As much as Chris Cornell liked the idea of making rock and roll when he first stepped in front of the microphone, there was no chance that any band from Seattle was going to bring about the musical revolution in the era when everyone from Poison to Warrant were becoming the biggest bands in the world. But once the Pacific Northwest became the biggest landmark of rock and roll history, Cornell felt that his band played every single record in exactly the way that they were supposed to.
Because when your home first becomes the biggest name in the country, it can be extremely hard to navigate. Pearl Jam practically ran from the limelight when Eddie Vedder was featured on the cover of Time magazine, and even though Kurt Cobain leaned into his own sense of celebrity, he was clearly uncomfortable with how much the press was becoming involved with his domestic life when he started working on records like In Utero.
But Soundgarden were also pretty lucky to have the same kind of career trajectory as the ultimate indie band: REM. The Athens band had the perfect ascent after years of being kings of the underground, and Soundgarden had a lot more years under their belt being indie darlings before they eventually stretched themselves out on the album Superunknown. And yet, the band never compromised their sound when they played.
