It was 1989, fall or winter. Can’t quite remember, but it was chilly enough to warrant wearing pants rather than shorts. I was most likely wearing a Ramones t-shirt with my plaid flannel and Chuck Taylors.
For those that know me, this could describe just about any day where the temperature is below 55ºF.
I was a senior in high school. It was an easy year academically. The only classes I really had to pay attention to were AP English and Government. I’d been placed in a photography class because no one else signed up for a classical guitar class and it was probably the biggest stroke of luck in my life as that class would alter the trajectory of my life immeasurably.
My parents placed a lot of trust in me. As long as I maintained my grades, I had a lot of latitude to do as I pleased. More often than not, what I pleased meant driving to Oakland or Berkeley or San Francisco on a Tuesday night to see Primus or Psychefunkapus or Faith No More or Fungo mungo or the Limbomaniacs.
Live music. That was my intoxicant of choice when I was 18. I had access to a truck with a shell that we could cram 6 people into uncomfortably. As long as I was driving... and my grades were good... I had a 4.0... I could basically do whatever I wanted.
Shows! Shows! Shows!
That year, Voivod’s “Nothingface” and Prong’s “Beg to Differ” had come out and I was a huge fan of both bands. One night, both of them were playing at The Stone in San Francisco. For those of you not from the Bay Area in the 80s, The Stone was a F@#$ING LEGENDARY venue. Metallica and Exodus got their starts there.
Prong and Voivod on the same stage on the same night. It was a dream come true for 18 year old me.
It was me and one other person as most of my friends couldn’t go to a show in SF on a weekday. I lived in San Jose, so on a week night, a trip to SF was a bit of a hike and it meant a very late night.
We roll down Broadway looking for parking and pass the venue. The marquee said Voivod with Prong and....
SOUNDGARDEN!
My friend freaks out. He works at a college radio station and knew everything about everything before us dopey high school kids did. I had no idea who they were. My friend informs me that they’re a new band from Seattle and unlike anything we were currently listening to.
We park. Enter the venue in time to see the opener....
SOUNDGARDEN!
In those days in the Bay Area, you went to see the opening act. There was so much cool shit going on that you didn’t want to miss a note by any of the performers on a bill.
Soundgarden walks out onto the stage. A couple people cheer, obviously not dopey high school students. Everyone in the band was dressed like me. Chris was shirtless of course and I was immediately struck with the fact that I was in the presence of a god. He immediately commanded that hallowed stage.
This was post Hiro Yamamoto, so it must have been Jason Everman because it was decidedly not Ben on the bass. They opened with Gun! If you’re not familiar, Gun is on Louder Than Love and it’s a monstrously heavy song with a tempo change in the middle that lesser bands simply would never attempt.
I was a serious metal fan. Going to a Voivod and Prong show pretty much proves that. It was 1989 though and the whole Thrash Metal thing was starting to wear a little thin. Everyone was basically starting to sound like the Big 4. And Justice for All was huge and it seemed like everyone was trying to cash in on that.
Soundgarden was definitely not that. The guitars were loud and heavy, but there was always this thread of melody winding its way through every song. And that voice! Holy shit that voice! There was nothing like it!
They played for 30-40 minutes and I was enthralled. Not the usual head banging and thrashing about that typified the show. Chris was all over the place and somehow managed to play a guitar during it all. Utterly amazing.
Then Prong and Voivod played. My ears are still ringing and I still have a headache from the strobe light show from Voivod, but Soundgarden stole the show that night.
Louder Than Love would be playing on my stereo incessantly for the next year and a half until Soundgarden released Badmotorfinger.
About five and a half years after this show, Kurt was dead, but Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Mudhoney were still at it.I was 23 at the time and very bored with life and ready for a change. I was offered a job at a Kinko’s in Shoreline. WA. Were it not for my love of Soundgarden, I might have passed on the job and found a job in San Francisco and remained a Bay Area kid, but because of my love for a band, for a music scene, I took the chance on a move to a city I had never before visited.
I would have a totally different life with different friends and most likely a different career.
Soundgarden played a big role in who I am today and the life I now enjoy.
Thank you, Chris. You never knew it, but you played a large role in my life.
I’m going to go listen to Slaves & Bulldozers at obscene volume now.
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