Soundgarden has maintained a special place in my musical heart for many years. I first discovered them while playing video games as a pre-teen in the mid 90’s. The Sony Playstation was the cream of the crop at the time and it wowed me for one simple fact, the CD quality audio. The switch from cartridge based games lurched my fragile mind into the multimedia orgy we are all familiar with today. Games now included quality music production and snazzy cinematic cut scenes in broadcast quality (the standard at the time). Bare with me, this was a time when most people still played cassette tapes and preferred them to the rather fragile compact disc. High definition anything was years into the future and videogames were still for “kids”.
My favorite game at the time was “Road Rash”. It was a brutal game of illegal motorcycle racing in which billy clubs and towing chains are used to persuade other riders to let you pass. The game provided hours of fun in itself, but i found myself engrossed in the music. Soundgarden , Swervedriver and Paw all had songs and videos on the ingame jukebox. Every since then i have been hooked on rock music in general but especially Soundgarden.
The original lineup from 1997 is still intact and sounds great. Matt Cameron is taking time away from Pearl jam to thrash with his old band mates. It remains in question if Matt will be around for any future album plans with SG while currently under obligation to Pearl Jam. Lead singer and guitarist
Chris Cornell has also remained fresh in the scene with a recent collaboration with hip-hop producer Timbaland. Bassist Ben Shepherd and lead guitarist Kim Thayil have remain active over the years, although with less pop chart attention.