by Greg Prato
GRANT ALDEN: We never did a big Alice in Chains story when I was at The Rocket, because I hated them. I did my very best to squelch their career. We can all see what a good job I did.
JERRY CANTRELL: I think the first gold record out of Seattle was Facelift.
CATHY FAULKNER: A lot of people nationally at radio stations were freaking out — not only by the band’s name, but thinking that they were too hard. I would get calls from people in New York going, “Aren’t you scared to play ‘Man in the Box’?” It’s like, “What is there to be scared of? It’s fine!” That was my first memory of the band — other people initially at radio stations were scared to play it.
SUSAN SILVER: They’d gotten up to the level where they could play the Moore Theatre — which is 1,500. Alice played, and it was amazing. And it got filmed. Donny Ienner had the idea to bundle it for 40,000 copies with this concert video on VHS with Facelift, and that coincided with “Man in the Box” taking off at radio. A million records later, they were on the map.
JERRY CANTRELL: “Man in the Box” hit, and everything changed. When that song hit, we sold half a million records. I think we toured for eight fucking months, and sold 40,000 records. Then that song hit, and boom, there it went. As far as “Man in the Box” goes, I’ve had conversations with the record company about this, and everybody conveniently forgets the fact that nobody really liked that song [laughs]. They thought it was too slow and dirgey. There was some discussion about it maybe not being on the record, and we’re like, “Fuck that — that song is killer.”
SEAN KINNEY: I thought it would have been “Sea of Sorrow” more. I mean, there were other songs, like “Sunshine,” that I thought would have been a bigger radio type of tune. That one just latched on for some reason. Somebody paid somebody somewhere! Isn’t that how it works? Somebody pays somebody a shitload of money to play it all the time [laughs].
JERRY CANTRELL: “Man in the Box” hit in the middle of the Clash of the Titans tour — you talk about a tough fucking tour, opening up for Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. They had a revolving headlining set, but still, Slayer’s fans would out-chant any of the other fans in the arena. “Slayer, Slayer, Slayer! ” I remember playing Red Rocks, and the place is built “up” — you could hit the stage with pretty much anything you throw from a certain distance. That was one of those landmark moments for the band. We got fucking massacred, dude. They started throwing stuff from the moment we came onstage. It was un-fucking-believable. We were playing just looking up — watching shit come down, trying to avoid it, without running off the stage. After a while of getting pelted with all this shit — I don’t know how someone did this, but they snuck a gallon jug of some liquid, and they hocked this thing. It came down and crashed on Sean’s set.
Layne got fucking pissed. He started grabbing shit and throwing it back at the audience. He jumped the barricades, and started spitting back — throwing shit and flipping people off, just like they had been doing to us. So we all did the same thing — we all followed Layne’s lead. We got right in their face, started kicking the shit they were throwing at us right back in their faces. And we finished our set. We’re like, “Fuck, man, we better get out of here — we’re going to get killed.” After that show, there were a bunch of Slayer fans out by the bus. We’re like, “Oh shit, here we go.” We walk up to the bus — they were blocking us from getting to the bus — and they’re like, “You guys are alright. You guys didn’t puss out.”
EDDIE VEDDER: It was interesting to watch a band change the mood of people, ’cause we were doing our first little tour with them. Not really any backdrops or whatever — they were small places — but just with songs being able to change a mood, some of the darker stuff. Layne, you’d see him with sunglasses, you didn’t really know what his eyes were doing — he wore sunglasses the whole tour, including playing and at night. If you were to take him from his lyrics, you thought, “Well, I certainly don’t want to bother him with small talk.” And it seemed hard to get to know him, but all you had to do was say two words. He’s really gentle, incredibly warm, and childlike — in the best of ways. That seems so different than how you’d anticipate him being, or how you expected him to be from the songs.
NANCY LAYNE McCALLUM: Alice in Chains opened for almost all of Layne’s heroes. I remember he told me one of the guys had admired Eddie Van Halen’s cowboy boots, and Eddie then bought them a pair. Sometimes Layne would name somebody he was opening for, and other than maybe having heard the name, I wouldn’t have the faintest idea who they were. Sorry to tell you, Iggy! [Laughs.] I had a job to do. I had a family I was raising. We have great humor in our family, but I was serious about doing a good job of raising my children. If it’s bad pride, than I apologize, but I’m very prideful about raising your own children — I really believe in it. So, that was Layne’s world. And yes, he ran names by me, and I was thrilled for him, because he was thrilled. It was extremely difficult to communicate with the band, because they weren’t available … no e-mail, no cell phones. They were in different time zones, they were in different countries, they were busy because they were at a photo shoot, an interview, on a plane, touring, and traveling.
JERRY CANTRELL: I remember going to New York City — I went with Layne. I think coincidentally, it’s the week I started smoking [laughs]. Our album was on the cover of Billboard Magazine. I think we were there to do a press thing. Me and Layne picked up a couple of homeless guys that were hanging by our hotel. We got into a conversation with these guys, and we figured, “Fuck, we’re doing good,” so we invited the guys up to our suite. We had a kick-ass room, so we ordered all this room service and booze, and hung out with these two homeless dudes all night — and gave them train fare to get back to where they were going in the morning.
MATT FOX: When Singles was being shot in town, I was an extra. Alice did their thing at Pier 48, which is down on the waterfront, just south of the ferry terminal — big old pier. They did a shoot for the song “Would?” It looked like rkcndy kind of. We all had fake beer — for atmosphere — and of course, some of us had brought in other things. It was a little party, and we got to see them lip-sync to “Would?” about twenty times. They had everybody show up at a parking lot at Seattle Center, and then they bussed everybody over there — to keep the mystery and keep it from being swamped with people.
VAN CONNER: Talk about debauchery — they made the rest of us look like Catholic schoolgirls! They were out of control, in a fun way too. But it served to their demise as a band, eventually.
YANNI “JOHNNY” BACOLAS: [Layne] told me that he started his “abuse” [during] the Van Halen tour. That’s when he was introduced to heroin. I asked him, “How did this happen?” His exact words were, “Johnny, when [I] took that first hit, for the first time in my life, I got on my knees, and I thanked God for feeling good.” From there, it just didn’t stop.
MARK IVERSON: I saw [Nirvana] with Jason Everman, and then saw Soundgarden with Jason Everman. Then of course he left, and has to be the unluckiest man in show business.
MATT CAMERON: [ Jason Everman] recorded one single with us. I guess it just didn’t work out musically.
KIM THAYIL: He certainly could do the musical thing, but it wasn’t keeping the band together. We were at a point where Chris and I realized, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to be on the road all the time.” We really weren’t identifying or behaving as a band. We had our moments where everything was great. But we weren’t like four fingers curled up into one fist. We realized we had to make a decision. Chris’s suggestion was Ben. He’d been thinking of Ben’s ability and personality, and thought that could be the thing that gets us back to where we were — personally and creatively.
MATT CAMERON: We had actually auditioned him once, when we were auditioning bass players, and picked Jason. So after Jason didn’t work out, we all figured, “We chose the wrong guy! Let’s see if Ben is still interested.” Luckily, he was.
KIM THAYIL: It certainly gave a creative and
emotional punch. It was the spark we needed — we felt like a team, like brothers.
TRACY MARANDER: [Kurt Cobain] loved Soundgarden. At one point, when they were looking for another [bassist] — I think it’s maybe when Ben Shepherd joined the band — he actually thought about quitting Nirvana. He wanted to try out for them, because he liked them that much.
TERRY DATE: Different dynamic — they were just two totally different personalities. Ben carries a lot of fire, whereas Hiro was more cerebral. It didn’t change the band musically that much, other than Ben would bring in his own songs — a new style of songs. Ben had a different writing style than Hiro. It seemed like a really nice injection of a different song style than what they had. The band had done four records to that point, I think it was nice to have some fresh ideas come in.
BEN SHEPHERD: We rehearsed for a couple of weeks, then we went straight to touring in Europe. The first place I played was Copenhagen, at the Roskilde Festival. We did this three week tour, then we came home [and] had another tour all ready to go. It was like jumping right into the fire — it was awesome. So fucking fun. [A show at the New York’s Beacon Theater with Danzig] was one of the best times we ever played “Beyond the Wheel.” I met the guys from Queensrÿche and flipped them shit after. “Whoa, I’ve never seen anybody play bass like that before!” I was like, “Well, you’ve never seen us then. Why are you talking to me?” Then I went and hid in this room in the dark and smoked cigarettes.
KEN STRINGFELLOW: We opened for Soundgarden in Bumbershoot. Locally, they were really big. But nationally, still kind of “a club band” — but getting there. Typically, the headlining act of the festival would play the Coliseum, and Soundgarden was a headliner — but by accident. The Psychedelic Furs couldn’t make it. They put Soundgarden in there — they really took a big risk on them. Y’know, 15,000 people — that’s quite a stretch for Soundgarden at the time. But they really lived up to it — they did a great job. Spinal Tap had played Bumbershoot some years previously, and left their biggest prop there. Soundgarden hoisted this big horned skull with glowing eyes over their stage.
DAVID MEINERT: It seemed to be the show that tipped them over the top. It was the point where I knew there was something much bigger starting to happen, than just some great local rock bands.
SUSAN SILVER: It was more of a “testosterone period,” somehow. Things were rolling so fast by that point.
MATT CAMERON: We rehearsed our asses off. We did a lot of [1991’s Badmotorfinger] at our friend’s studio, Avast! Our old soundman, Stuart Hallerman, let us hole up in his new studio for what seemed like months — at least three or four months — rehearsing these songs, working on music. So by the time we got down to Sausalito, California, we recorded at this place called Studio D — that was suggested to us by Faith No More. We used Terry Date again. We never really went into the city — we were very work-manlike. I think we recorded the bass and drums down there for two weeks, then we came up to Seattle again, and overdubbed the guitars and vocals at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington. They had a really cool Jack Russell Terrier there. The sessions were pretty quick and efficient.
TERRY DATE: It was spring or summer — we were playing some game with a Frisbee. It wasn’t normal Frisbee; it was some sort of full contact Frisbee. Two guys would get on either end of the field, someone would throw the Frisbee up in the air, and the other guy would throw the Nerf football at the guy trying to catch the Frisbee. I think you had to catch them both, or if you dropped them both — there were points involved. I have video of it. I remember Eddie Vedder came up, with the first test mixes of the first Pearl Jam record — being pretty concerned if it was any good or not.
MATT CAMERON: [Badmotorfinger] was a lot darker sounding. We got a heavier guitar sound, and we used Ron St. Germain to mix it. He did a lot of records we liked — I Against I by the Bad Brains. So he mixed the drums dry, and the bass is really loud — it was a cool sound. It’s certainly different than Louder Than Love.
TERRY DATE: They felt Louder Than Love was a little too smooth — they wanted more of an edge. At the time, most of the stuff I was doing and what they were doing wasn’t getting a whole lot of radio play. Nobody took it very seriously. Which gave us a lot of freedom to do whatever we wanted to do. I had no expectations — I knew it was a good record.
KIM THAYIL: We kind of knew prior to the album’s release that [“Outshined”] was going to be slated as a single. I actually thought they’d work more on “Somewhere” or “Mind Riot.” I don’t know how big it was as a single — I wasn’t a big radio listener or MTV watcher. I didn’t get cable TV until ’94 or ’95. So when I saw our videos, it was on tour in a hotel.
SUSAN SILVER: That was the symbol of things changing in the industry, and the dedication of A&M to really help break Soundgarden. [“Outshined”] at a label with less support — maybe it wouldn’t have gotten the sort of radio play, because the promotion staff wouldn’t have been so focused on it, or the relationship with MTV wouldn’t have been into play on that track. Amazing song and all the right circumstances surrounding it to have it promoted properly.
MATT CAMERON: We did a fucking eight-month Guns N’ Roses tour around the States. Then we were in Europe with them for a while. Then we toured with Skid Row — we were in “the metal trenches” at that point, just fully paying our dues. We were like the opening act for ’91–’92.
SUSAN SILVER: [The Guns N’ Roses tour] was a call I got, that I was so excited to tell them about. I had a bunch of T-shirt designs in a box that I needed to show them. So I went to this studio that they were at — Avast! — doing some B-sides. I get there and I can barely contain myself. “Guys, guess what? You got offered the Guns N’ Roses tour today!” Dead silence. Finally, Kim pipes in. “What’s in the box?”
SCOTTY CRANE: Axl Rose name-dropped Chris Cornell in Rolling Stone as “a great singer to look out for … from some band in Seattle called Soundgarden.” I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist.
COLLEEN COMBS: I really loved a lot of the music that was coming out of Seattle, and every once in a while, Axl would ask me to pick up new music for him — when I was working for him. So I gave him all the Soundgarden stuff, and also Nirvana. Did anyone ever tell you the story of him crowd surfing at a Soundgarden show? It was like a Concrete Convention gig in Los Angeles. I was at that show — I missed him crowd surfing — but I experienced some of the fallout the next day, because he lost his wallet [laughs]. I don’t know why, but Axl’s a little bit older than me, and he always seemed like an adult to me. When I heard that he was crowd surfing, it seemed to me that he was too old to do it. In my mind, Seattle was, like, everybody was so much younger — which isn’t true — but by this time, it seemed like Axl was a rock star and established. He was supposed to go over there with Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones, and he shouldn’t be part of anything to do with Seattle.
Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, Chris Cornell, and Matt Cameron at Tivoli in Utrecht, Netherlands, March 21, 1992
SUSAN SILVER: Once they got on the tour, they were treated so well — the Guns N’ Roses crew was incredible, and everyone was really accommodating. The hospitality was just great. It didn’t take long before the Guns N’ Roses crew dubbed them “Frowngarden” [laughs].
BEN SHEPHERD: We had a blast, man. Because the whole crew of theirs and their whole band are really fucking nice. Me, I’m like a punk rocker fuckup, and I’m all cantankerous — my nickname was “Manimal” back then. We weren’t rock stars; we’re not like that. Totally like the kids you’d think we’d be. And I’m all grumpy — “Goddamn it, these guys are nice, I can’t even hate ’em! I hate their music, but they’re nice.” Same thing with Skid Row — fucking hated their music, they knew it, but they’re all so cool. Pissed me off, now I don’t even have a reason to be pissed off. What the hell is this? My life is going to shit and it’s beautiful at the same time! I didn’t have a home life anymore — that’s what happens when you tour all the time. But you’ve
got to go for it when you have a chance.
KIM THAYIL: When we toured with Guns N’ Roses, we alienated some of our Sub Pop/punk rock/indie fans. They thought, “Soundgarden was on the fence — kind of punk rock, kind of metal. But now they’re touring with Guns N’ Roses, they fall into that side of the fence.” It’s like, “No,we didn’t.” At that time, who were we supposed to tour with? When we signed up to tour with Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana wasn’t bigger than us yet. Who was there in that genre for us to tour with, that we could open up for, and play cities that we couldn’t command ourselves? A lot of the cities we hit with Guns N’ Roses and Skid Row were places that we probably couldn’t have gotten gigs ourselves. We weren’t big enough to get a gig in Omaha. We could play a small club perhaps, but promoters wouldn’t have taken a chance with us, necessarily. It was an opportunity for us to play in front of a larger audience. Those tours were certainly a lot of fun. I think in retrospect, everyone understands it now. But back then, some people thought it was weird that we were taking that tour.
BEN SHEPHERD: That whole year of Badmotorfinger seemed like “Whooom! Where did it go?” It was like stepping into a fucking dragster and going for it.
CHAPTER 20
“You guys will be bigger than Hüsker Dü”: Nirvana and Nevermind
It took one specific album to open the grunge floodgates, and Nirvana’s classic Nevermind was it. By the end of 1991, Nirvana was one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, with unexpected superstardom bestowed upon them.