This week was Superunknown week, and Spin Magazine released a great oral history of the album including quotes from the members of Soundgarden, producer, Adam Kaspar, Seattle musicians Jeff Ament and Tad Doyle and others. Here are a couple of choice quotes from our favorite bassist.
You could see a little bit with Badmotorfinger that Chris was starting to stretch out songwriting-wise. I think with Temple of the Dog, too, that gave you a sense that he could go a lot of different ways and he wasn't just gonna be locked into doing a heavy, odd-time-signatured rock thing. He had a pop element to him, and then he also had kind of weirdo Syd Barrett melodies going on. I think once Matt [Cameron, drummer] and Ben got their influence on the record, that pulled it apart even more.The band also made an appearance of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with Matt Cameron behind the drums to perform Spoonman and My Wave. Check out the videos below.
I probably got to know Chris the best after Andy died. We hung out probably twice a week. We'd go on bike rides, usually at night in some of the big parks in Seattle. They usually culminated with a fire on the beach and a bottle of something. I think it was a little bit of us trying to understand why Andy was dead. It helped us move through that. It was more helpful than going to a bar or just staying at home and feeling sorry for ourselves.
A song I really, really love is "Kickstand." I think that's because that's a song he wrote about his bike, and my relationship with Chris is forever tied to riding our bikes. That song really does something personal for me.
