Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil & Ben Shepherd

Soundgarden was formed in 1981, when Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto, living in Park Forest, Illinois, and having kicked around in local bands for a few years, graduated from Rich East, an alternative high school. Wanting to continue their educations in a similar manner, the two set out for Olympia, Washington, planning to enroll at the progressive Evergreen State College. Unable to find jobs once they got to Olympia, and admiring the crop of bands that had sprung up in Seattle, where Thayil had lived until the age of five, they moved there instead. Thayil enrolled at the University of Washington, where he eventually earned a degree in philosophy.
Probably the earliest incarnation of Soundgarden was a short-lived cover band called the Shemps, which was founded by Thayil's roommate, a guitarist named Matt Dentino. Chris Cornell, then nineteen, had started out as a drummer, but he wanted more musical input than drummers were typically allowed. Deciding to try singing, Cornell answered Dentino's vocalist-wanted ad. When Cornell joined the Shemps, Yamamoto was playing bass; he subsequently quit and was replaced by Thayil.
Cornell and Thayil often crossed paths with Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd around this time. Cameron was drumming in a band called Feedback, which would eventually evolve into Skin Yard, and Shepherd was the guitarist for a local hardcore outfit called March of Crimes. That band's biggest claim to fame, says Shepherd, was a tape that sold a few copies in Finland. "And," he adds, "we got to meet Jello Biafra [of the Dead Kennedys] because he liked our name."
By 1984, the Shemps were history, and Cornell, looking to get away from a flaky roommate, had moved in with Yamamoto. "I was a drummer, and he was a bass player," says Cornell, "so it was sort of like the law that we had to start a band." After jamming around with a number of guitarists, the two invited Thayil into the fold. Christening themselves Soundgarden after a pipe sculpture in Seattle's Sand Point that makes unearthly howling noises in the wind, the trio began gigging, Cornell doubling on drums and vocals. The band's first show was with a New York band called Three Teens Kill Four; its second was with the Melvins and Husker Du.
After enlisting drummer Scott Sundquist to free Cornell up for frontman duties, the band gigged around for a year, and in 1986, they began recording, contributing two songs -- "Heretic" and "All Your Lies" -- to a CZ Records compilation album called Deep Six, which also featured the Melvins, the U-Men, Skin Yard (with Matt Cameron), Malfunkshun and Green River. By most accounts, it was Deep Six that sent the first brigade of major-label A&R reps to Seattle in the Eighties; in light of this, it was reissued in 1994 with the collaborative effort of CZ and A&M Records.
Sundquist bowed out of Soundgarden the same year. After some prodding, Cornell, Thayil and Yamamoto lured Cameron away from Skin Yard, and the four began recording their first Sub Pop EP, 1987's Screaming Life. It was released as a 12-inch, with the first 600 copies on orange vinyl. Sub Pop also released a promotional single ("Hunted Down" b/w "Nothing to Say") in support of the most valuable records on the label (A mint condition copy can easily go for $100 and up in some markets). The followed up in 1988 with a second EP, Fopp. Built around droning funk-metal and dub versions of the Ohio Players song (from their 1976 album Honey), the EP foreshadowed Soundgarden's bent for offbeat covers. Both EPs were later reissued together on one CD, 1990's aptly-titled Screaming Life/Fopp on Sub Pop.
By this time, A&M Records had come a-courting, but the band members chose to stay on the indie circuit and sign with SST -- home of the postpunk bands they idolized -- to record their first full-length LP, 1988's Grammy-nominated Ultramega OK, which featured a cover of John Lennon's "One Minute of Silence" (actually a cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Two Minutes of Silence", but they didn't do Yoko's portion). A&M's persistence eventually won out, though, and the label signed them later that year.
Soundgarden began work on its A&M debut, Louder Than Love (the original title allegedly being Louder Than Fuck), in December of 1988. Just after the album's release, in the fall of 1989, Yamamoto, who wanted to return to school, left the band. Left in a lurch, with a tour already booked, Soundgarden began auditioning bass players. Ben Shepherd was among those who showed up, but though the band liked his style, he didn't know the songs. Jason Everman, who did know them, got the gig [he is in the band photo that appears at the very top of this page]. The A&M album led to tours across the states and Europe, including a successful tour package with Voivod and Faith No More. An earlier show was filmed for a home video, which was released as Louder Than Live. The videotape displayed the band's vengance in concert and featured a medley consisting of Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom" and Cheech and Chong's "Earache my Eye". A&M also released a promotional CD called Louder Than Live, with a few other songs not on the video. But after the tour, Everman (who had previously worn out his welcome with Nirvana in record time) was history. "Jason just didn't work out," says Thayil.
As their first musical effort together, the guys decide to release a single on Sub Pop as a gift, "Room a Tousand Years Wide" and "HIV Baby." The latter, co-written by Shepherd and Cornell, was released as a freebie for members of Sub Pop's single of the month club in a pressing of 5000 copies, with the first 1000 or so on red vinyl. Not surprisingly, the record quickly went and it gave a good indication of what the band had in store for the future (Mint condition copies have been selling recently for $50 and up, more if on red vinyl).

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This page is created by Frederick Yeh. Send comments or questions to spinal-x@netcom.ca