Soundgarden’s Rock Hall Induction Will Honor the Seattle Sound
Grunge will take center stage at this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony when the surviving members of rock band Soundgarden are inducted into the special hall. During…
Grunge will take center stage at this year's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony when the surviving members of rock band Soundgarden are inducted into the special hall. During the ceremony, the grunge icons are planning to honor their hometown of Seattle in a major way.
Soundgarden first got together in Seattle in 1984, bringing together band members Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto. The band's current lineup features guitarist Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bass player Ben Shepherd. Cornell sadly passed away in 2017.
So, what is the band planning for their big night? "We wanted to keep it as Seattle-centric as possible and include some people that were there with us in the beginning," Cameron told The Seattle Times of Soundgarden's plans for the Rock Hall event.
Performers at Soundgarden's Rock Hall Induction
Soundgarden has also recruited a range of high-profile Seattle musicians to perform at the event, including Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Heart's Nancy Wilson and Brandi Carlile. The Pretty Reckless vocalist Taylor Momsen isn't from Seattle, but she's a big fan of Soundgarden, so she'll also be part of the celebration. The Pretty Reckless was opening on Soundgarden's tour in 2017 when Cornell sadly died.
"To have our peers, friends and creative collaborators from [Seattle] share that with us is very important," Thayil told The Seattle Times. "It's very important because it's part of our identity."
"We're not simply 'rock guys' in this band Soundgarden," he added. "We're rock guys in this band Soundgarden that helped establish the Seattle scene and the sound. The geography is very important to our identity. It's where we are, it's where we came from. It's who we are."
Cameron and Thayil also elaborated on the final Soundgarden album, which will feature recordings frontman Cornell left behind before he died. "It's a way to post tribute to our beloved brother," Thayil said. "All of it just has that much more weight emotionally and creatively, and we don't take that lightly."
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert and induction ceremony is set for Nov. 8 in Los Angeles and will also stream live on Disney+.
