Hear Me Out: Ben Shepherd was Soundgarden’s secret weapon
He’s not a household name, even among diehard 1990s grunge kids, but when he gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month, Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd, whether he attends the ceremony or not, will hopefully receive some fresh accolades for his contributions to one of the best bands to ever do it.
Soundgarden has always been something of an underdog band to begin with—critically respected, commercially successful, but somehow always “too classic rock” for their own good. This is why it took them a dozen years to finally get voted into the Rock Hall, including eight failed attempts, even after the tragic death of frontman Chris Cornell in 2017.
The underdog within the underdog, though, has always been Shepherd; at least from the point he came on board as the permanent replacement for original bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1990. At the time, Shepherd was a guitarist with limited bass playing experience, but he impressed the rest of the group as much for his creative chops as his ability to pick things up technically.
As Soundgarden entered into their golden age with the releases of Badmotorfinger, Superunknown, and Down on the Upside, Shepherd was generally the guy getting the least amount of attention in a band full of wizards. And it’s hard to argue that it was an injustice. Chris Cornell, obviously, was already on the short list of greatest vocalists of his generation; drummer Matt Cameron was a human machine gun behind the kit and would eventually spend the second half of his career in the same role with Pearl Jam; and lead guitarist Kim Thayil was often credited as the architect of the band’s dark sound, with his unorthodox tunings and heavy fuzzed out riffage serving as the foil to Cornell’s soaring wails.
Ben Shepherd was hardly just along for the ride with this intimidating trio, however. As Thayil observed in Greg Prato’s 2009 book Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music, Shepherd gave the band “a creative and emotional punch” right out of the gate. This included introducing Thayil to some of those unusual guitar tunings, and also working with Cornell on the songwriting side, bringing in fresh ideas on song structure as well as original lyrics in some cases.
Shepherd co-wrote one of the band’s breakout singles, ‘Jesus Christ Pose’, but his greatest contributions usually came in the less marketable corners of those classic Soundgarden albums, in the tracks that gave the records a more interesting atmosphere, untethered from their more traditional 1970s blues rock roots. Think of the menacing ‘Head Down’ or the left-field stoner raga of ‘Half’ on Superunknown, or arguably the two most “extreme” moments on Down on the Upside: the beautiful, sad-bastard ballad ‘Zero Chance’ and the screamy, thoroughly de-grunged punk single ‘Ty Cobb’.
The track ‘Switch Opens’, also from Down On the Upside, might be the most satisfying showcase of Soundgarden as the proggy art rock version of themselves, and Shepherd’s offerings on the band’s 2012 reunion album were no less vital, as he wrote or co-wrote six of the tracks on King Animal, including the first single ‘Been Away Too Long’ and another standout, ‘Non-State Actor’.
Shepherd, who had his own battles with depression and substance abuse after Soundgarden’s original break-up in 1997, was uniquely skilled at exploring the same kinds of internal turmoil and dark tones that resonated with the similarly tortured Cornell, and he seemed hopeful that there would be more opportunities to re-form that bond following the success of King Animal.
“I think of songs every day I’d like to see Matt drum on and Chris sing and Kim play guitar on,” Shepherd told the Press of Atlantic City in 2013. “I think of weird stuff for Soundgarden all the time. I’m hoping sooner rather than later, we’ll get to record more. All three of those guys are so creative, there’s no stopping them. There’s the technicality of reality and life that happens—you’ve just got to take it as it comes.”
Cornell’s death ultimately ended any hope of a proper continuation of that story, but when Soundgarden are honoured at the Rock Hall inductions this November, here’s hoping all four members get their just dues, and not just for being pioneers of the supposed grunge sound.
“It’s just rock and roll,” Shepherd said. “We were never grunge. We’re just a band from Seattle.”
