In 1991, Guns N’ Roses were the biggest rock band on the planet but a fresh wave of groups had come along making music with a grittier, harder edge were paving the way for a new sort of sound, one that would come to be known as grunge. Instead of trying to distance themselves from these young upstarts, though, GN’R opened their door. They had just released their expansive double Use Your Illusion set and were about to embark on a similarly sprawling world tour to accompany it and they invited Soundgarden to open for them.
At the time, Chris Cornell & co. were coming off the back of their own major breakthrough in third album Badmotorfinger. The GN’R tour was the sort of high-profile jaunt that could take them to another level, putting them in front of a legion of potential new fans, bringing their songs to the ears of thousands who might not have heard them before. It was a win-win, unless, of course, you were actually in the band. For Cornell, Ben Shepherd, Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil, it turned into an important lesson in how not to act once you hit huge success.
