Soundgarden

Hiro Yamamoto (bass player) moved from Illinois to Olympia, Washington, to attend college in 1981. He started playing music with his roommate, Chris Cornell (drummer, lead singer). The duo was soon joined by Yamamoto's high school friend, Kim Thayil (guitarist), and the resulting trio christened themselves Soundgarden in 1984. Soundgarden became the first grunge band to sign with a major record label when it contracted with A&M in 1986. Their albums include Louder Than Love (1989), the Grammy-award winning Superunknown (1994), and Down on the Upside (1996). They broke up in 1997. Sometime members of Soundgarden included drummers Scott Sundquist and Matt Cameron, and bass players Jason Everman and Ben Shepherd. Yamamoto left Soundgarden in 1989 to go back to school.