Kim Thayil On New Book A Screaming Life, Preserving Soundgarden Legacy

BusinessHollywood & EntertainmentKim Thayil On New Book A Screaming Life, Preserving Soundgarden LegacyByJim Ryan,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the business of musicFollow AuthorJun 12, 2026, 05:24pm EDTRIDGEFIELD, WA - AUGUST 29: Kim Thayil of Soundgarden performs on stage at Sleep Country Amphitheater on August 29, 2014 in Ridgefield, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images)Getty ImagesFor co-founding Soundgarden guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Kim Thayil, who personally curated the 2014 6 LP box set Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across the Path, properly preserving the band’s history and legacy has long been a priority.In his new book A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown With Soundgarden and Beyond (now available in a variety of formats via publisher HarperCollins), Thayil tells not just his own story but Soundgarden’s too, factchecking where necessary as he traces the roots and rise of Seattle’s grunge rock scene and Soundgarden’s place at the very forefront of it.While Thayil and singer Chris Cornell were both born in Seattle, Thayil actually grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, where he’d come to embrace the ideals that would guide him as he made the move back to Seattle alongside original Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1981. Releasing their debut album Ultramega OK via legendary indie punk label SST Records in 1988, Soundgarden quickly came to embrace the punk world’s do-it-yourself mantra, with Yamamoto managing the bookings and money and drummer Matt Cameron printing posters during his shifts at Kinko’s. By the time major labels came calling, the band had already created an identity and built an audience, with Thayil in particular acutely aware of the fact that the more attention they paid to the business side, the less control outside forces could exert.MORE FOR YOU“We had an idea of our audience. We’d built it. And one of the things that I would tell Hiro...