Claim: Soundgarden had disbanded permanently the year before Pearl Jam formed.
Evidence: Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label -LRB- A&M Records in 1988 -RRB- , though the band did not achieve commercial success until they popularized the genre in the early 1990s with Seattle contemporaries Pearl Jam , Nirvana , and Alice in Chains.
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle , Washington , in 1990.
Cornell remained in Soundgarden until his death in May 2017 , putting the band 's future in doubt and leaving Thayil as the only remaining original member of the band.
In 1997 , the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction.