Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington , in by singer and drummer Chris Cornell , lead guitarist Kim Thayil , and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in , replaced on drums initially by Scott Sundquist, and later by Matt Cameron in Yamamoto left in and was replaced initially by Jason Everman and shortly thereafter by Ben Shepherd.
The band dissolved in and reformed in Following Cornell's death in , Thayil declared in October that Soundgarden would not continue, though they did reunite in January for a one-off concert in tribute to Cornell. The band was one of the pioneers of grunge music, a style of alternative rock that developed in the American Pacific Northwest in the mids, and helped to popularize it in the early s, alongside such Seattle contemporaries as Alice in Chains , Pearl Jam , and Nirvana.
They were the first of a number of grunge bands to sign to the Seattle-based record label Sub Pop , through which they released two EPs : Screaming Life and Fopp Soundgarden's debut album, Ultramega OK , was also released in by the California-based independent label SST Records ; although the album did not sell well nationally, it garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy Award in Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the album Superunknown , which debuted at number one on the Billboard and yielded the Grammy Award -winning singles " Spoonman " and " Black Hole Sun ".
The band experimented with new sonic textures on their follow-up album Down on the Upside , which debuted at number two on the Billboard and spawned several hit singles of its own, including " Pretty Noose ", " Burden in My Hand " and " Blow Up the Outside World ". In , the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction and exhaustion from touring.
After more than a decade of working on projects and other bands, they reunited in , and Republic Records released their sixth and final studio album, King Animal , in As of , Soundgarden had sold more than 14 million records in the United States, [ 2 ] and an estimated 30 million worldwide. Soundgarden's origins began with a band called the Shemps, which performed around Seattle in the early s, [ 5 ] and featured bassist Hiro Yamamoto and drummer and singer Chris Cornell. Following Yamamoto's departure, the band recruited guitarist Kim Thayil as its new bassist.
