Why did Soundgarden record with so many independent labels before signing with A&M?
“It was neat that they (bigger labels such as Capitol, Geffen and A&M) were waving this money in our face, but it was important to us to establish ourselves with the people who like us. It would be bad to develop an underground following and then suddenly turn up on a major label. It would be alienating. Being on a major doesn’t even guarantee that you’ll make a record, and we wanted to establish ourselves in the underground and college marketplace first, where the majors couldn’t screw around with us.” – Kim from Rip (May 1990). 2.
