Seattle’s Soundgarden Breaks Up After 12 Years

It was a curiously muted ending for one of the loudest and best-selling rock groups of the decade.

A brief statement was issued Wednesday and posted on the Wide World Web site of Soundgarden, winner of two Grammy awards and nominated for six others:

“After 12 years, the members of Soundgarden have amicably and mutually decided to disband to pursue other interests. There is no word at this time on any of the members’ future plans.”

Diana Baron, a publicist in Los Angeles for A&M Records, the group’s label, said none of the four members - principal songwriter and lead singer Chris Cornell, 32, guitarist Kim Thayil, 36, bassist Ben Shepherd, 28, and drummer Matt Cameron, 34 - would comment.

Susan Silver, Cornell’s wife and manager of the group, did not return a telephone call to her office.

Soundgarden, known for a thunderous, brooding instrumental approach, came to prominence in the late 1980s as part of the same grunge rock scene that spawned Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

Five of the group’s albums have sold more than 20 million copies, and the cuts “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman” won Grammys in 1994 for Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance, respectively.

Their latest effort, “Down on the Upside,” was released last year and has sold more than 3 million copies. The cut “Pretty Noose” was nominated for a Grammy this year.

In December, two performances in Seattle were postponed a week because Cornell was experiencing throat problems, but his voice sounded strong in concert.

Earlier that month, in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Thayil indicated some restlessness within the group.

“Our initial fans were very much our peers,” he said. “They were musicians, artists, students, people involved somehow in music, but nowadays you also have the kids and the housewives, the casual fans.

“With your casual fans, you say, ‘Thanks for the money,’ and they say, ‘Thanks for the song.’ They include a lot of people who are aware of us because they’ve seen the video of ‘Black Hole Sun’ on MTV.”