The surviving members of Soundgarden reunited to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies Saturday night (November 8th), and were joined onstage by Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, the Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen and more to play a number of classic grunge cuts.
The ceremony took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California. The group were inducted by Jim Carrey, a fan of the band who had also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1996 that featured two performances from the act. His speech hailed Soundgarden as “the heaviest of rock and roll royalty,” from their beginnings in the Seattle, Washington, music scene, to their rise as one of the Nineties’ most revered rock bands.
“I met the band in 1996, when I hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time,” Carrey recalled. “I insisted that Soundgarden be the musical guest. By then, the lineup was Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron on drums and Ben Shepherd on bass.
“During rehearsal, they launched into the dark, epic beauty of ‘Pretty Noose.’ I stood right in front of them, letting the waves of electricity wash over me like an audio baptism. They pushed me under, and when I came up, I was free.
“After the show, they handed me one of my most prized possessions: the Fender Telecaster that Chris played on the show—signed by the whole band. Do we have a picture of that? Oh, it’s behind me. Damn — snuck up on me. Pay no attention to the burn marks on the pick guard. Someone backstage was playing with matches.
“Later that night, Chris showed up at my hotel room with an acoustic guitar and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and we wrote some songs. OK, maybe I dreamt that part — but I’ll never forget that night.”
Soundgarden members Kim Thayil (guitar), Ben Shepherd (bass) and Matt Cameron (drums) were on-hand for the festivities, as was founding bassist Hiro Yamomoto, who split with the group in 1989. After a moving tribute by Chris Cornell’s eldest daughter, Lily, the band took the stage to accept the honor, with each member giving a brief speech. “Chris Cornell, we are missing you tonight on this stage,” Yamomoto said, saluting Soundgarden’s fallen frontman, who passed away in 2017. “We all love you and we would not be here without you. Somewhere out there, Chris, we’re talking to you.”
For their performance, Soundgarden began with Badmotorfinger’s “Rusty Cage.” In Cornell’s absence, Momsen sang her heart out, with Cantrell and McCready providing six-string support. The two-song set also featured Superunknown smash “Black Hole Sun,” with Brandi Carlile joining the ensemble and taking lead vocals. Following the Soundgarden members’ acceptance speeches, Carrey stepped back onstage to introduce Cornell’s younger daughter, Toni. She was accompanied by Heart’s Nancy Wilson on acoustic guitar for a heartfelt rendition of “Fell on Black Days.”
You’ll find the stunning set of collaborative tributes to Soundgarden’s songbook up above and down below.
As previously reported, this year’s induction ceremony also hailed Bad Company, Thom Bell, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Nicky Hopkins, Carol Kaye, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa, Lenny Waronker, the White Stripes and Warren Zevon. Soundgarden’s inclusion marked the second time Cameron has made it into the Rock Hall, having first been inducted as a member of Pearl Jam in 2017 — he left the other Seattle grunge instituion earlier this year.
In related news, Thayil announced last month that he’s set to publish his A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond memoirs next May through HarperCollins. The book can be pre-ordered here.