Kim Thayil was born on September 4, 1960 in Seattle, Washington. He is best
known as the guitarist for Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden, which he founded with Chris Cornell and Hiro Yamamoto in 1984.
He was named 100th best guitarist of all time by
Rolling Stone Magazine.
Thayil was the second most important song writer for Soundgarden. Writing and co-writing songs such as,
Jesus Christ Pose, My Wave, Limo Wreck, Superunknown, and Never the Machine Forever.
Thayil was definitely the driving force behind Soundgarden's success. He was typically characterized by heavy riffing, and was cited among other grunge guitarists as an influence and a pioneer of the "
Seattle Sound."
During the last recording sessions of Soundgarden's "Down on the Upside", Thayil and Chris Cornell had a disagreement. Thayil thought that the band should continue to focus of their heavy-riffing, which was the band's signature trademark, but Cornell wanted more prominent vocals. Neither one could come to a compromise, and in April of 1997, Soundgarden disbanded. Thayil did participate in making a "best of" album called "A-sides."
Radiohead fan: "Hey dude, did you hear Jonny Greenwood's digital delay effect in the song "Bones"??
Soundgarden fan: "Yeah, it was
really good, but I think "Limo Wreck", by Kim Thayil is way better. That song has one of my
favorite riffs ever in any song."
