Soundgarden is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. He was formed in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Matt Cameron became the band's drummer in 1986, while Ben Shepherd became bassist after Hiro Yamamoto's departure in 1990. With Alice in Chains, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden is considered by the trade press as one of four bands defining the grunge musical style: the Big Four of Seattle. He is also the first grunge band to sign with a major label (A & M Records in 1989), but he only achieved commercial success during the peak of popularity of grunge in the early 1990s.
Soundgarden had its greatest success in 1994 with the album Superunknown , which started at the top of the Billboard , followed by singles Black Hole Sun and Spoonman , who win two Grammy Awards. In 1997, the group split due to artistic differences. December 31, 2009, Chris Cornell announces via his Twitter account "The holidays of 12 years are finished, it is the return. Register. The Knights of the SoundTable are back! ">. This tweet, announcing the reopening of the fanclub (the Knights of the Soundtable) and a revamp of the group's catalog on the web, was interpreted as a return of Soundgarden. This reaction was one of the factors of the reformation of the group.
On March 23, 2011, the band released their first live album, entitled Live on I-5 . On November 13, 2012, they released King Animal , their first studio album for 16 years>.
In 2014, Soundgarden has nine million albums sold in the United States, and about 21 million internationally.
