SOUNDGARDEN's KIM THAYIL Reflects On Rise Of 'Grunge' In Early 1990s

During an appearance on Talk Is Jericho, the podcast hosted by FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho, SOUNDGARDEN guitarist Kim Thayil, who is promoting his new memoir, "A Screaming Life: Into The Superunknown With Soundgarden And Beyond", spoke about how the rise of grunge — led by bands like NIRVANA, PEARL JAM, SOUNDGARDEN and ALICE IN CHAINS — defined the early 1990s music scene. This genre resonated with a generation looking for authenticity and raw emotion in an era dominated by glossy pop and hair metal.

Asked about the fact that all four aforementioned acts topped the Billboard 200 charts around the same time, Kim responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, yeah. I was unaware of that. That was brought to my attention then by a journalist — I think it was a British journalist, and I could be wrong. The reason why I think it was a British journalist is they said, 'Hey, Kim, now that your record's number one, this past year has seen number one records from ALICE and NIRVANA and PEARL JAM and you guys, all from Seattle.' And I go, 'Wow, very cool.' And he goes, 'That makes you guys the biggest and hottest scene since Liverpool.' And that spun my head around, put it in a different context. For me to understand that, I had to go back to being, like, six or seven years old. But I didn't get that until that had been pointed out to me."

Asked if he and the other members of the aforementioned groups referred to the Seattle rock scene as "grunge" at that point in time, Kim said: "No. I think none of us used the term 'grunge'… Now we all do, and the reason why we all do is as you get bigger, you're now answering questions and addressing your parents, your uncles, your aunts, your doctor or your lawyer, the person who works at the store or whatever. So you're talking to your friends, and your scene is just your friends or your girlfriends and the person who owns the club and the bartender or whatever, it's one thing. But then when your scene becomes your aunt and uncle, it's, like, 'Well, what do you do?' 'I play in a band.' 'What kind of music do you do?' 'Uh, grunge?' And he's, like, 'Oh, I've heard of that. What's the name of your band?' 'Oh, SOUNDGARDEN.' They shake their head. Then you say PEARL JAM and NIRVANA, and they're, like, 'Oh, yeah.' … So then that becomes a reference, so grunge becomes a way to communicate with the outside world or the world that is only casually interested in what you're doing."

After Jericho noted that it was the same with hair metal or Britpop or the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, where those terms came after the fact rather than in the actual moment, Kim concurred. "I think you're right, to give references to distinguish these different pockets of what was going on and stuff," he said. "Yeah, I don't remember hearing the [term] New Wave Of British Heavy Metal back in the early '80s. I started seeing that initialization sometime in the 2000s. It's, like, 'What's that?' It's, like, 'Oh. You mean like IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST.'"

In a separate interview with NPR's "Morning Edition", Thayil spoke about the six-week period in 1991 when three of the pillars of grunge were released — PEARL JAM's album "Ten", NIRVANA's "Nevermind" and SOUNDGARDEN's "Badmotorfinger".

"We didn't have that initial commercial success," Kim explained. "I mean, there's a meteoric ascension for NIRVANA that overshadowed everything else, which was just fine because it must have been very stressful to have to understand the change in your status. And for us, we grew very slowly off the success of that record, and I'm sure we benefited to some degree from NIRVANA's success and then PEARL JAM's success. So we were able to just hang in there under the radar and maintain our career ascension in a much more manageable way."

"A Screaming Life: Into The Superunknown With Soundgarden And Beyond" arrived on June 9, 2026 via HarperCollins imprint William Morrow.

SOUNDGARDEN is working on an album of previously unreleased recordings they made with Cornell before the singer's 2017 death. Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd are collaborating with producer Terry Date, who previously helmed SOUNDGARDEN's "Louder Than Love" (1989) and "Badmotorfinger" (1991) LPs.

In November 2025, SOUNDGARDEN joined the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame class of 2025 in the Performer category. The Seattle grunge legends were first nominated for the Rock Hall in 2020, and were on the ballot again in 2023 before finally being chosen for induction last year.

Thayil, Cameron, Cornell and Shepherd were included in the induction, as was original bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who was with SOUNDGARDEN from 1984 to 1989 and played on the band's first two EPs and first two albums.

SOUNDGARDEN's three surviving members performed during the event, alongside guest vocalists Taylor Momsen and Brandi Carlile in place of Cornell. The set also featured appearances by PEARL JAM's Mike McCready and ALICE IN CHAINS' Jerry Cantrell.