Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2025: ‘Majesty, frailty’ of Soundgarden cemented for eternity

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Seattle’s Soundgarden were the first of the grunge giants to sign with a major label, but they were never just grunge.

They were heavy, cerebral, and gloriously strange—the closest thing to Black Sabbath that main-stage rock had until Ozzy and company reunited for Ozzfest in the late ’90s.

Jim Carrey inducted Soundgarden into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, marking a full-circle moment: Carrey famously hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 1996 only on the condition that Soundgarden serve as musical guests.

Nearly 30 years later, he shared the stage once again with them—this time joined by The Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen, reuniting the pair 25 years after co-starring in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Momsen, who is releasing “A Pretty Reckless Christmas” this week, helped lead a blistering version of “Rusty Cage,” while Brandi Carlile joined in for a haunting, soaring rendition “Black Hole Sun” (a redux of a Gorge performance a few years back).

Heart’s Nancy Wilson and Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell were also in the mix, a fitting nod since Chris Cornell inducted Heart into the Hall back in 2013.

The surviving members—Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Matt Cameron—were joined onstage by original bassist and fellow inductee Hiro Yamamoto.

FILE – Members of Soundgarden, from left, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell and Ben Shepherd, appear at the iTunes Festival showcase during the SXSW Music Festival on March 13, 2014, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP, File)Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP

Seeing them together again was emotional enough, but the news that a final Soundgarden album featuring Cornell’s unreleased vocals is roughly 75% complete made the moment even more powerful.

Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello (a bandmate in Audioslave) said Soundgarden single-handedly redeemed hard rock and called Cornell a “punk-rock Robert Plant.”

From “Ultramega OK” and “Louder Than Love” to “Badmotorfinger” and “Superunknown,” Soundgarden didn’t just ride the grunge wave—they helped build it.

Cornell’s four-octave howl could summon doom or tenderness in equal measure, while Thayil’s serrated guitar tone and Cameron’s thunderous precision gave the band its singular weight.

Cornell’s passing left a wound that never quite healed, but Soundgarden’s induction wasn’t about loss—it was about legacy. Arguably, this induction was the most emotional moment of the night, punctuated by Wilson and Cornell’s daughter Toni delivering “Fell On Black Days” with cello accompaniment to close the moment.

Heavy, weird and transcendent, Soundgarden proved that art and power could coexist. They were, and remain, the Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin of their generation all at once.

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