32 Facts About Soundgarden

1.

Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto; Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially by Scott Sundquist, and later by Matt Cameron in 1986.

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2.

Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and yielded the Grammy Award-winning singles "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun".

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3.

Soundgarden's origins began with a band called the Shemps, which performed around Seattle in the early 1980s, and featured bassist Hiro Yamamoto and drummer and singer Chris Cornell.

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4.

Soundgarden formed in 1984 and included Cornell, Yamamoto, and Thayil.

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5.

Soundgarden signed to Sub Pop, and the label released "Hunted Down" in 1987 as the band's first single.

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6.

Soundgarden promoted Ultramega OK on a tour in the United States in the spring of 1989, and a tour in Europe, which began in May 1989—the band's first overseas tour.

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7.

Soundgarden began working on its fourth album after touring in support of Badmotorfinger.

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8.

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.

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9.

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.

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10.

At the time, Soundgarden explained that they wanted to experiment with other sounds, including acoustic instrumentation.

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11.

Soundgarden then worked briefly with the Smashing Pumpkins on the band's 1998 album, Adore.

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12.

Soundgarden has recorded six albums as the band's drummer: Binaural, Riot Act, Pearl Jam, Backspacer, Lightning Bolt and Gigaton.

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13.

Soundgarden has toured with Mark Lanegan and played bass on two of Lanegan's albums, I'll Take Care of You, and Field Songs.

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14.

The band's interest in new releases emerged from a 2008 meeting about their shared properties, both financial and legal, where they realized Soundgarden lacked online presence such as a website or a Facebook page.

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15.

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.

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16.

On March 1,2010, Soundgarden announced to their e-mail subscribers that they would be re-releasing an old single "Hunted Down" with the song "Nothing to Say" on a 7-inch vinyl record.

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17.

Soundgarden played their first show since 1997 on April 16 at the Showbox at the Market in the band's hometown of Seattle.

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18.

In November 2010, Soundgarden was the second musical guest on the show Conan, making their first television appearance in 13 years.

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19.

In February 2011 Soundgarden announced on their homepage that they had started recording a new album.

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20.

Soundgarden announced on October 28,2014, they would release the 3-CD compilation box set, Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across the Path, on November 24.

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21.

On January 19,2016, The Pulse Of Radio announced that Soundgarden had returned to the studio to continue working on their new album.

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22.

In September 2017, drummer Matt Cameron told Billboard that he and the other surviving members of Soundgarden had yet to make a decision about the future of the band following Cornell's death.

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23.

In July 2019, Thayil said in an interview with Music Radar that the surviving members of Soundgarden are trying to finish and release the album they were working on with Cornell.

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24.

In February 2021, Vicky Cornell filed another lawsuit claiming that the remaining members of Soundgarden have undervalued her share of the band, offering her “the villainously low figure of less than $300,000.

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25.

Soundgarden then offered them $21 million for the band's interests, and that offer was rejected.

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26.

On March 25,2021, Soundgarden demanded the passwords for their social media and website.

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27.

Soundgarden were pioneers of the grunge music genre, which mixed elements of punk rock and metal to make a sludgy, murky sound through the use of fuzzy-sounding distortion in the guitars.

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28.

Thayil has said Soundgarden usually did not consider the time signature of a song until after the band wrote it, and said the use of odd meters was "a total accident".

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29.

Cobain stated that Soundgarden was one of the only Seattle bands that he liked along with Tad and Mudhoney.

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30.

Alice in Chains guitarist and vocalist, Jerry Cantrell stated that Soundgarden was a big influence on his band.

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31.

However, Soundgarden did not achieve success initially, and only with successive album releases did the band meet with increased sales and wider attention.

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32.

Soundgarden has been praised for its technical musical ability, and the expansion of its sound as the band's career progressed.

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