For anyone who grew up amidst the Grunge revolution, the movie ‘Singles’ would’ve been a staple in their viewing arsenal. Featuring guest appearances from Pearl Jam and a soundtrack boasting grunge’s finest, the movie truly encapsulated the essence of the era.
In a recent chat with The Powell Movement, Ament discussed working on the film and how he created the cassettes that inspired Chris Cornell to write one of Soundgarden’s biggest hits – ‘Spoonman’. Ament detailed what it was like to work on the film, alongside Matt Dillon,
“Matt Dillon’s apartment was basically my apartment. We basically took everything down from my apartment and put it up in Matt Dillon’s. We basically put posters all over the walls, and decorated it. In some ways, it was sort of the apartment that I wish I had.”
Staying true to the authentic edge of the grunge era, Ament spoke on what it was like to be used as a first hand muse for the movie’s inspiration, reflecting on how he was paid to add to the creative atmosphere of the set, “It was insane, and they were paying me rent for my posters and a couple of skateboards that they ended up using in the movie. They paid me for that stuff. Just to work in an atmosphere where there were no boundaries. I would work on stuff, and Steven Lineweaver would come over and look at them and go, ‘Eh, that’s not that good.’ The next day Cameron would come through and be like, ‘Oh man that’s awesome! There’s going to be a time when Matt Dillon is going to be busking through the market, and we need some tapes for him.”
Ament went on to say that Soundgarden’s legendary track ‘Spoonman’ was inspired by the tapes since Cornell guest starred in the film, “so I made these tapes that Chris Cornell later found, and ended up writing songs off of.”
You can listen to the entire podcast here:
Watch Chris Cornell’s cameo in the film below:
