Soundgarden

Soundgarden is an American hard rock or grunge band that formed in 1984 in Seattle, Washington. The band is made up of vocalist Chris Cornell, guitar player Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepard, and drummer Matt Cameron.http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/soundgarden/bio.jhtml During the band;s active period, they released seven full-length albums, as well as a variety of singles and compilation recordings. The members of Soundgarden also participated in side projects while the band was active, including Temple of the Dog and Hater.http://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/releases/

Among other nominations and awards, the band has won two Grammy awards. The awards were both won in 1995 - one for Best Hard Rock Performance and one for Best Metal Performance.http://www.mtv.com/bands/g/news_feature_grammyflashback/1995/ The previous year, Soundgarden's song Black Hole Sun won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Metal/Hard Rock. The album the song appeared on, Superunknown, debuted at number one on the Billboard music charts and was certified triple platinum the same year.http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/501000/19980903/soundgarden.jhtml

After more than a decade of not touring or recording music, Chris Cornell announced via Twitter that the band was to re-unite on New Year's Eve 2009. In the message Cornell stated, "The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!"http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1628964/20100104/soundgarden.jhtml This was then followed by the release of Telephantasm on October 5, 2010. The album featured a new song titled Hunted Down and songs from previous releases including Spoonman and Black Hole Sun.http://www.amazon.com/Telephantasm-Soundgarden/dp/B003Y3BMFM On November 9, 2010, Soundgarden appeared as the musical guest on the second episode of the TBS television show Conan. The other guests on that episode were actor Tom Hanks, and Jack McBrayer.http://news.turner.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5425

The first version of the band Soundgarden was a cover band called The Shemps, which was founded by Kim Thayil's room mate, Matt Dentino. Chris Cornell started to play drums for the band, but the group dis-banded shortly after. In 1984, Hiro Yamamoto, Kim Thayil, and Chris Cornell started rehearsing together and named themselves Soundgarden after a pipe sculpture in Seattle. Although Cornell had originally played drums, Scott Sundquist joined the band as a drummer in 1986. That same year Sundquist decided to leave the band and was replaced by Matt Cameron, and by 1987, they released their first EP on Sub Pop records called Screaming Life.http://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/history.shtml

By 1989 the band was working with the record label A&M, and planned to replace bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Soundgarden then held auditions for the position in the band and the spot was filled by Jason Evermen. During the audition, future member Ben Shepherd tried out but did not get the spot. The band then toured throughout the United States and Europe to promote the album Louder Than Love. Shortly after, Jason Evermen was replaced by Ben Shepard in 1990. Badmotorfinger was released the next year on A&M records and the band toured the U.S. and Canada alongside Guns N' Roses. In the summer of 1992, the band began touring with the Lollapalooza festival, which they returned to play several times.http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/soundgarden-biography/b9f976135ad75fc84825682b002751cf

In 1994, Soundgarden's album, Superunknown, debuted at number one and proved to be the band's most successful record. Two years later, their album Down on the Upside debuted at number two on the Billboard music charts, but never achieved the sales of the previous album. While promoting Down on the Upside Soundgarden co-headlined the sixth Lollapalooza festival, but on April 9, 1997, the band announced their break-up. The band members went on to pursue other musical projects, including Cornell's collaboration with members of Rage Against The Machine called Audioslave.http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/soundgarden/bio.jhtml

• Kim Thayil - guitarhttp://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/kim.shtml

• Chris Cornell - vocalisthttp://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/chris.shtml

• Matt Cameron - drumshttp://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/matt.shtml

• Ben Shepherd - basshttp://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/ben.shtml

"I thought it would be free beer and free food, so I feel disappointed." - Kim Thayil on the 1995 Grammy Awards.http://www.mtv.com/bands/g/news_feature_grammyflashback/1995/

"The words you say never seem to live up to the ones inside your head." - Chris Cornell.http://sites.google.com/site/allmyfavoritequotes/musician-quotes/chris-cornell-quotes

"It didn't start out as a genre but radio and MTV kind of made it a genre." - Chris Cornell on alternative music.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7RNLm4oRJQ

• 1987 - Hunted Down b/w Nothing To Say on Sub Pop Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-Hunted-Down-bw-Nothing-To-Say/master/241224
• 1987 - Screaming Life on Sub Pop Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-Screaming-Life-EP/release/1026493
• 1988 - Ultramega OK on SST Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-Ultramega-OK/master/11308
• 1989 - Louder Than Love on A&M Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-Louder-Than-Love/master/11375
• 1991 - Badmotorfinger on A&M Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-Badmotorfinger/master/11394
• 1994 - Superunknown on A&M Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-Superunknown/master/11547
• 1996 - Down on the Upside on A&M Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-Down-On-The-Upside/master/11504
• 1997 - A-Sides on A&M Recordshttp://www.discogs.com/Soundgarden-A-Sides/master/11944