Soundgarden were one of the pioneers of what became the grunge scene. They made their recorded debut with three tracks on Deep Six, a 1986 compilation record by local punk label C/Z Records. Their first proper single, Hunted Down, was released the following year on Sub Pop, the label that would be central to the movement’s later success.
Yet despite being one of the first bands from the Seattle scene to score a major label deal, Soundgarden trailed many of their peers when it came to a mainstream breakthrough – Alice In Chains, Nirvana and Pearl Jam all scored crossover hits and platinum albums before they did.
Soundgarden finally got their first million seller with their third album, 1991’s Badmotorfinger, although it took until 1993 to reach that status. But it would be 1994’s follow-up, Superunknown, that propelled them to superstar level. And its success was partly down to lead single Spoonman, a song which gave the band their first major hit, reaching No.3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and No.20 on the UK singles chart.
Superunknown was a brilliantly strange album, shifting from the bleak psychedelia of Black Hole Sun to Limo Wreck’s Sabbath-heavy howl. Spoonman itself was like nothing Soundgarden had recorded before – a clattering grunge-blues anthem powered by a jerky rhythm and Chris Cornell’s fearsome howl. Guitar solos were never Soundgarden’s thing anyway, but Spoonman unexpectedly delivers on its title by delivering a solo played on metal spoons in its place.
The spoons were courtesy of the man who inspired the song in the first place. Artis The Spoonman is a real-life street performer and spoon player was a fixture at Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market in the early 1990s. He had begun playing spoons at the age of 10 and, following a stint in the US Navy, he began hitchhiking and busking around the country in the early 70s.
“I have felt a strong urge to be a musician/performer since I was a young boy,” Artis told Classic Rock in 2014. “Spoons became an inadvertent vehicle. I started making tips in 1974, and lived on it ever since.”
Such was his aptitude with his chosen instruments, Artis even appeared on stage with Frank Zappa in the 80s. “I played along with a drum machine and got to tell Zappa when to turn it off,” he says. “I always thought of it as conducting Zappa.”
Cornell was only vaguely aware of Artis when he wrote a song called Spoon Man for the 1992 Seattle-set romcom Singles. The title came from Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, who had designed an album cover and fake tracklisting for Citizen Dick, the fictitious grunge band in the movie fronted by Cliff Poncier, aka Matt Dillon. Cornell built a song around the title.
“I had known there was this guy Spoonman – his business card was these little disposable wooden spoons you would get with ice cream – but it was an ode to an imaginary person in my head, because I didn't know him yet,” Cornell told Entertainment Weekly. “And the song was based entirely on the title, so what's happening musically is the attitude of supporting this guy who stands on a street corner and plays the shit out of some spoons.”
By the time Soundgarden came to record Superunknown in the summer of 1993, Spoon Man had become Spoonman and Artis – who supported the band at a gig in 1992 – was invited into the studio to play on it. Grainy footage shows recording the track, topless and throwing himself into it with his full body.
Speaking to Spin magazine, Superunknown producer Michael Beinhorn recalled Artist arriving at the studio with an arsenal of spoons and metal implements.
“We start running the track, and he just starts picking these tools up, and he strikes the living crap out of himself with them,” said Beinhorn. “I’m not talking about light slaps, either; some of them are big, hard pieces of metal. Within a very short period of time, there was blood flying everywhere. It was actually quite beautiful to watch because he was almost like a dancer; it was flowing and graceful.”
Spoonman was released as the first single from Superunknown in February 1994, with Artis appearing in the video. But he admitted to feeling uncomfortable with the song’s lyrics. “‘Save me?’ I mean, give me a break,” he told Spin. “Oh my God. It’s, like, way over-the-top exaggeration.” Neither was he invited to the following year’s Grammys when Soundgarden picked up the awards for both Best Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance for the song, though by that point seemed honoured to have inspired it.
“Who ever had a Grammy Award-winning song, a multiplatinum song about himself?” Artis told Spin. “The cross between the responsibility and just the joy and the privilege and the honour.”
Post-Spoonman, Artis released his own album, Entertain The Entertainers, and continued to play on the streets of Seattle and elsewhere. He appeared on stage with Aerosmith (“Steven Tyler called me out of an audience of 10,000 to sit-in”), and Cornell’s post-Soundgarden band Audioslave.
“I’d be driving along and someone would shout out: ‘Spoonman! Save me!’” Artis told Classic Rock. It was awesome. I got gigs I wouldn’t have gotten for at least a year or two. I’m still celebrated and complimented some places I go.”
Cornell, who died in 2017, told Rolling Stone magazine that he lost touch with Artis in the mid-2000s. But he was full of praise for his unlikely collaborator.
“I have never been in a room with him when he wasn't the centre of attention,” the singer said. “I've seen him perform in front of seven people in a room and 10,000 people. I've seen him in a hospital bed right after he had a heart attack [in 2002] and listened to his stories. He was always an amazing person to be around.”
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