Claim: Soundgarden signed to an American record label in August 1988.
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.
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent label by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962.