32 Facts About Soundgarden

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.

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".

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.

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

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

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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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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".

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

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

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

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