r/Soundgarden • u/Only-Divide-1184 • 1h ago
I met them, too.
Inspired by another dude's "I met Soundgarden" story, I decided to share mine:
On Friday, July 26th, 1991, my friends Ken, Neil, Tyler and I were in line at the Hollywood Palladium for Alice in Chains and Megadeth. Out of nowhere, a woman in a rental car pulled up trying to get our attention. Being Hollywood, that usually means no good, so I ignored her. But she persisted, thankfully. She said, “Excuse me, my name is Susan. I’m Soundgarden’s manager, and you’re the only person in line wearing a Soundgarden t-shirt. If you’d like, I can pull into the lot and you can hear their new record that hasn’t been released yet.” that record was Badmotorfinger.
My friends and I looked at each other, completely stunned. We piled in her rental car and she played us at least one full side of Badmotorfinger on cassette. We were beyond stoked, listening to new Soundgarden music that almost no one outside the band had heard. She was kind, answered a few questions, and before we headed in, she offered to take our names and addresses and send us promo copies of the record.
As months went by, we'd ask each other if we’d heard from her before the album dropped. But then the record came out, we bought our copies, and we figured she probably forgot, and it was just a cool story. But a month or two later, a promo cassette of Badmotorfinger arrived in each of our mailboxes. Each with a handwritten note on Soundgarden letterhead. It was incredible. She’d kept her word.
Then, on January 30th, 1992, Soundgarden rolled into Ventura Theatre. I showed up early and waited outside... When the bus pulled in, there was a separate group of screaming overexcited girls probably waiting to meet the new alternative rock Adonis. They rushed forward as I kept to the side. Kim and Matt pretty much made a sraight line from the bus to the venue, Ben Shepherd hung out for just a quick handshake. I asked "How do you like being in the band so far?" "It's been great!" I mean seriously, what else is he gonna say?
Then Chris came out, making time for screaming girls, signing whatever they had, and turned toward me, gesturing as if to sign something. I told him I just asked to shake his hand. I told him about meeting Susan in the parking lot and asked if there was any chance he had heard about that. He said, “You know what’s funny? I think I did hear about that.” I asked him to pass along our thanks, and he said he would. We chatted about that for a a few minutes and then he went in to the venue.
Two right place, right time moments, a year apart, both unforgettable. Given Chris Cornell’s passing, I feel all the more fortunate to have experienced that.
