Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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SOUNDGARDEN

Grunge band formed '84 in Seattle WA by vocalist Chris Cornell (b 1964; d 17 May 2017, Detroit) Kim Thail on guitar, Hiro Yamamoto on bass, Matt Cameron, drums. Before Seattle became fashionable there was Soundgarden, and when the grunge era is over they were still wearing flannel shirts, still playing hardcore/metal/punk, not so much feeling sorry for themselves but aware that, as Cornell put it, 'It's not [in] Beirut, but in the US [that] kids carry guns to school. It's not surprising that we're not writing songs like ''I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah''.' The local Sub Pop label released their first single, then EPs Screaming Life and Fopp '87-8 ('Fopp' a cover of a tune by Ohio Players, a large black R&B group who had chart albums '72-81), switched to SST for album Ultramega OK '88, EP Flower '89, then signed with A&M. Louder Than Love '90 did not reach the Top 100 USA albums, but after EPs Hands All Over and The Loud Love (Jason Everman, then Ben Shepherd replaced Hiro), and album Badmotorfinger '91 went top 40; Superunknown '94 reached no. 1, Down On The Upside '96 no. 2. Cornell and Cameron also played on Temple Of The Dog '91, Cameron and Shepherd on Hater '93, both on A&M.

The band appeared in Cameron Crowe's film Singles '92, a sort of love letter to the Seattle scene, to which Cornell contributed the song 'Seasons'. Soundgarden disbanded in 1997. Cornell's solo work included albums Euphoria Morning '99 and Carry On 2007. When lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha left Rage Against The Machine, that group formed Audioslave with Cornell for three albums before disbanding in 2007. Then Soundgarden reunited in 2010; a new album was King Animal in 2012.

Years after Kurt Cobain's suicide (see Nirvana) Cornell said, 'The grunge bands that were there at the beginning aren't fashionable any more, and that's great. It's kinda where we should be.' He added, 'If Kurt had just hung out for a while and got over it, at least that side of what his problem was would have gone away' (quotes from an interview with Caspar Llewellyn Smith). Temple of the Dog had been formed as an on-again off-again grunge supergroup, with members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, as a tribute to Andrew Wood, lead singer of Seattle bands Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, who had died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Cornell toured with it in November 2016. Six months later Cornell, who had apparently been clean for some years, died suddenly and unexpectedly on tour with Soundgarden. He was found on a bathroom floor with a band around his neck, his death ruled a suicide.