Twenty percent of American doctors are of Asian origin. Kim Thayil is not one of them. Born in Seattle in 1960 to immigrants from the Indian state of Kerala, Thayil, it could be said, chose a different path.
The Life
As children of mid-20th-century Asian immigrants will tell you, there were two options—assimilate or perish. Thayil opted for the former, dabbling in what all American kids did—baseball and punk rock.
His mother was a classically trained pianist from London’s Royal Academy of Music and his father a chemical engineer, the latter vocation prompting a family move from the Pacific Northwest to the Chicago suburbs. There, Thayil met another Asian—the Japanese-American Hiro Yamamoto—an apparent math whiz who also happened to appreciate good music.
After high school, the two ended up back in Seattle, where Thayil earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Washington. And here’s where you might expect a few pre-med courses, medical school, a wife and two kids, and a life of “suburbily” ever after.
But something else happened instead—Thayil and Yamamoto met a guy named Chris Cornell.
The trio formed Soundgarden, which later morphed into a quartet—Yamamoto manning the bass, Thayil shredding the electric guitar, Cornell dominating the vocals, and Matt Cameron holding down the drums.
Yamamoto left the band after their second album, ultimately landing a master’s degree in physical chemistry. But with Ben Shepherd as the eventual replacement, Soundgarden trudged on and, along with Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Alice In Chains, became the centerpiece of the international phenomenon affectionately known as grunge.
Thayil’s dedication to his craft would earn him recognition from both Rolling Stone and SPIN as one of the hundred greatest guitarists of all time. Along the way, he would also help the band win two Grammys. Never, however, could he boast the honor of a white coat ceremony.
The Music
If you’ve heard enough Soundgarden, you know that two things stand out—the impossible vocal range of Cornell, and the unforgettable guitar riffs of Thayil. Here’s a sampling.
“Flower”
The opener from the band’s first full-length studio album, Ultramega OK, was merely a sign of things to come.
“Outshined”
From the band’s third album, Badmotorfinger—the one that fully propelled them onto the national scene—this jam remains a mainstay of the Gen X soundtrack.
“My Wave”
The next album, Superunknown, produced a slew of hits, including this one.
“Spoonman”
On the same album was this song, titled in honor of Artis the Spoonman, a local street performer. It contains the line “All my friends are Indians” in reference to Native American culture, but those—like myself—looking to find a silver lining in years of misplaced bigotry can pretend it’s a shout out to Thayil’s South Asian roots.
“Pretty Noose”
And finally, from their fifth album, Down on the Upside, this classic is now a cruel reminder of Cornell’s mental health struggles, which ended in suicide by hanging.
In other words, Kim Thayil, with his Meritorious Dexterity, will always have an MD.
(Sources: Wikipedia, Total F*ucking Godhead: The Biography of Chris Cornell by Corbin Reiff)
