{"id":76983,"date":"2025-05-05T17:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T17:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76983\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T17:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T17:15:09","slug":"soundgarden-guitarist-on-rock-hall-induction-cornell-would-be-proud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76983\/","title":{"rendered":"Soundgarden Guitarist on Rock Hall Induction: ‘Cornell Would Be Proud’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSoundgarden<\/a> are seen as a quintessential Nineties band, but they actually formed in 1984, and started releasing music three years later. That means they\u2019ve been eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/a> since 2012. Fans started giving up hope after they appeared on two ballots prior to this year, and failed to get in. That made it even more joyous when the Seattle group finally made the cut<\/a> this year alongside the White Stripes, OutKast, Chubby Checker, Bad Company, Joe Cocker, Salt-n-Pepa, Warren Zevon, and Cyndi Lauper.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know if I had given up on it,\u201d Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil<\/a> tells Rolling Stone from his home in Seattle. \u201cIt just wasn\u2019t something that was on my radar as a goal. So I didn\u2019t allow myself that much disappointment because whatever came of that would just be exciting and bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWe spoke with Thayil about the unexpected honor, his expectations for the evening, the possibility that the surviving members \u2014\u00a0Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron, bassist Ben Shepherd \u2014\u00a0will perform with guest filling in for Chris Cornell, who died<\/a> in 2017, and the status of the group\u2019s long-awaited final record with the singer, which was tied up for years in litigation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat does this induction mean to you?<\/strong>
I\u2019m still trying to process it. But the people who worked alongside us all those years responded with ear-to-ear grins. And that gave me this context to appraise this induction in ways that I had only understood intellectually from people telling me, \u201cWell, this is why this is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA friend or a peer or very specifically, Chris Cornell, would attend an induction, and then tell me how they read the enthusiasm from the audience or from their peers. He said that changed everything, seeing how important it was to fans to be validated. Someone they had championed and believed in and who moved them for many years is now being recognized. And in a way, it\u2019s an affirmation of their judgment, their taste, and of their fandom. <\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tChris\u2019s words hit me. And then I started learning from other peers and other friends the same thing. I started to think, \u201cThat makes sense, and this is the way in which I can regard and revere that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is important for the people in our crew, at the record label, and in management. You didn\u2019t just do this with three or four other guys. You did this with dozens of people who were part of the same team and orbit and committed to doing the same thing to advance the shared work.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a pretty diverse class this year with you guys, Chubby Checker, Bad Company, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, OutKast, Salt-N-Pepa, the White Stripes.<\/strong>
Yeah. I think we fit nicely between Bad Company and the White Stripes. You could probably draw a nice little line from one to the other.<\/p>\n

\n\tI bet you never thought you\u2019d be honored alongside Chubby Checker.<\/strong>
No. That\u2019s pretty trippy. \u201cThe Twist\u201d was certainly a soundtrack of my childhood. File it next to the Beatles. That song was ubiquitous.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you think the three of you will perform that night?<\/strong>
I think so, if they want us to. It seems that that invitation is there. It\u2019s up to the Hall to how they develop their program, but we would love to play there. Our discussions haven\u2019t gone that deep yet, but you could probably look at the people that Matt, Ben, and I have played with over the past handful of years, going back to the Chris Cornell Tribute Concert in 2019, there\u2019s a few people we\u2019ve performed with who on top of our head would be the first ones for the call.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tShaina Shepherd did a great job with you guys a few months back.<\/strong>
Yeah, great, and she\u2019s local. I think everyone we\u2019ve played with is super talented. We have a trust in their ability and an affection for their love of our work, and our love of their work. I think the best I can say is look at the people we\u2019ve worked with over the past five years, and then I take a note from what Nirvana did when they went in and they had three or four different singers performed with them. I think it\u2019s going to be something like that. We haven\u2019t had the opportunity to discuss it because Matt\u2019s been on tour with Pearl Jam. A name might turn up on a text, \u201cYou should give this person a call,\u201d but we\u2019ll figure it out. You can probably infer where we\u2019re leaning, though.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHow do you think Chris would have felt about this?<\/strong>
I think he would\u2019ve been really proud and happy. And the reason why I\u2019m saying that is because he\u2019s the one who imparted that understanding to the rest of us after he inducted Heart. He came away from that with a different understanding of the event and of the accolade, and he shared that with us. We had conversations about it a few times. And since he had a better understanding of what to expect, and to prepare for it, than the rest of us. I think for that reason he would\u2019ve been very happy and very proud.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNeal Peart said for years it wasn\u2019t a big deal. But when he actually got up to the podium that night, he said it was indeed a big deal. He didn\u2019t get it until he was there.<\/strong>
I will share that contrition. I think for decades, that\u2019s what I thought. It wasn\u2019t on our radar. It wasn\u2019t part of where we came from or where we thought we were going, so it wasn\u2019t really a consideration.<\/p>\n

\n\tRight. Then you suddenly realize you\u2019re entering the same club as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Buddy Holly.<\/strong>
Wow. No, I don\u2019t think realistically I would see myself in the same club as the Beatles or the Stones or Zeppelin because\u2026Jeez, they were already somewhere up here when I was like 5 years old.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re a link in that same chain. When kids learn guitar today, they\u2019ll learn Jimmy Page parts and Kim Thayil parts on the same day. <\/strong>
Now you\u2019re just making it all heavy. It is something I haven\u2019t gotten too deep into evaluating emotionally because I still see a distinction from what we did or were doing from what informed the kind of person and the kind of musician I am.<\/p>\n

\n\tI have great reverence for those cultural and artistic components of who I am. And maybe I need to appraise that and understand that there are people out there who might see what we\u2019ve done or what our peers have done in the way that I see what Pink Floyd or the Ramones or the Beatles did for us.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s often an all-star jam at the end of the night. Are you able to imagine a scenario where you\u2019d play with Jack White and the guys in Bad Company or whoever?<\/strong>
I could see that. Might be a little bit harder to imagine jamming with Cyndi Lauper. I think it could work though. She\u2019s a strong enough singer that she can hold her own in whatever context she\u2019s in.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA lot of fans Joy Division were upset that this wasn\u2019t their year. Their year will come though.<\/strong>
I\u2019m a huge fan of Joy Division. And yeah, I\u2019m disappointed, but exactly that, their year will come. The fact that they\u2019re nominated is an acknowledgement of the impact and influence they had on so many of the bands that have been getting in there in recent years, and many bands that will get in the future. Joy Division is unique and distinct in their style and sound to be framed as a specific influence on many other artists and songwriters.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHave you given much thought to other acts you hope to see make it in? I\u2019d love to see the New York Dolls, the Replacements, the Pixies, Sonic Youth, the Smiths, Mot\u00f6rhead, Iron Maiden.<\/strong>
You just said almost all of them. I did an interview last week ,and the first thing I said was Alice in Chains, and next thing I said was Iron Maiden. The third thing I said was Sonic Youth. And yes, the next thing I said was the New York Dolls. That\u2019s because when the Stooges went in, I thought, \u201cWhy are the Stooges going in before the MC5?\u201d And the MC5 were the big brothers of that scene. And even though they weren\u2019t from Detroit, I always put the New York Dolls in with them because they recorded around the same time.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey\u2019re all basically proto-metal\/proto-punk bands. Both of them informed metal and punk. And the attitude and look of the New York Dolls attitude informed L.A. glam a decade and a half later, which is ironic, probably more ironic than the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to L.A. And the Pixies, I 100 percent agree. And Mot\u00f6rhead, I, what, 200 percent agree?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKing Crimson not being in drives me insane too.<\/strong>
Oh my God. King Crimson isn\u2019t in?<\/p>\n

\n\tNo.<\/strong>
What? Robert Fripp<\/a>? And then later, Adrian Belew? What?<\/p>\n

\n\tMoving on, are you working on anything new at the moment?<\/strong>
Just bopping in the studio now and then to throw down some ideas. I always make sure that I\u2019m keeping fresh with demos. And as always, people solicit me to play on a record of theirs, and my first answer is often no. Then my next answer is, \u201cI like this song and I like your work. Yes, I\u2019ll do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t like the work or the material of other people who I decline. It\u2019s simply that I start with, I want to focus on stuff I do and not what someone else does. But sometimes stuff comes across your desk that\u2019s like, \u201cWow, I got some time. I\u2019ll go do that. I like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMany fans are fascinated by the Soundgarden record that Chris was working on with you guys when he died. Do you think that\u2019s going to be released?<\/strong>
I think so. Our objective and goal was always to complete that. I probably have OCD enough to not want to leave something unfinished or incomplete like that, so I think the more we can attend to our body of work and our catalog\u2026I think everyone in the band feels that way. I don\u2019t just to attend to my work, but the collective work, and in this case specifically, the work of Chris.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tI have pride for what I did and I want to see that come out. It doesn\u2019t exist in the vacuum. It exists as a collaboration with Matt and Ben and Chris, but it takes on an entirely different weight when you think about what it is you\u2019re honoring, and the work that you\u2019re paying tribute to. It is us collectively. We want to do it proud. And that part of us is certainly one of the most intimate components of what Soundgarden has been since 1984.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt would be a great gift to the fans to finally get it out there.<\/strong>
It would be a great gift to the fans. And I do think about this, and I don\u2019t know how strange this sounds, but I feel like it\u2019s a gift to Chris too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Soundgarden are seen as a quintessential Nineties band, but they actually formed in 1984, and started releasing music…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,37843,269,37844,37845,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-76983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-kim-thayil","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame","12":"tag-soundgarden","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114456358062554619","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}