 through A&M Records. After touring in support of its first full-length studio album, Ultramega OK , Soundgarden signed with A&M and began work on its first album for a major label...
(1989) - BadmotorfingerBadmotorfingerBadmotorfinger is the third studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on October 8, 1991 through A&M Records. After touring in support of its previous album, Louder Than Love , Soundgarden began the recording sessions for its next album with new bassist Ben Shepherd...
(1991) - SuperunknownSuperunknownSuperunknown is the fourth album by American grunge band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994 through A&M Records. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger...
(1994) - Down on the UpsideDown on the UpsideDown on the Upside is the fifth studio album by the American grunge band Soundgarden, released on May 21, 1996 through A&M Records. Following a worldwide tour in support of its previous album, Superunknown , Soundgarden commenced work on a new album...
(1996)