American grunge band Soundgarden has found a place at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, inducted into the museum by actor-comedian Jim Carrey.
Carrey took a trip down memory lane and said that he had met the band for the first time in 1996 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles during Saturday Night Live, where he personally requested to bring Soundgarden as a guest.
“By then, the lineup was Chris [Cornell], Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron on drums, and Ben Shepherd on base. They launched into the dark, epic beauty of ‘Pretty Noose,’” Carrey said.
“I stood right in front of them, letting the waves of electricity wash over me, like an audio baptism. They pushed me under and when I came up I was free,” he added.
“Chris would be proud,” a longtime fan of Soundgarden wrote on X, paying homage to Chris Cornell, the leading vocalist of the band.
Members of Soundgarden — Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and founding bassist Hiro Yamamoto — were present at the ceremony.
After the SNL show, Carrey shared a heartwarming moment with the band as they gifted him one of his most prized possessions — a Fender Telecaster signed by all four Soundgarden members, including one from late frontman Chris Cornell.
Emerging from Seattle’s late ’80s grunge scene alongside Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden redefined the music scene with their experimental mix of metal and alternative rock. Chris Cornell’s iconic vocals and Kim Thayil’s guitar work turned the band into one of the pioneers of grunge music.
Bassist and founding member Hiro Yamamoto, who reunited with the band on the occasion, penned a heartfelt note on Instagram a day before the event. “Well, Soundgarden is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow and like the lyrics in this song say, Chris Cornell will be ‘Entering without a sound’. Love to you, Chris and I know you will be there in spirit. We shared some amazing moments together and I especially treasure the cathartic energy we brought to the stage,” he wrote.
At the event, Yamamoto recalled his family’s lived-in experiences during World War II. “That affected my life greatly,” he said. “And it really echoes strongly today. Let’s not add another story like this to our history.”
Kim Thayil reminisced the band’s time with Cornell around, saying, “If one of us ever hesitated in sharing an idea, Chris would be the first to say, ‘Let’s just try it out and see.’ I miss him. I love him, and I love all my [Soundgarden] brothers.”
The night featured a performance by Taylor Momsen (of The Pretty Reckless) with Soundgarden for the track Rusty Cage and Brandi Carlile collaborating with them for Black Hole Sun.
Other inductees at the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame also included OutKast, Bad Company, Cyndi Lauper, The White Stripes, Chubby Checker, and Joe Cocker. The event was available to stream live on Disney+.