Scott Sundquist

The band helped to popularize grunge music, a style of alternative rock that developed in the American Pacific Northwest in the mid-1980s, alongside such Seattle contemporaries as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana.

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.

Following Yamamoto's departure, the band recruited guitarist Kim Thayil as its new bassist.

Thayil moved to Seattle from Park Forest, Illinois, with Yamamoto and Bruce Pavitt, who would later start the independent record label Sub Pop.

Cornell and Yamamoto stayed in contact, and after the Shemps broke up Cornell and Yamamoto started jamming together, and were eventually joined by Thayil.

Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamoto.

Soundgarden was formed in 1984 and included Cornell (drums and vocals), Yamamoto (bass), and Thayil (guitar).

The band named themselves after a wind-channeling pipe sculpture titled A Sound Garden, on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration property at 7600 Sand Point Way, next to Magnuson Park in Seattle.

Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially by Scott Sundquist, and later by Matt Cameron in 1986.

Cornell originally played drums while singing, but in 1985 the band enlisted Scott Sundquist to allow Cornell to concentrate on vocals.

The band traveled around playing various concerts with this lineup for about a year.

Their first recordings were three songs that appeared on the 1986 compilation album for C/Z Records called Deep Six—"Heretic", "Tears to Forget" and "All Your Lies".

It also featured songs by fellow grunge pioneers Green River, Skin Yard, Malfunkshun, the U-Men, and the Melvins.

In 1986, Cornell's then-girlfriend and future wife, Susan Silver started managing Soundgarden.

In the same year, Sundquist left the band to spend time with his family and was replaced by Skin Yard's drummer, Matt Cameron.

A Soundgarden performance one night impressed KCMU DJ Jonathan Poneman who later said: "I saw this band that was everything rock music should be."

Poneman offered to fund a release by the band, so Thayil suggested he team up with Bruce Pavitt.

Poneman offered to contribute $20,000 in funding for Sub Pop, effectively turning it into a full-fledged record label.

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 (1987) and Fopp (1988).

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

The B-side of "Hunted Down", "Nothing to Say", appeared on the KCMU compilation tape Bands That Will Make Money, which was distributed to record companies, many of whom showed interest in Soundgarden.

Through Sub Pop, the band released the Screaming Life EP in 1987, and the Fopp EP in 1988, and a combination of the two, Screaming Life/Fopp, in 1990.

Soundgarden's debut album, Ultramega OK, was also released in 1988 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 1990.

Though major labels were courting the band, in 1988 they signed to the independent label SST Records for their debut album, Ultramega OK, released on October 31, 1988.

Cornell said the band "made a huge mistake with Ultramega OK" because they used a producer suggested by SST who "didn't know what was happening in Seattle".

According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, Soundgarden demonstrates, a "Stooges/MC5-meets-Zeppelin/Sabbath sound" on the album.

Mark Miremont directed the band's first music video for "Flower", which aired regularly on MTV's 120 Minutes.

Yamamoto left in 1989 and was replaced initially by Jason Everman and shortly thereafter by Ben Shepherd.

Their second album, Louder Than Love, was recorded independently, but, after they signed with A&M Records in 1989 (making them one of the first grunge bands to sign to a major label), the album became their major-label debut.

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.

Ultramega OK earned the band a Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1990.

While Ultramega OK had failed to chart and Louder Than Love peaked at number 108 on the Billboard 200 album chart, the band's third album Badmotorfinger (1991) was buoyed by the success of the singles "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", and "Rusty Cage", reached number 39 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified double-platinum by the RIAA.

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".

The band experimented with new sonic textures on their follow-up album Down on the Upside (1996), which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned several hit singles of its own, including "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand" and "Blow Up the Outside World".

The band dissolved in 1997 and reformed in 2010.

In 1997, 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 2010, and Republic Records released their sixth and final studio album, King Animal, in 2012.

Following Cornell's death in 2017 and a year of uncertainty regarding the band's future, Thayil declared in October 2018 that Soundgarden had disbanded once again, though they did reunite in January 2019 for a one-off concert in tribute to Cornell.

As of 2019, Soundgarden had sold more than 14 million records in the United States, and an estimated 30 million worldwide.

VH1 ranked Soundgarden at number 14 in their special 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.