title: Light-emitting diode

text: The low energy consumption, low maintenance and small size of LEDs has led to uses as status indicators and displays on a variety of equipment and installations. Large-area LED displays are used as stadium displays, dynamic decorative displays, and dynamic message signs on freeways. Thin, lightweight message displays are used at airports and railway stations, and as destination displays for trains, buses, trams, and ferries.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: One-color light is well suited for traffic lights and signals, exit signs, emergency vehicle lighting, ships' navigation lights, and LED-based Christmas lights


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Because of their long life, fast switching times, and visibility in broad daylight due to their high output and focus, LEDs have been used in automotive brake lights and turn signals. The use in brakes improves safety, due to a great reduction in the time needed to light fully, or faster rise time, about 0.1 second faster than an incandescent bulb. This gives drivers behind more time to react. In a dual intensity circuit (rear markers and brakes) if the LEDs are not pulsed at a fast enough frequency, they can create a phantom array, where ghost images of the LED appear if the eyes quickly scan across the array. White LED headlamps are beginning to appear. Using LEDs has styling advantages because LEDs can form much thinner lights than incandescent lamps with parabolic reflectors.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Due to the relative cheapness of low output LEDs, they are also used in many temporary uses such as glowsticks, throwies, and the photonic textile Lumalive. Artists have also used LEDs for LED art.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: With the development of high-efficiency and high-power LEDs, it has become possible to use LEDs in lighting and illumination. To encourage the shift to LED lamps and other high-efficiency lighting, in 2008 the US Department of Energy created the L Prize competition. The Philips Lighting North America LED bulb won the first competition on August 3, 2011, after successfully completing 18 months of intensive field, lab, and product testing.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Efficient lighting is needed for sustainable architecture. As of 2011, some LED bulbs provide up to 150 lm/W and even inexpensive low-end models typically exceed 50 lm/W, so that a 6-watt LED could achieve the same results as a standard 40-watt incandescent bulb. The lower heat output of LEDs also reduces demand on air conditioning systems. Worldwide, LEDs are rapidly adopted to displace less effective sources such as incandescent lamps and CFLs and reduce electrical energy consumption and its associated emissions. Solar powered LEDs are used as street lights and in architectural lighting.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: The mechanical robustness and long lifetime are used in automotive lighting on cars, motorcycles, and bicycle lights. LED street lights are employed on poles and in parking garages. In 2007, the Italian village of Torraca was the first place to convert its street lighting to LEDs.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Cabin lighting on recent Airbus and Boeing jetliners uses LED lighting. LEDs are also being used in airport and heliport lighting. LED airport fixtures currently include medium-intensity runway lights, runway centerline lights, taxiway centerline and edge lights, guidance signs, and obstruction lighting.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs are also used as a light source for DLP projectors, and to backlight newer LCD television (referred to as LED TV), computer monitor (including laptop) and handheld device LCDs, succeeding older CCFL-backlit LCDs although being superseded by OLED screens. RGB LEDs raise the color gamut by as much as 45%. Screens for TV and computer displays can be made thinner using LEDs for backlighting.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs are small, durable and need little power, so they are used in handheld devices such as flashlights. LED strobe lights or camera flashes operate at a safe, low voltage, instead of the 250+ volts commonly found in xenon flashlamp-based lighting. This is especially useful in cameras on mobile phones, where space is at a premium and bulky voltage-raising circuitry is undesirable.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs are used for infrared illumination in night vision uses including security cameras. A ring of LEDs around a video camera, aimed forward into a retroreflective background, allows chroma keying in video productions.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs are used in mining operations, as cap lamps to provide light for miners. Research has been done to improve LEDs for mining, to reduce glare and to increase illumination, reducing risk of injury to the miners.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs are increasingly finding uses in medical and educational applications, for example as mood enhancement. NASA has even sponsored research for the use of LEDs to promote health for astronauts.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Light can be used to transmit data and analog signals. For example, lighting white LEDs can be used in systems assisting people to navigate in closed spaces while searching necessary rooms or objects.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Assistive listening devices in many theaters and similar spaces use arrays of infrared LEDs to send sound to listeners' receivers. Light-emitting diodes (as well as semiconductor lasers) are used to send data over many types of fiber optic cable, from digital audio over TOSLINK cables to the very high bandwidth fiber links that form the Internet backbone. For some time, computers were commonly equipped with IrDA interfaces, which allowed them to send and receive data to nearby machines via infrared.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Because LEDs can cycle on and off millions of times per second, very high data bandwidth can be achieved. For that reason, Visible Light Communication (VLC) has been proposed as an alternative to the increasingly competitive radio bandwidth. By operating in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, data can be transmitted without occupying the frequencies of radio communications.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: The main characteristic of VLC, lies on the incapacity of light to surpass physical opaque barriers. This characteristic can be considered a weak point of VLC, due to the susceptibility of interference from physical objects, but is also one of its many strengths: unlike radio waves, light waves are confined in the enclosed spaces they are transmitted, which enforces a physical safety barrier that requires a receptor of that signal to have physical access to the place where the transmission is occurring.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: A promising application of VLC lies on the Indoor Positioning System (IPS), an analogous to the GPS built to operate in enclosed spaces where the satellite transmissions that allow the GPS operation are hard to reach. For instance, commercial buildings, shopping malls, parking garages, as well as subways and tunnel systems are all possible applications for VLC-based indoor positioning systems. Additionally, once the VLC lamps are able to perform lighting at the same time as data transmission, it can simply occupy the installation of traditional single-function lamps.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Other applications for VLC involve communication between appliances of a smart home or office. With increasing IoT-capable devices, connectivity through traditional radio waves might be subjected to interference. Light bulbs with VLC capabilities can transmit data and commands for such devices.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Machine vision systems often require bright and homogeneous illumination, so features of interest are easier to process. LEDs are often used.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Barcode scanners are the most common example of machine vision applications, and many of those scanners use red LEDs instead of lasers. Optical computer mice use LEDs as a light source for the miniature camera within the mouse.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs are useful for machine vision because they provide a compact, reliable source of light. LED lamps can be turned on and off to suit the needs of the vision system, and the shape of the beam produced can be tailored to match the system's requirements.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: The discovery of radiative recombination in Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) alloys by U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) led to the conceptualization of UV light emitting diodes (LEDs) to be incorporated in light induced fluorescence sensors used for biological agent detection. In 2004, the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) initiated the effort to create a biological detector named TAC-BIO. The program capitalized on Semiconductor UV Optical Sources (SUVOS) developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).


title: Light-emitting diode

text: UV induced fluorescence is one of the most robust techniques used for rapid real time detection of biological aerosols. The first UV sensors were lasers lacking in-field-use practicality. In order to address this, DARPA incorporated SUVOS technology to create a low cost, small, lightweight, low power device. The TAC-BIO detector's response time was one minute from when it sensed a biological agent. It was also demonstrated that the detector could be operated unattended indoors and outdoors for weeks at a time.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Aerosolized biological particles will fluoresce and scatter light under a UV light beam. Observed fluorescence is dependent on the applied wavelength and the biochemical fluorophores within the biological agent. UV induced fluorescence offers a rapid, accurate, efficient and logistically practical way for biological agent detection. This is because the use of UV fluorescence is reagent less, or a process that does not require an added chemical to produce a reaction, with no consumables, or produces no chemical byproducts.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Additionally, TAC-BIO can reliably discriminate between threat and non-threat aerosols. It was claimed to be sensitive enough to detect low concentrations, but not so sensitive that it would cause false positives. The particle counting algorithm used in the device converted raw data into information by counting the photon pulses per unit of time from the fluorescence and scattering detectors, and comparing the value to a set threshold.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: The original TAC-BIO was introduced in 2010, while the second generation TAC-BIO GEN II, was designed in 2015 to be more cost efficient as plastic parts were used. Its small, light-weight design allows it to be mounted to vehicles, robots, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The second generation device could also be utilized as an environmental detector to monitor air quality in hospitals, airplanes, or even in households to detect fungus and mold.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: The light from LEDs can be modulated very quickly so they are used extensively in optical fiber and free space optics communications. This includes remote controls, such as for television sets, where infrared LEDs are often used. Opto-isolators use an LED combined with a photodiode or phototransistor to provide a signal path with electrical isolation between two circuits. This is especially useful in medical equipment where the signals from a low-voltage sensor circuit (usually battery-powered) in contact with a living organism must be electrically isolated from any possible electrical failure in a recording or monitoring device operating at potentially dangerous voltages. An optoisolator also lets information be transferred between circuits that do not share a common ground potential.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Many sensor systems rely on light as the signal source. LEDs are often ideal as a light source due to the requirements of the sensors. The Nintendo Wii's sensor bar uses infrared LEDs. Pulse oximeters use them for measuring oxygen saturation. Some flatbed scanners use arrays of RGB LEDs rather than the typical cold-cathode fluorescent lamp as the light source. Having independent control of three illuminated colors allows the scanner to calibrate itself for more accurate color balance, and there is no need for warm-up. Further, its sensors only need be monochromatic, since at any one time the page being scanned is only lit by one color of light.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Since LEDs can also be used as photodiodes, they can be used for both photo emission and detection. This could be used, for example, in a touchscreen that registers reflected light from a finger or stylus. Many materials and biological systems are sensitive to, or dependent on, light. Grow lights use LEDs to increase photosynthesis in plants, and bacteria and viruses can be removed from water and other substances using UV LEDs for sterilization. LEDs of certain wavelengths have also been used for light therapy treatment of neonatal jaundice and acne.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: UV LEDs, with spectra range of 220 nm to 395 nm, have other applications, such as water/air purification, surface disinfection, glue curing, free-space non-line-of-sight communication, high performance liquid chromatography, UV curing dye printing, phototherapy (295nm Vitamin D, 308nm Excimer lamp or laser replacement), medical/ analytical instrumentation, and DNA absorption.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs have also been used as a medium-quality voltage reference in electronic circuits. The forward voltage drop (about 1.7 V for a red LED or 1.2V for an infrared) can be used instead of a Zener diode in low-voltage regulators. Red LEDs have the flattest I/V curve above the knee. Nitride-based LEDs have a fairly steep I/V curve and are useless for this purpose. Although LED forward voltage is far more current-dependent than a Zener diode, Zener diodes with breakdown voltages below 3 V are not widely available.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: The progressive miniaturization of low-voltage lighting technology, such as LEDs and OLEDs, suitable to incorporate into low-thickness materials has fostered experimentation in combining light sources and wall covering surfaces for interior walls in the form of LED wallpaper.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: LEDs require optimized efficiency to hinge on ongoing improvements such as phosphor materials and quantum dots.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: The process of down-conversion (the method by which materials convert more-energetic photons to different, less energetic colors) also needs improvement. For example, the red phosphors that are used today are thermally sensitive and need to be improved in that aspect so that they do not color shift and experience efficiency drop-off with temperature. Red phosphors could also benefit from a narrower spectral width to emit more lumens and becoming more efficient at converting photons.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: In addition, work remains to be done in the realms of current efficiency droop, color shift, system reliability, light distribution, dimming, thermal management, and power supply performance.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: A new family of LEDs are based on the semiconductors called perovskites. In 2018, less than four years after their discovery, the ability of perovskite LEDs (PLEDs) to produce light from electrons already rivaled those of the best performing OLEDs. They have a potential for cost-effectiveness as they can be processed from solution, a low-cost and low-tech method, which might allow perovskite-based devices that have large areas to be made with extremely low cost. Their efficiency is superior by eliminating non-radiative losses, in other words, elimination of recombination pathways that do not produce photons; or by solving outcoupling problem (prevalent for thin-film LEDs) or balancing charge carrier injection to increase the EQE (external quantum efficiency). The most up-to-date PLED devices have broken the performance barrier by shooting the EQE above 20%.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: In 2018, Cao et al. and Lin et al. independently published two papers on developing perovskite LEDs with EQE greater than 20%, which made these two papers a mile-stone in PLED development. Their device have similar planar structure, i.e. the active layer (perovskite) is sandwiched between two electrodes. To achieve a high EQE, they not only reduced non-radiative recombination, but also utilized their own, subtly different methods to improve the EQE.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: In the work of Cao "et al.", researchers targeted the outcoupling problem, which is that the optical physics of thin-film LEDs causes the majority of light generated by the semiconductor to be trapped in the device. To achieve this goal, they demonstrated that solution-processed perovskites can spontaneously form submicrometre-scale crystal platelets, which can efficiently extract light from the device. These perovskites are formed via the introduction of amino acid additives into the perovskite precursor solutions. In addition, their method is able to passivate perovskite surface defects and reduce nonradiative recombination. Therefore, by improving the light outcoupling and reducing nonradiative losses, Cao and his colleagues successfully achieved PLED with EQE up to 20.7%.


title: Light-emitting diode

text: Lin and his colleague used a different approach to generate high EQE. Instead of modifying the microstructure of perovskite layer, they chose to adopt a new strategy for managing the compositional distribution in the device—an approach that simultaneously provides high luminescence and balanced charge injection. In other words, they still used flat emissive layer, but tried to optimize the balance of electrons and holes injected into the perovskite, so as to make the most efficient use of the charge carriers. Moreover, in the perovskite layer, the crystals are perfectly enclosed by MABr additive (where MA is CHNH). The MABr shell passivates the nonradiative defects that would otherwise be present perovskite crystals, resulting in reduction of the nonradiative recombination. Therefore, by balancing charge injection and decreasing nonradiative losses, Lin and his colleagues developed PLED with EQE up to 20.3%.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Steven Anthony Ballmer (; March 24, 1956) is an American business magnate and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As of November 2022, "Bloomberg Billionaires Index" estimates his personal wealth at around $79.7 billion, making him the tenth-richest person on Earth.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates at Microsoft in 1980, and subsequently left the MBA program at Stanford University. He eventually became president in 1998, and replaced Gates as CEO on January 13, 2000. On February 4, 2014, Ballmer retired as CEO and was replaced by Satya Nadella; Ballmer remained on Microsoft's Board of Directors until August 19, 2014, when he left to prepare for teaching a new class.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: His tenure and legacy as Microsoft CEO has received mixed reception, with the company tripling sales and doubling profits, but losing its market dominance and missing out on 21st-century technology trends such as the ascendance of smartphones in the form of iPhone and Android.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan; he is the son of Beatrice Dvorkin and Frederic Henry (Fritz Hans) Ballmer, a manager at the Ford Motor Company. Frederic was from Zuchwil, Switzerland and arrived in the United States in 1948. Steve's mother was the daughter of Shmuel Dvorkin, a Russian Jew who fled to the United States in 1914 and became a merchant for a glass store. Through his mother, Ballmer is a second cousin of actress and comedian Gilda Radner. Ballmer grew up in the affluent community of Farmington Hills, Michigan. Ballmer also lived in Brussels from 1964 to 1967, where he attended the International School of Brussels.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 1973, he attended college prep and engineering classes at Lawrence Technological University. He graduated as valedictorian from Detroit Country Day School, a private college preparatory school in Beverly Hills, Michigan, with a score of 800 on the mathematical section of the SAT and was a National Merit Scholar. (He eventually became a member of the school's board of directors.)


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer attended Harvard University, where he was a manager for the Harvard Crimson football team and a member of the Fox Club, worked on "The Harvard Crimson" newspaper as well as the "Harvard Advocate", and lived down the hall from fellow sophomore Bill Gates. He scored highly in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, an exam sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America, scoring higher than Bill Gates. He graduated "magna cum laude" with a Bachelor of Arts in applied mathematics and economics in 1977.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer worked as an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble for two years, where he shared an office with Jeff Immelt, who later became CEO of General Electric. After briefly trying to write screenplays in Hollywood, he started attending the Stanford Graduate School of Business for his MBA, but dropped out in 1980 to join Microsoft.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and became Microsoft's 30th employee and the first business manager hired by Gates.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer was offered a salary of $50,000 as well as 5-10% of the company. When Microsoft was incorporated in 1981, Ballmer owned 8% of the company. In 2003, Ballmer sold 39.3 million Microsoft shares equating to approximately $955 million, thereby reducing his ownership to 4%. The same year, he replaced Microsoft's employee stock options program.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In the 20 years following his hire, Ballmer headed several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. From February 1992 onwards, he was Executive Vice President, Sales, and Support. Ballmer led Microsoft's development of the .NET Framework. Ballmer was then promoted to President of Microsoft, a title that he held from July 1998 to February 2001, making him the de facto number two in the company to the chairman and CEO, Bill Gates.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: On January 13, 2000, Ballmer was officially named the chief executive officer. As CEO, Ballmer handled company finances and daily operations, but Gates remained chairman of the board and still retained control of the "technological vision" as chief software architect. Gates relinquished day-to-day activities when he stepped down as chief software architect in 2006, while staying on as chairman, and that gave Ballmer the autonomy needed to make major management changes at Microsoft.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: When Ballmer took over as CEO, the company was fighting an antitrust lawsuit brought on by the U.S. government and 20 states, plus class-action lawsuits and complaints from rival companies. While it was said that Gates would have continued fighting the suit, Ballmer made it his priority to settle these saying: "Being the object of a lawsuit, effectively, or a complaint from your government is a very awkward, uncomfortable position to be in. It just has all downside. People assume if the government brought a complaint that there's really a problem, and your ability to say we're a good, proper, moral place is tough. It's actually tough, even though you feel that way about yourselves."


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Upon becoming CEO, Ballmer required detailed business justification in order to approve of new products, rather than allowing hundreds of products that sounded potentially interesting or trendy. In 2005, he recruited B. Kevin Turner from Walmart, who was the President and CEO of Sam's Club, to become Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer. Turner was hired at Microsoft to lead the company's sales, marketing and services group and to instill more process and discipline in the company's operations and salesforce.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Since Bill Gates' retirement, Ballmer oversaw a "dramatic shift away from the company's PC-first heritage", replacing most major division heads in order to break down the "talent-hoarding fiefdoms", prompting "Businessweek" to say that the company "arguably [had] the best product lineup in its history" in 2012 as a result. Ballmer was instrumental in driving Microsoft's connected computing strategy, with acquisitions such as Skype.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Under Ballmer's tenure as CEO, Microsoft's share price stagnated. The lackluster stock performance occurred despite Microsoft's financial success at that time. The company's annual revenue surged from $25 billion to $70 billion, while its net income increased 215% to $23 billion, and its gross profit of 75 cents on every dollar in sales is double that of Google or IBM. In terms of leading the company's total annual profit growth of 16.4%, Ballmer's tenure at Microsoft surpassed the performances of other well-known CEOs such as General Electric's Jack Welch (11.2%) and IBM's Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (2%). These gains came from the existing Windows and Office franchises, with Ballmer maintaining their profitability, fending off threats from competitors such as Linux and other open-source operating systems and Google Docs. Ballmer also built half a dozen new businesses, such as the data centers division and the Xbox entertainment and devices division ($8.9 billion), (which prevented the Sony PlayStation and other gaming consoles from undermining Windows), and oversaw the acquisition of Skype. Ballmer also constructed the company's $20 billion Enterprise Business, consisting of new products and services such as Exchange, Windows Server, SQL Server, SharePoint, System Center, and Dynamics CRM, each of which initially faced an uphill battle for acceptance but have emerged as leading or dominant in each category. This diversified product mix helped to offset the company's reliance on PCs and mobile computing devices as the company entered the Post-PC era; in reporting quarterly results during April 2013, while Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 had not managed to increase their market share above single digits, the company increased its profit 19% over the previous quarter in 2012, as the Microsoft Business Division (including Office 365) and Server and Tools division (cloud services) are each larger than the Windows division.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer attracted criticism for failing to capitalize on several new consumer technologies, forcing Microsoft to play catch-up in the areas of tablet computing, smartphones and music players with mixed results. According to the Wall Street Journal, under Ballmer's watch, "In many cases, Microsoft latched onto technologies like smartphones, touchscreens, 'smart' cars and wristwatches that read sports scores aloud long before Apple or Google did. But it repeatedly killed promising projects if they threatened its cash cows [Windows and Office]." Ballmer was even named one of the worst CEOs of 2013 by the BBC. As a result of these many criticisms, in May 2012, hedge fund manager David Einhorn called on Ballmer to step down as CEO of Microsoft. "His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft's stock," Einhorn said in reference to Ballmer. In a May 2012 column in "Forbes" magazine, Adam Hartung described Ballmer as "the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company", saying he had "steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets (mobile music, headsets and tablets)".


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 2009, and for the first time since Bill Gates resigned from day-to-day management at Microsoft, Ballmer delivered the opening keynote at CES.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: As part of his plans to expand on hardware, on June 19, 2012, Ballmer revealed Microsoft's first ever computer device, a tablet called Microsoft Surface at an event held in Hollywood, Los Angeles. He followed this by announcing the company's purchase of Nokia's mobile phone division in September 2013, his last major acquisition for Microsoft as CEO.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: On August 23, 2013, Microsoft announced that Ballmer would retire within the next 12 months. A special committee that included Bill Gates would decide on the next CEO.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: There was a list of potential successors to Ballmer as Microsoft CEO, but all had departed the company: Jim Allchin, Brad Silverberg, Paul Maritz, Nathan Myhrvold, Greg Maffei, Pete Higgins, Jeff Raikes, J. Allard, Robbie Bach, Bill Veghte, Ray Ozzie, Bob Muglia and Steven Sinofsky. B. Kevin Turner, Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer (COO), was considered by some to be a "de facto" number two to Ballmer, with Turner having a strong grasp of business and operations but lacking technological vision. On February 4, 2014, Satya Nadella succeeded Ballmer as CEO.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Although as a child he was so shy that he would hyperventilate before Hebrew school, Ballmer is known for his energetic and exuberant personality, which is meant to motivate employees and partners, shouting so much that he needed surgery on his vocal cords.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer's excited stage appearances at Microsoft events are widely circulated on the Internet as viral videos. One of his earliest known viral videos was a parody video, produced for Microsoft employees in 1986, promoting Windows 1.0 in the style of a Crazy Eddie commercial. Ballmer and Brian Valentine repeated this in a spoof promotion of Windows XP later on.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: A widely circulated video was his entrance on stage at Microsoft's 25th anniversary event in September 2000, where Ballmer jumped across the stage and shouted "I love this company!" Another well-known viral video was one captured at a Windows 2000 developers' conference, featuring a perspiring Ballmer chanting the word "developers".


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer was Gates' best man at his wedding to Melinda French, and the two men described their relationship as a marriage. They were so close for years that another Microsoft executive described it as a mind meld. Combative debates—a part of Microsoft's corporate culture—that many observers believed were personal arguments occurred within the relationship; while Gates was glad in 2000 that Ballmer was willing to become CEO so he could focus on technology, the "Wall Street Journal" reported that there was tension surrounding the transition of authority. Things became so bitter that, on one occasion, Gates stormed out of a meeting after a shouting match in which Ballmer jumped to the defense of several colleagues, according to an individual present at the time. After the exchange, Ballmer seemed "remorseful", the person said. Once Gates leaves, "I'm not going to need him for anything. That's the principle", Ballmer said. "Use him, yes, need him, no".


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In October 2014, a few months after Ballmer left his post at Microsoft, a "Vanity Fair" profile stated that Ballmer and Gates no longer talk to each other due to animosity over Ballmer's resignation. In a November 2016 interview, Ballmer said he and Gates have "drifted apart" ever since, saying that they always had a "brotherly relationship" beforehand. He said that his push into the hardware business, specifically smartphones, which Gates did not support, contributed to their relationship breakdown.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: After saying in 2008 that he intended to remain CEO for another decade, Ballmer announced his retirement in 2013, after losing billions of dollars in acquisitions and on the Surface tablet. Microsoft's stock price rebounded on the news.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer says that he regretted the lack of focus on Windows Mobile in the early 2000s, leaving Microsoft a distant third in the (then current) 2013 smartphone market. Moreover, he attributed the success of the expensively-priced iPhones to carrier subsidies. He went on to say, He called the acquisition of the mobile phone division of Nokia his "toughest decision" during his tenure, as it was overseeing the changing profile of Microsoft as it was expanding on hardware.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer hosted his last company meeting in September 2013, and stepped down from the company's board of directors, in August 2014.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: On December 24, 2014, the "Seattle Times" reported that the IRS sued Ballmer, Craig Mundie, Jeff Raikes, Jim Allchin, Orlando Ayala and David Guenther in an effort to compel them to testify in Microsoft's corporate tax audit. The IRS has been looking into how Microsoft and other companies deal with transfer pricing.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer served as director of Accenture Ltd. and a general partner of Accenture SCA from 2001 to 2006.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 2007, Ballmer said "There's no chance that the <nowiki>[</nowiki>Apple<nowiki>]</nowiki> iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance."


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Speaking at a conference in NYC in 2009, Ballmer criticized Apple's pricing, saying, "Now I think the tide has turned back the other direction (against Apple). The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment—same piece of hardware—paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 2015, Ballmer called Microsoft's decision to invest in Apple to save it from bankruptcy in 1997 as the "craziest thing we ever did." By 2015, Apple was the world's most valuable company.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 2016, Ballmer did an interview with Bloomberg where Ballmer added context to his iPhone statement, saying "People like to point to this quote...but the reason I said that was the price of $600-$700 was too high," he says he did not realize the business model innovation that Apple was going to deploy, using the carriers to subsidize the phones by building the cost into the customer's monthly bill.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In July 2000, Ballmer called the free software Linux kernel "communism" and further claimed that it infringed with Microsoft's intellectual property. In June 2001 he called Linux a "cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches". Ballmer used the notion of "viral" licensing terms to express his concern over the fact that the GNU General Public License (GPL) employed by such software requires that all derivative software be under the GPL or a compatible license. In April 2003 he even interrupted his skiing holiday in Switzerland to personally plead with the mayor of Munich not to switch to Linux. But he did not succeed with this and Munich switched to LiMux, despite his offering a 35% discount at his lobbying visit.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In March 2016, Ballmer changed his stance on Linux, saying that he supports his successor Satya Nadella's open source commitments. He maintained that his comments in 2001 were right at the time but that times have changed.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 2005, Microsoft sued Google for hiring one of its previous vice presidents, Kai-Fu Lee, claiming it was in violation of his one-year non-compete clause in his contract. Mark Lucovsky, who left for Google in 2004, alleged in a sworn statement to a Washington state court that Ballmer became enraged upon hearing that Lucovsky was about to leave Microsoft for Google, picked up his chair, and threw it across his office, and that, referring to then Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt (who had previously worked for competitors Sun and Novell), Ballmer vowed to "kill Google." Lucovsky reports:


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer then resumed attempting to persuade Lucovsky to stay at Microsoft. Ballmer has described Lucovsky's account of the incident as a "gross exaggeration of what actually took place".


title: Steve Ballmer

text: During the 2011 Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, he said: "You don't need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone and you do to use an Android phone ... It is hard for me to be excited about the Android phones."


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 2013, Ballmer said that Google was a "monopoly" that should be pressured from market competition authorities.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: On March 6, 2008, Seattle mayor Greg Nickels announced that a local ownership group involving Ballmer made a "game-changing" commitment to invest $150 million in cash toward a proposed $300 million renovation of KeyArena and were ready to purchase the Seattle SuperSonics from the Professional Basketball Club LLC in order to keep the team in Seattle. However, this initiative failed, and the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where they now play as the Oklahoma City Thunder.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In June 2012, Ballmer was an investor in Chris R. Hansen's proposal to build a new arena in the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle and bring the SuperSonics back to Seattle. On January 9, 2013, Ballmer and Hansen led a group of investors in an attempt to purchase the Sacramento Kings from the Maloof family and relocate them to Seattle for an estimated $650 million. However, this attempt also fell through.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Following the Donald Sterling scandal in May 2014, Ballmer was the highest bidder in an attempt to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers for a reported price of $2 billion, which was then the second highest bid for a sports franchise in North American sports history (after the $2.15 billion sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012). After a California court confirmed the authority of Shelly Sterling to sell the team, it was officially announced on August 12, 2014, that Ballmer would become the Los Angeles Clippers owner.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: On September 25, 2014, Ballmer said he would bar the team from using Apple products such as iPads, and replace them with Microsoft products. It has been reported that he had previously also barred his family from using iPhones.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In March 2020, Ballmer agreed to buy The Forum in Inglewood, California. The purchase would allow him to build the Intuit Dome in the nearby area since plans for a new Clippers' arena were opposed by the former owners of The Forum.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In a survey conducted by The Athletic in December 2020, Ballmer was voted the best owner in basketball.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer was the second person after Roberto Goizueta to become a billionaire in U.S. dollars based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. As of November 2021, "Bloomberg Billionaires Index" estimates his personal wealth at $117 billion, ranking him as the 8th richest person in the world.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: On November 12, 2014, it was announced that Ballmer and his wife Connie donated $50 million to the University of Oregon. Connie Ballmer is a University of Oregon alumnus and previously served on the institution's board of trustees. The funds will go toward the university's $2 billion fundraising effort, and will focus on scholarships, public health research and advocacy, and external branding/communications. On November 13, 2014, it was announced that Ballmer would provide a gift, estimated at $60 million, to Harvard University's computer science department. The gift would allow the department to hire new faculty, and hopefully increase the national stature of the program. Ballmer previously donated $10 million to the same department in 1994, in a joint-gift with Bill Gates.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: In 2022, Ballmer made a large gift of $425 million to University of Oregon to fund a new institute for children's behavioral health.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer serves on the World Chairman's Council of the Jewish National Fund, which means he has donated US$1 million or more to the JNF.


title: Steve Ballmer

text: Ballmer launched USAFacts.org in 2017, a non-profit organization whose goal is to allow people to understand US government revenue, spending and societal impact. He is reported to have contributed $10 million to fund teams of researchers who populated the website's database with official data.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamoto; Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially by Scott Sundquist, and later by Matt Cameron in 1986. Yamamoto left in 1990 and was replaced initially by Jason Everman and shortly thereafter by Ben Shepherd. The band dissolved in 1997 and re-formed in 2010. Following Cornell's death in 2017 and a year of uncertainty regarding the band's future, Thayil declared in October 2018 that Soundgarden had disbanded once again, though they did reunite in January 2019 for a one-off concert in tribute to Cornell.


title: Soundgarden

text: The band helped to popularize grunge music, a style of alternative rock that developed in the American Pacific Northwest in the mid-1980s, alongside such Seattle contemporaries as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. They were the first of a number of grunge bands to sign to the Seattle-based record label Sub Pop, through which they released EPs in both 1987 and 1988. California-based independent label SST Records released Soundgarden's debut album, "Ultramega OK", which, although it did not sell well nationally, garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy award in 1990. Their second album, "Louder Than Love", was recorded independently, but, after they signed with A&M Records in 1989 (making them one of the first grunge bands to sign to a major label), the album became their major-label debut. While "Ultramega OK" had failed to chart and "Louder Than Love" peaked at number 108 on the "Billboard" 200 album chart, the band's third album, "Badmotorfinger", buoyed by the success of the singles "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", and "Rusty Cage", reached number 39 on the "Billboard" 200 and has been certified double-platinum by the RIAA.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album "Superunknown", which debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 and yielded the Grammy Award-winning singles "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun". The band experimented with new sonic textures on their follow-up album "Down on the Upside", which debuted at number 2 on the "Billboard" 200 in 1996 and spawned several hit singles of its own, including "Burden in My Hand" and "Blow Up the Outside World". In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction and exhaustion from touring. After more than a decade of working on projects and other bands, they reunited in 2010, and Republic Records released their sixth and final studio album, "King Animal", two years later.


title: Soundgarden

text: As of 2019, Soundgarden had sold more than 14 million records in the United States, and an estimated 30 million worldwide. VH1 ranked Soundgarden at number 14 in their special "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden's origins began with a band called the Shemps, which performed around Seattle in the early 1980s, and featured bassist Hiro Yamamoto and drummer and singer Chris Cornell. Following Yamamoto's departure, the band recruited guitarist Kim Thayil as its new bassist. Thayil moved to Seattle from Park Forest, Illinois, with Yamamoto and Bruce Pavitt, who would later start the independent record label Sub Pop. Cornell and Yamamoto stayed in contact, and after the Shemps broke up Cornell and Yamamoto started jamming together, and were eventually joined by Thayil.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden formed in 1984 and included Cornell (drums and vocals), Yamamoto (bass), and Thayil (guitar). The band named themselves after a wind-channeling pipe sculpture titled "A Sound Garden", on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration property at 7600 Sand Point Way, next to Magnuson Park in Seattle. Cornell originally played drums while singing, but in 1985 the band enlisted Scott Sundquist to allow Cornell to concentrate on vocals. The band traveled around playing various concerts with this lineup for about a year. Their first recordings were three songs that appeared on the 1986 compilation album for C/Z Records called "Deep Six"—"Heretic", "Tears to Forget" and "All Your Lies". It also featured songs by fellow grunge pioneers Green River, Skin Yard, Malfunkshun, the U-Men, and the Melvins. In 1986, Cornell's then-girlfriend and future wife, Susan Silver started managing Soundgarden. In the same year, Sundquist left the band to spend time with his family and was replaced by Skin Yard's drummer, Matt Cameron.


title: Soundgarden

text: A Soundgarden performance one night impressed KCMU DJ Jonathan Poneman who later said: "I saw this band that was everything rock music should be." Poneman offered to fund a release by the band, so Thayil suggested he team up with Bruce Pavitt. Poneman offered to contribute $20,000 in funding for Sub Pop, effectively turning it into a full-fledged record label. Soundgarden signed to Sub Pop, and the label released "Hunted Down" in 1987 as the band's first single. The B-side of "Hunted Down", "Nothing to Say", appeared on the KCMU compilation tape "Bands That Will Make Money", which was distributed to record companies, many of whom showed interest in Soundgarden. Through Sub Pop, the band released the "Screaming Life" EP in 1987, and the "Fopp" EP in 1988, and a combination of the two, "Screaming Life/Fopp", in 1990.


title: Soundgarden

text: Though major labels were courting the band, in 1988 they signed to the independent label SST Records for their debut album, "Ultramega OK", released on October 31, 1988. Cornell said the band "made a huge mistake with "Ultramega OK"" because they used a producer suggested by SST who "didn't know what was happening in Seattle". According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, Soundgarden demonstrates, a "Stooges/MC5-meets-Zeppelin/Sabbath sound" on the album. Mark Miremont directed the band's first music video for "Flower", which aired regularly on MTV's "120 Minutes". Soundgarden promoted "Ultramega OK" on a tour in the United States in the spring of 1989, and a tour in Europe, which began in May 1989—the band's first overseas tour. "Ultramega OK" earned the band a Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1990.


title: Soundgarden

text: After touring to promote "Ultramega OK", the band signed with A&M Records, which caused a rift between Soundgarden and its traditional audience. Thayil said, "In the beginning, our fans came from the punk rock crowd. They abandoned us when they thought we sold out the punk tenets, getting on a major label and touring with Guns N' Roses. There were fashion issues and social issues, and people thought we no longer belonged to their scene, to their particular sub-culture." The band later began work on its first album for a major label, but personnel difficulties caused a shift in the band's songwriting process, according to Cornell: "At the time Hiro [Yamamoto] excommunicated himself from the band and there wasn't a free-flowing system as far as music went, so I ended up writing a lot of it." On September 5, 1989, the band released its debut major-label album, "Louder Than Love", which saw it take "a step toward the metal mainstream", according to Steve Huey of AllMusic, describing it as "a slow, grinding, detuned mountain of Sabbath/Zeppelin riffs and Chris Cornell wailing". Because of some of the lyrics, most notably on "Hands All Over" and "Big Dumb Sex", the band faced various retail and distribution problems upon the album's release. "Louder Than Love" became the band's first album to chart on the "Billboard" 200, peaking at number 108 on the chart in 1990.


title: Soundgarden

text: A month before touring for "Louder Than Love" was to begin, bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who was becoming frustrated that he was not making much of a contribution, left the band to return to college. Jason Everman, formerly of Nirvana, replaced him on bass. The band toured North America from December 1989 to March 1990, opening for Voivod, who were supporting their album "Nothingface", with Faith No More and the Big F also serving as opening acts at the beginning and end of the tour. The band then went on to tour Europe. The band fired Everman in mid-1990 immediately after completing its promotional tour for "Louder Than Love". Thayil said that "Jason just didn't work out." "Louder Than Love" spawned the EP "Loudest Love" and the video compilation "Louder Than Live", both released in 1990.


title: Soundgarden

text: Bassist Ben Shepherd replaced Jason Everman and the new lineup recorded Soundgarden's third album in 1991. Cornell said that Shepherd brought a "fresh and creative" approach to the recording sessions, and the band as a whole said that his knowledge of music and writing skills redefined the band. The band released the resulting album, "Badmotorfinger", on October 8, 1991. Steve Huey of AllMusic said that the songwriting on "Badmotorfinger" "takes a quantum leap in focus and consistency". He added, "It's surprisingly cerebral and arty music for a band courting mainstream metal audiences." Thayil suggested that the album's lyrics are "like reading a novel [about] man's conflict with himself and society, or the government, or his family, or the economy, or anything". The first single from "Badmotorfinger", "Jesus Christ Pose", garnered attention when MTV decided to ban its music video in 1991. The song and its video outraged many listeners who perceived it as anti-Christian. The band received death threats while on tour in the United Kingdom in support of the album. Cornell explained that the lyrics criticize public figures who use religion (particularly the image of Jesus Christ) to portray themselves as being persecuted. Although eclipsed at the time of its release by the sudden popularity of Nirvana's "Nevermind", the focus of attention brought by "Nevermind" to the Seattle scene helped Soundgarden gain wider attention. The singles "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage" were able to find an audience on alternative rock radio and MTV. "Badmotorfinger" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1992, and was among the 100 top-selling albums of the year.


title: Soundgarden

text: Following the release of "Badmotorfinger", Soundgarden went on a North American tour in October and November 1991. Afterward, Guns N' Roses personally selected the band as its opening act for their Use Your Illusion Tour. The band also opened for Skid Row in North America in February 1992 on its "Slave to the Grind" tour, and then headed to Europe for a month-long headlining theater tour. The band returned for a tour in the United States, and then rejoined Guns N' Roses in the summer of 1992 in Europe as part of the Use Your Illusion Tour along with fellow opening act Faith No More. Describing opening for Guns N' Roses, Cornell said, "It wasn't a whole lot of fun going out in front of 40,000 people for 35 minutes every day. Most of them never heard our songs and didn't care about them. It was a bizarre thing." The band played the 1992 Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Ministry and Ice Cube among others. In anticipation of the band's appearance at Lollapalooza, they released a limited edition of "Badmotorfinger" in 1992 with a second disc containing the EP "Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas" (a palindrome), featuring Soundgarden's cover of Black Sabbath's "Into the Void", titled "Into the Void (Sealth)", which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1993. The band later released the video compilation "Motorvision", filmed at Seattle's Paramount Theatre in 1992. The band appeared in the movie "Singles", performing "Birth Ritual". The song is included on , as is a Cornell solo song, "Seasons".


title: Soundgarden

text: In 1993, the band contributed the track "Show Me" to the AIDS-Benefit album "No Alternative", produced by the Red Hot Organization.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden began working on its fourth album after touring in support of "Badmotorfinger". Cornell said that while working on the album, the band allowed each other more freedom than on past records, and Thayil observed that the band spent a lot more time working on the recording of the songs than on previous records. Released on March 8, 1994, "Superunknown" became the band's breakthrough album, debuting at number one on the "Billboard" 200 album chart and being driven by the singles "Spoonman", "The Day I Tried to Live", "Black Hole Sun", "My Wave", and "Fell on Black Days".


title: Soundgarden

text: The songs on "Superunknown" captured the creativity and heaviness of the band's earlier works, while showcasing the group's newly evolving style. Lyrically, the album was quite dark and mysterious, and it is often interpreted to be dealing with substance abuse, suicide, and depression. At the time, Sylvia Plath inspired Cornell's writing. The album was also more experimental than previous releases, with some songs incorporating Middle-Eastern or Indian music. J. D. Considine of "Rolling Stone" said "Superunknown" "demonstrates far greater range than many bands manage in an entire career". He also stated, "At its best, "Superunknown" offers a more harrowing depiction of alienation and despair than anything on [Nirvana's final studio album] "In Utero"." The music video for "Black Hole Sun" became a hit on MTV, and received the award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards, and in 1995 the Clio Award for Alternative Music Video. Soundgarden won two Grammy Awards in 1995—"Black Hole Sun" received the award for Best Hard Rock Performance and "Spoonman" received the award for Best Metal Performance. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995. "Superunknown" has been certified six times Platinum in the United States and remains Soundgarden's most successful album.


title: Soundgarden

text: The band began touring in January 1994 in Oceania and Japan, areas where the record came out early and where the band had never toured before. This round of touring ended in February 1994. In March 1994 the band moved on to Europe. They began a theater tour of the United States, first with a stop on May 27, 1994 at the PNE Forum in Vancouver, with the opening acts Tad and Eleven. In late 1994, after touring in support of "Superunknown", doctors discovered that Cornell had severely strained his vocal cords, and Soundgarden canceled several shows to avoid causing any permanent damage. Cornell said, "I think we kinda overdid it! We were playing five or six nights a week and my voice pretty much took a beating. Towards the end of the American tour I felt like I could still kinda sing, but I wasn't really giving the band a fair shake. You don't buy a ticket to see some guy croak for two hours! That seemed like kind of a rip off." The band made up the dates later in 1995. "Superunknown" spawned the EP "Songs from the Superunknown" and the CD-ROM "Alive in the Superunknown", both released in 1995.


title: Soundgarden

text: Following the worldwide tour in support of "Superunknown", the band began working on what would become their last studio album for over 15 years, choosing to produce the record themselves. However, tensions within the group reportedly arose during the sessions, with Thayil and Cornell allegedly clashing over Cornell's desire to shift away from the heavy guitar riffing that had become the band's trademark. Cornell said, "By the time we were finished, it felt like it had been kind of hard, like it was a long, hard haul. But there was stuff we were discovering." The band's fifth album, "Down on the Upside", was released on May 21, 1996. It was notably less heavy than the group's earlier albums, and marked a further departure from the band's grunge roots. At the time, Soundgarden explained that they wanted to experiment with other sounds, including acoustic instrumentation. David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" said, "Few bands since Led Zeppelin have so crisply mixed instruments both acoustic and electric." The overall mood of the album's lyrics is less dark than on previous Soundgarden albums, with Cornell describing some songs as "self-affirming". The album spawned several singles, including "Pretty Noose", "Burden in My Hand", and "Blow Up the Outside World". "Pretty Noose" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1997. The album did not match the sales or critical praise of "Superunknown".


title: Soundgarden

text: The band took a slot on the 1996 Lollapalooza tour with Metallica, who had insisted on Soundgarden's appearance on the tour. After Lollapalooza, the band embarked on a world tour, and already-existing tensions increased during it. When asked whether the band hated touring, Cornell replied: "We really enjoy it to a point, and then it gets tedious, because it becomes repetitious. You feel like fans have paid their money and they expect you to come out and play them your songs like the first time you ever played them. That's the point where we hate touring." At the tour's last stop in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 9, 1997, Shepherd threw his bass into the air in frustration after suffering equipment failure, and then stormed off the stage. The band retreated, with Cornell returning to end the show with a solo encore. On April 9, 1997, the band announced it was disbanding. Thayil said, "It was pretty obvious from everybody's general attitude over the course of the previous half year that there was some dissatisfaction." Cameron later said that Soundgarden was "eaten up by the business". The band released a greatest hits collection entitled "A-Sides" on November 4, 1997, composed of 17 songs, including the previously-unreleased "Bleed Together", which had been recorded during the "Down on the Upside" recording sessions.


title: Soundgarden

text: Cornell released a solo album in September 1999, entitled "Euphoria Morning", which featured Matt Cameron on the track "Disappearing One". By May 2001, Cornell joined the platinum-selling supergroup Audioslave with Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, then-former members of Rage Against the Machine, which recorded three albums: "Audioslave" (2002), "Out of Exile" (2005), and "Revelations" (2006). Cornell left Audioslave in early 2007, resulting in the band's break-up. His second solo album, "Carry On", was released in June 2007, and his third solo album, "Scream", produced by Timbaland, was released in March 2009, both to mixed commercial and critical success. Cornell also wrote the lyrics and provided vocals for the song "Promise" on Slash's debut solo album "Slash", released in 2010.


title: Soundgarden

text: Thayil joined forces with former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra, former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Gina Mainwal for one show, performing as The No WTO Combo during the WTO ministerial conference in Seattle on December 1, 1999. Thayil contributed guitar tracks to Steve Fisk's 2001 album, "999 Levels of Undo", as well as Dave Grohl's 2004 side-project album, "Probot". In 2006, Thayil played guitar on the album "Altar", the collaboration between the bands Sunn O))) and Boris.


title: Soundgarden

text: Cameron initially turned his efforts to his side-project Wellwater Conspiracy, to which both Shepherd and Thayil have contributed. He then worked briefly with the Smashing Pumpkins on the band's 1998 album, "Adore". In 1998, he played drums for Pearl Jam's Yield Tour following Jack Irons's departure, and later joined Pearl Jam as an official member. He has recorded six albums as the band's drummer: "Binaural" (2000), "Riot Act" (2002), "Pearl Jam" (2006), "Backspacer" (2009), "Lightning Bolt" (2013) and "Gigaton" (2020). Cameron also played percussion on Geddy Lee's album "My Favourite Headache". In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pearl Jam.


title: Soundgarden

text: Shepherd was the singer on Wellwater Conspiracy's 1997 debut studio album, "Declaration of Conformity", but left the band in 1998. He has toured with Mark Lanegan and played bass on two of Lanegan's albums, "I'll Take Care of You" (1999), and "Field Songs" (2001). Shepherd and Cameron lent a hand with recording Tony Iommi's album "IOMMI" (2000). While they were members of Soundgarden they were part of the side-project band Hater, and in 2005 Shepherd released the band's long-delayed second album, "The 2nd".


title: Soundgarden

text: In a July 2009 interview with "Rolling Stone", Cornell shot down rumors of a reunion, saying that conversations between the band members had been limited to discussion about the release of a box set or B-sides album of Soundgarden rarities, and that there had been no discussion of a reunion at all. The band's interest in new releases emerged from a 2008 meeting about their shared properties, both financial and legal, where they realized Soundgarden lacked online presence such as a website or a Facebook page. As Thayil summed up, "we kind of had neglected our merchandise over the last decade". Eventually the musicians decided to create an official site handled by Pearl Jam's Ten Club, relaunch their catalog, and according to Cameron, seek "a bunch of unreleased stuff we wanted to try to put out". On March 2009, Thayil, Shepherd and Cameron got onstage during a concert by Tad Doyle in Seattle and played some Soundgarden songs. Cornell stated that the moment "sort of sparked the idea: If Matt, Kim, and Ben can get in a room, rehearse a couple songs, and play, maybe we all could do that as Soundgarden."


title: Soundgarden

text: On October 6, 2009, all the members of Soundgarden attended Night 3 of Pearl Jam's four-night stand at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, CA. During an encore, Temple of the Dog reunited for the first time since Pearl Jam's show at the Santa Barbara Bowl on October 28, 2003. Chris Cornell joined the band to sing "Hunger Strike". It was the first public appearance of Soundgarden since their breakup in April 1997. Consequently, rumors of an impending reunion were circulating on the Internet.


title: Soundgarden

text: On January 1, 2010, Cornell alluded to a Soundgarden reunion on his Twitter account writing: "The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!" The message linked to a website that featured a picture of the group performing live and a place for fans to enter their e-mail addresses to get updates on the reunion. Entering that information unlocked a video for the song "Get on the Snake", from 1989's "Louder Than Love". On March 1, 2010, Soundgarden announced to their e-mail subscribers that they would be re-releasing an old single "Hunted Down" with the song "Nothing to Say" on a 7-inch vinyl record. It was released on April 17, Record Store Day. They released "Spoonman" live at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego, California from 1996. Soundgarden played their first show since 1997 on April 16 at the Showbox at the Market in the band's hometown of Seattle. The band headlined Lollapalooza on August 8.


title: Soundgarden

text: "Telephantasm: A Retrospective", a new Soundgarden compilation album, was packaged with initial shipments of the "" video game and released on September 28, 2010, one week before the CD's availability in stores on October 5, 2010. An expanded version of "Telephantasm" consisting of two CDs and one DVD is available for sale. A previously unreleased Soundgarden song—"Black Rain"—debuted on the "Guitar Hero" video game and appears on the compilation album, which achieved platinum certification status after its first day of retail availability. "Black Rain" hit rock radio stations on August 10, 2010, and was the band's first single since 1997. In November 2010, Soundgarden was the second musical guest on the show "Conan", making their first television appearance in 13 years. The band issued a 7-inch vinyl, "The Telephantasm", for Black Friday Record Store Day. In March 2011, Soundgarden released their first live album, "Live on I-5".


title: Soundgarden

text: In February 2011 Soundgarden announced on their homepage that they had started recording a new album. On March 1, 2011, Chris Cornell confirmed that Adam Kasper would produce it. Four days later, the band stated it would consist of material that was "90 percent new" with the rest consisting of updated versions of older ideas. They also noted that they had 12 to 14 songs that were "kind of ready to go". Although Cameron claimed the album would be released in 2011, the recording was prolonged as Thayil said that "the more we enjoy it, the more our fans should end up enjoying it". Thayil also reported that some songs sound "similar in a sense to "Down on the Upside"" and that the album would be "picking up where we left off. There are some heavy moments, and there are some fast songs." The next day, Cornell reported that the new album would not be released until the spring of 2012.


title: Soundgarden

text: In April 2011, Soundgarden announced a summer tour consisting of four dates in July. The band headlined for Voodoo Experience at City Park in New Orleans on the 2011 Halloween weekend. In March 2012 a post on the band's official Facebook page said a new song, "Live to Rise", would be included on the soundtrack of the upcoming movie "The Avengers", based on the Marvel Comics franchise. It was the first newly recorded song the band had released since re-forming in 2010. "Live to Rise" was released as a free download on iTunes on April 17. Also in March it was announced that Soundgarden would headline the Friday night of the Hard Rock Calling Festival the following July in London, England. In April, Soundgarden announced the release of a box set titled "Classic Album Selection" for Europe, containing all of their studio albums except for "Ultramega OK", and live album "Live on I-5". On May 5, just before The Offspring began playing their set, the band appeared as a special guest at the 20th annual KROQ Weenie Roast in Irvine, California. Later that month, Soundgarden told "Rolling Stone" they were eyeing an October release for their new album. That June, the band appeared at Download Festival in Donington, England. The band released "Been Away Too Long", the first single from their new album "King Animal" on September 27; the album was released on November 13, 2012. The band released a video for "By Crooked Steps", directed by Dave Grohl, in early 2013. "Halfway There" was the third single released from the album.


title: Soundgarden

text: On November 15, 2013, drummer Matt Cameron announced he would not be touring with Soundgarden in 2014, due to prior commitments promoting Pearl Jam's album "Lightning Bolt". On March 16, 2014, Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails announced they were going to tour North America together, along with opening act Death Grips. Former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain replaced Cameron for live shows in South America and Europe on March 27, 2014.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden announced on October 28, 2014, they would release the 3-CD compilation box set, "", on November 24. The set includes rarities, live tracks, and unreleased material spanning the group's history. It includes previously released songs, such as "Live to Rise", "Black Rain", "Birth Ritual", and others, as well as a newly recorded rendition of the song "The Storm" from the band's pre-Matt Cameron 1985 demo, now simply titled "Storm", which was, like the original, produced by Jack Endino. One day before its official announcement, on October 27, the band posted a copy of "Storm" on YouTube.


title: Soundgarden

text: Thayil mentioned in several interviews it was likely the band would start working on material for a new album in 2015, and in August 2015, Cornell stated they were doing so. On January 19, 2016, The Pulse Of Radio announced that Soundgarden had returned to the studio to continue working on their new album. On July 14, 2016, bassist Ben Shepherd and Cameron stated that the band had written "six solid tunes" for the new album, with more writing to be done in August.


title: Soundgarden

text: On May 18, 2017, Cornell was found dead, "with a band around his neck", according to his representative, Brian Bumbery. Cornell was in his room at the MGM Grand hotel and casino in Detroit, Michigan, after performing at the Fox Theatre with Soundgarden. From the outset, the investigation into the singer's death was described by a local police spokesperson as that of a "possible suicide", based on unspecified details in the room where his body was discovered. Subsequently, the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office determined the cause of death as suicide by hanging. However, Cornell's widow, Vicky, questioned whether he would deliberately end his own life, and said that the drug Ativan, which her husband was taking, might have led him to commit suicide. She said: "I know that he loved our children and he would not hurt them by intentionally taking his own life."


title: Soundgarden

text: Following Cornell's death, Soundgarden canceled the rest of their 2017 tour, including headlining performances at Rock on the Range and Rocklahoma later that month.


title: Soundgarden

text: In September 2017, drummer Matt Cameron told "Billboard" that he and the other surviving members of Soundgarden had yet to make a decision about the future of the band following Cornell's death. He was quoted as saying, "I don't think we're ready to say anything other than ... Kim and Ben and I are certainly aware of how much our fans are hurting, and we're certainly hurting right there along with them. But we're extremely private people, and we're all still processing our grief in our own way and on our own time. But we definitely are thinking of our fans and love them very much."


title: Soundgarden

text: In September 2018, guitarist Kim Thayil told "Billboard" that he and the other surviving members of Soundgarden were still unsure about the future of the band. He was quoted as saying, "We often reference rock history and we've often commented on what other bands in similar situations have done, not as a plan or anything but just commenting on how bands have handled situations like this and what bands seem to have been graceful and dignified in how they manage their future musical endeavors and how some maybe were clumsy and callous. We think about those things. We try not to go too deep into these conversations, but stuff comes up after a few beers." A month later, Cameron told "Rolling Stone" that the surviving members of Soundgarden "would certainly love to try to continue to do something, figure out something to do together." Bassist Ben Shepherd added, "We haven't even gotten a chance to hang out, just us three, yet. We're going through natural healing, then thinking about the natural next step."


title: Soundgarden

text: In an October 2018 interview with "Seattle Times", Thayil stated that the Soundgarden band name would be retired. He explained, "I don't know really what kind of thing is possible or what we would consider in the future. It's likely nothing. The four of us were that. There were four of us and now there's three of us, so it's just not likely that there's much to be pursued other than the catalog work at this point." Thayil also stated that while he does not rule out the possibility of working with Cameron and Shepherd in a different capacity, writing or touring under the Soundgarden banner again was unlikely. "No, I don't think that's anything we'd give reasonable consideration to at this point. When I say 'at this point,' I mean perhaps ever."


title: Soundgarden

text: In January 2019, the remaining members of the band reunited in a tribute concert and fundraiser at The Forum in Inglewood, California, organized by Cornell's widow, Vicky Cornell. Members of Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave, Alice in Chains, Melvins, Foo Fighters, and Metallica together with other notable artists performed songs from Cornell's career. Taylor Momsen, Marcus Durant, Brandi Carlile, and Taylor Hawkins contributed vocals to Soundgarden, who performed "Rusty Cage", "Flower", "Outshined", "Drawing Flies", "Loud Love", "I Awake", "The Day I Tried to Live", and "Black Hole Sun", making this their only performance since Cornell's death.


title: Soundgarden

text: In July 2019, Thayil said in an interview with "Music Radar" that the surviving members of Soundgarden are trying to finish and release the album they were working on with Cornell. However, the master files of Cornell's vocal recordings are currently being withheld, and when Thayil sought permission to use these files, he was denied.


title: Soundgarden

text: In December 2019, Cornell's widow, Vicky Cornell, sued the surviving members of Soundgarden over seven unreleased recordings Cornell made before his death in 2017, claiming "they have “shamelessly conspired to wrongfully withhold hundreds of thousands of dollars indisputably owed to Chris’ widow and minor children in an unlawful attempt to strong-arm Chris’ Estate into turning over certain audio recordings created by Chris before he passed away." The lawsuit stated that Cornell made the seven recordings at his personal studio in Florida in 2017, which there was never any explicit agreement that these songs were meant for Soundgarden, and that Cornell was the only owner of tracks. In February 2020, Thayil, Cameron and Shepherd demanded Vicky to hand over the unreleased recordings, claiming that they worked jointly on these final tracks with Chris and that Vicky has no right to withhold from them what they call the "final Soundgarden album." The band members pointed to interviews Chris and his bandmates made at the time confirming they were working together on what would be Soundgarden's eighth album. In March 2020, Soundgarden asked court to dismiss the lawsuit. In May 2020, Soundgarden countersued Vicky claiming that she engaged in "fraudulent inducement" by allegedly attempting to use the revenue from the January 2019 "I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell" concert, which was meant to go to the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation, for "personal purposes for herself and her family". The band dropped the benefit concert lawsuit in July 2020.


title: Soundgarden

text: On August 10, 2020, Nile Rodgers and Merck Mercuriadis's company Hipgnosis Songs Fund acquired 100% of Chris Cornell's catalog of song rights (241 songs), including Soundgarden's catalog. Rodgers is friends with Cornell's widow.


title: Soundgarden

text: On December 1, 2020, Thayil, Shepherd and Cameron performed as "members of Soundgarden" alongside Tad Doyle, Mike McCready and Meagan Grandallat at MoPOP Founders Award tribute to Alice in Chains.


title: Soundgarden

text: In February 2021, Vicky Cornell filed another lawsuit claiming that the remaining members of Soundgarden have undervalued her share of the band, offering her “the villainously low figure of less than $300,000.” Vicky claimed the band offered her $300,000 despite receiving a $16 million offer from another investor for the act's master recordings. Vicky said she counter-offered $12 million for the band's collective interests, equaling $4 million per surviving member, which they denied. She then offered them $21 million for the band’s interests, and that offer was also rejected. Soungarden said in a statement that the "buyout offer that was demanded by the estate has been grossly mischaracterized and we are confident that clarity will come out in court. All offers to buy out our interests have been unsolicited and rejected outright." The band also noted that they also haven't had access to their social media accounts, which has resulted in "misleading and confusing our fans", leading the band to create new Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts under the name "Nude Dragons", an anagram for Soundgarden. On March 19, 2021, a federal judge recommended that claims the surviving band members improperly withheld "hundreds of thousands of dollars" and that the band's manager breached his duty to look after Vicky's interests be dismissed, citing lack of evidence of the band withholding royalties. On March 25, 2021, Soundgarden demanded the passwords for their social media and website. On June 15, 2021, the band got their website and social media accounts back in a temporary agreement with Vicky.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden were pioneers of the grunge music genre, which mixed elements of punk rock and metal to make a sludgy, murky sound through the use of fuzzy-sounding distortion in the guitars. "Soundgarden are quite good..." remarked Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, "It's very much like the same sort of stuff that we would have done." Soundgarden's sound during the early years of the Seattle grunge scene has been described as consisting of "gnarled neo-Zeppelinisms". The influence of Led Zeppelin was evident, with "Q" magazine noting that Soundgarden were "in thrall to '70s rock, but contemptuous of the genre's overt sexism and machismo." According to Sub Pop, the band had "a hunky lead singer and fused Led Zeppelin and the Butthole Surfers". The Butthole Surfers' mix of punk, heavy metal and noise rock was a major influence on the early work of Soundgarden. The band was also influenced by the likes of the Ramones, Kiss, Accept, the Melvins and Saint Vitus.


title: Soundgarden

text: The name of the band, according to Thayil, was supposed to include the many roots of their style: that included "a virtual plethora of cutting edge rock that spans Velvet Underground, Meat Puppets, and Killing Joke". The band also mentioned "Metallica Gothicism and sublime poetry. The almost ethereal flavour of the name betrays the brutality of the music but never pins Soundgarden in one corner".


title: Soundgarden

text: Black Sabbath also had a huge impact on the band's sound, especially on the guitar riffs and tunings. Joel McIver stated: "Soundgarden are one of the bands I've heard closest to the original Sabbath sound." Soundgarden, like other early grunge bands, were also influenced by British post-punk bands such as Gang of Four and Bauhaus which were popular in the early 1980s Seattle scene. Cornell himself said: "When Soundgarden formed we were post-punk – pretty quirky. Then somehow we found this neo-Sabbath psychedelic rock that fitted well with who we were." Thayil described the band's sound as a "Sabbath-influenced punk".


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden broadened its musical range with its later releases. By 1994's "Superunknown", the band began to incorporate more psychedelic influences into its music. As a member of Soundgarden, Cornell became known for his wide vocal range and his dark, existentialist lyrics.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden often used alternative tunings in its songs. Many Soundgarden songs were performed in drop D tuning, including "Jesus Christ Pose", "Outshined", "Spoonman", "Black Hole Sun", and "Black Rain". The E strings of the instruments were at times tuned even lower, such as on "Rusty Cage", where the lower E is tuned down to B. Some songs use more unorthodox tunings: "Been Away Too Long", "My Wave", and "The Day I Tried to Live" are all in a E–E–B–B–B–B tuning and "Burden in My Hand", "Head Down", and "Pretty Noose" in a tuning of C-G-C-G-G-E".


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden also used unorthodox time signatures; "Fell on Black Days" is in 6/4, "Limo Wreck" is played in 15/8, and "The Day I Tried to Live" alternates between 7/8 and 4/4 sections. The main guitar riff of "Circle of Power" is in 5/4. Thayil has said Soundgarden usually did not consider the time signature of a song until after the band wrote it, and said the use of odd meters was "a total accident". He also used the meters as an example of the band's anti-commercial stance, saying that if Soundgarden "were in the business of hit singles, we'd at least write songs in 4/4 so you could dance to them".


title: Soundgarden

text: The development of the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop is tied closely to Soundgarden, since Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman funded Soundgarden's early releases, and the band's success led to the expansion of Sub Pop as a serious record label. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was a fan of Soundgarden's music, and reportedly Soundgarden's involvement with Sub Pop influenced Cobain to sign Nirvana with the label. Cobain also stated that Soundgarden was one of the only Seattle bands that he liked along with Tad and Mudhoney. In rare footage from the 2015 documentary "", Cobain can be seen impersonating Chris Cornell singing "Outshined". Alice in Chains guitarist and vocalist, Jerry Cantrell stated that Soundgarden was a big influence on his band.


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label when the band joined the roster of A&M Records in 1989. However, Soundgarden did not achieve success initially, and only with successive album releases did the band meet with increased sales and wider attention. Bassist Ben Shepherd has not been receptive to the grunge label, saying in a 2013 interview "That's just marketing. It's called rock and roll, or it's called punk rock or whatever. We never were Grunge, we were just a band from Seattle." They were ranked No. 14 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".


title: Soundgarden

text: In 1994, Electronic Arts contacted Soundgarden's label A&M Records for a bid to license the band's music for a CD-based entry in the "Road Rash" video game series. Although the label was initially hesitant due to the lack of precedence for licensing music for video games, Cornell and his band members expressed enthusiasm, as they were fans of the games and frequently played them on their bus while touring the country. A&M then obtained the band's permission to use them as leverage to incorporate other alt-rock bands within the A&M label into the game, including Monster Magnet, Paw, Swervedriver, Therapy? and Hammerbox. As a result of Soundgarden's involvement, the 3DO version of "Road Rash" has been credited with revolutionizing the use of licensed music in video games.


title: Soundgarden

text: "I think, and this is now with some distance in listening to the records, but on the outside looking in with all earnestness I think Soundgarden made the best records out of that scene. I think we were the most daring and experimental and genre-pushing really and I'm really proud of it. And I guess that's why I have trepidation about the idea of re-forming. I don't know what it would mean, or I guess I just have this image of who we were and I had probably a lot of anxiety during the period of being Soundgarden, as we all did, that it was responsibility and it was an important band and music and we didn't want to mess it up and we managed to not, which I feel is a great achievement."


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden has been praised for its technical musical ability, and the expansion of its sound as the band's career progressed. "Heavy yet ethereal, powerful yet always-in-control, Soundgarden's music was a study in contrasts," said Henry Wilson of "Hit Parader". Wilson proclaimed the band's music as "a brilliant display of technical proficiency tempered by heart-felt emotion".


title: Soundgarden

text: Soundgarden is one of the bands credited with the development of the genre of alternative metal, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stating that "Soundgarden made a place for heavy metal in alternative rock." Ben Ratliff of "Rolling Stone" defined Soundgarden as the "standard-bearers" of the rock riff during the 1990s. The band inspired and influenced a number of metalcore bands such as Between the Buried and Me and the Dillinger Escape Plan. In 2017, "Metal Injection" ranked Soundgarden at number three on their list of 10 Heaviest Grunge Bands.


title: Coronation Street

text: Coronation Street is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.


title: Coronation Street

text: Originally broadcast twice weekly, the series began airing six times a week in 2017. The programme was conceived by scriptwriter Tony Warren. Warren's initial proposal was rejected by the station's founder Sidney Bernstein, but he was persuaded by producer Harry Elton to produce the programme for 13 pilot episodes, and the show has since become a significant part of English culture.


title: Coronation Street

text: "Coronation Street" is made by ITV Granada at MediaCityUK and shown in all ITV regions, as well as internationally. In 2010, upon its 50th anniversary, the series was recognised by Guinness World Records, as the world's longest-running television soap opera. Initially influenced by the conventions of kitchen sink realism, "Coronation Street" is noted for its depiction of a down-to-earth, working-class community, combined with light-hearted humour and strong characters. The show currently averages around six million viewers per episode. The show premiered its 10,000th episode on 7 February 2020, and celebrated its 60th anniversary later that year.


title: Coronation Street

text: The first episode was aired on 9 December 1960 at 7 pm, and was not initially a critical success; "Daily Mirror" columnist Ken Irwin claimed the series would only last three weeks. Granada Television had commissioned only 13 episodes, and some inside the company doubted the show would last beyond its planned production run. Despite the criticism, viewers were immediately drawn into the serial, won over by "Coronation Street"s ordinary characters. The programme also made use of Northern English language and dialect; affectionate local terms like "eh, chuck?", "nowt" (, from "nought", meaning "nothing"), and "by 'eck!" became widely heard on British television for the first time. Early episodes told the story of student Ken Barlow (William Roache), who had won a place at university, and thus found his working-class background — as well as his younger brother David (Alan Rothwell) and his parents, Frank (Frank Pemberton) and Ida (Noel Dyson) — something of an embarrassment. The character was one of the few to have experienced much of life outside of Coronation Street. In some ways this predicts the growth of globalisation. In an episode from 1961, Barlow declares: "You can't go on just thinking about your own street these days. We're living with people on the other side of the world. There's more to worry about than Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) and her boyfriends." Roache is the only remaining member of the original cast, which makes him the longest-serving actor in "Coronation Street", and in British and global soap history.


title: Coronation Street

text: In March 1961, "Coronation Street" reached number 1 in the television ratings and remained there for the rest of the year. Earlier in 1961, a Television Audience Measurement (TAM) showed that 75% of available viewers (15 million) tuned into "Corrie", and by 1964 the programme had over 20 million regular viewers, with ratings peaking on 2 December 1964, at 21.36 million viewers. In spite of rising popularity with viewers, "Coronation Street" was criticised by some for its outdated portrayal of the urban working class, and its representation of a community that was a nostalgic fantasy. After the first episode in 1960, the "Daily Mirror" printed: "The programme is doomed from the outset ... For there is little reality in this new serial, which apparently, we have to suffer twice a week." By 1967, critics were suggesting that the programme no longer reflected life in 1960s Britain. Granada hurried to update the programme, with the hope of introducing more issue-driven stories, including Lucille Hewitt (Jennifer Moss) becoming addicted to drugs, Jerry Booth (Graham Haberfield) being in a storyline about homosexuality, Emily Nugent (Eileen Derbyshire) having an out-of-wedlock child, and introducing a black family, but all of these ideas were dropped for fear of upsetting viewers.


title: Coronation Street

text: In 1964, "Coronation Street" appointed new producer, Tim Aspinall. Aspinall decided on a new broom policy and 'The Bloody Purge' of 1964 began, with nine actors being sacked in total. The first cast member to be written out was Lynne Carol, who had played Martha Longhurst since episode two and the preview of the programme. Her sacking was so controversial that fellow actress Violet Carson (Ena Sharples) threatened to quit, but she was eventually persuaded not to. The media reported extensively on the storyline, and when Lynne Carol took a private trip to the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition in London, she was mobbed by fans and asked to leave on the grounds of public safety. Many, including "Coronation Street" writer H.V. Kershaw, saw the killing of Martha as a desperate move to boost viewer ratings.


title: Coronation Street

text: The show's production team was tested when many core cast members left the programme in the early 1970s. When Arthur Leslie died suddenly in 1970, his character, Rovers landlord Jack Walker, died off screen shortly afterwards. Anne Reid quit as Valerie Barlow; her character was killed off in 1971, electrocuting herself with a faulty hairdryer. Ratings reached a low of eight million in February 1973, when Pat Phoenix quit as Elsie Tanner and Doris Speed (Annie Walker) took two months' leave due to bereavement. The audience of ITV's other flagship soap opera "Crossroads" increased markedly at this time, as its established cast, such as Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon), grew in popularity. These sudden departures forced the writing team to quickly develop characters who had previously stood in the background. The roles of mostly younger characters including Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear), Deirdre Hunt (Anne Kirkbride), Rita Littlewood (Barbara Knox), Mavis Riley (Thelma Barlow) and Ivy Tyldesley (Lynne Perrie) were built up between 1972 and 1973 (with Perrie's character being renamed to the better-known "Tilsley"), and characters such as Gail Potter (Helen Worth), Blanche Hunt (Patricia Cutts/Maggie Jones), and Vera Duckworth (Liz Dawn) first appearing in 1974. These characters would remain at the centre of the programme for many years, with Gail still being in the show nearly half a century after her first appearance. Comic storylines had been popular in the series in the 1960s but had become sparse during the early 1970s. These were re-introduced by new producer Bill Podmore who joined the series in 1976. He had worked on Granada comedy productions prior to his appointment.


title: Coronation Street

text: In September 1977, the "News of the World" quoted actor Stephen Hancock (Ernest Bishop) as saying " 'The Street kills an actor. I'm just doing a job, not acting. The scriptwriters have turned me into Ernie Bishop. I've tried to resist it but it is very hard not to play the part all the time, even at home.' " This was the first sight the public had of a bitter argument between Hancock and Granada Television. Hancock objected to the cast payment system and threatened to quit the show to safeguard his principles. The main dispute was between Hancock and Podmore, with Podmore being nicknamed 'The Godfather' by the British media. The basis of Hancock's argument was that different actors were guaranteed different numbers of episode appearances per year, thus some were paid more than others. Actors from the earliest days of the programme, including Pat Phoenix, Doris Speed and Peter Adamson, were guaranteed payment for every one of the year's episodes, regardless of whether or not they actually appeared. Podmore was not willing to change what he called a 'complex and well-established system', leading Hancock to stand by his principles and resign. The problem now shifted, and writers had to write Ernie out but save his wife Emily (Eileen Derbyshire). The decision was made for Ernest to be killed off in a bungled robbery at Mike Baldwin's (Johnny Briggs) factory, where he worked in payroll. Ernest was killed by a single gunshot to the stomach on 11 January 1978. It was the first time that violence on such a scale had been shown on "Coronation Street" and after the episode was aired, Granada's switchboard was jammed by angry viewers. Letters of complaint arrived in their hundreds, and the Lobby Against TV Violence fiercely objected Granada's decision to broadcast the episode. Granada stated that the storyline was not about violence, but that it aimed to show the desolation and loss felt by Ernest's widow, Emily. "Coronation Street" had little competition within its prime-time slot, and certain critics suggested that the programme had grown complacent, moving away from socially viable storylines, and again presenting a dated view of working-class life.


title: Coronation Street

text: Peter Adamson, who had played Len Fairclough since 1961, was sacked in 1983 for breach of contract. He had been warned by Granada Television for writing unauthorised newspaper articles criticising the show and cast. "Coronation Street" producer Podmore sacked Adamson when it was revealed he had sold his memoirs after the previous warning. The sacking coincided with allegations of Adamson having indecently assaulted two young girls. In April 1983, a newspaper reported that Adamson had been arrested for indecently assaulting two eight-year-old girls at a swimming pool. The police complaint was that Adamson's hands had strayed while giving the girls swimming lessons. Granada Television gave Adamson financial support through his legal problems, with a Crown Court jury finding him not guilty in July 1983. Adamson's dispute over his memoirs and newspaper articles was not known to the public and the media reported that Adamson had been dismissed because of the shame indecent assault allegations had brought onto Granada and the "Coronation Street" brand. Len Fairclough was killed off-screen in a motorway crash on 7 December 1983. To demonise the character, it was revealed that he had been returning home from an affair, cheating on his wife Rita (Barbara Knox). Adamson celebrated the character's death by delivering an obituary on TV-am dressed as an undertaker.


title: Coronation Street

text: During 1988, actor Christopher Quinten, who had played Brian Tilsley since 27 December 1978, told bosses at Granada that he was going to move to the United States to marry his then-fiancée, American talk show host Leeza Gibbons and to build an acting career in Los Angeles. In announcing his resignation, Quinten tried to ensure that his role would be left open for him to return in the event that his stint in America failed. At the time, his character was married to Gail and the story conference called to write Brian out struggled to find a justifiable way to write him out while still leaving enough scope for a possible return. The decision was made that Brian should die. Quinten was in Los Angeles when the storyline was decided, and upon his return to the United Kingdom, he was shocked at Brian's fate and threatened to fly back to America so that scenes could not be filmed. He was talked round by co-star Helen Worth, who pointed out that he might be blacklisted by Equity if he quit the programme abruptly. Brian Tilsley's death was broadcast on 15 February 1989. After the breakdown of his marriage to Gail, Brian started spending his evenings going to discos and meeting up with various women. He tried to protect a young lady from a group of thugs outside a nightclub, but was stabbed in the stomach. He died as a result of his injuries. The stabbing brought massive complaints from viewers and Mary Whitehouse delivered an angry sermon about television violence.


title: Coronation Street

text: Between 1980 and 1989, "Coronation Street" underwent some of the most radical changes since its launch. By May 1984, William Roache stood as the only original cast member, after the departures of Violet Carson (Ena Sharples) in 1980, Doris Speed (Annie Walker) in 1983, and both Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) and Jack Howarth (Albert Tatlock) in 1984. Albert Tatlock's departure came when his character's off screen death was announced several months after the death of actor Jack Howarth at the age of 88. While the press predicted the end of "Corrie", H. V. Kershaw declared that "There are no stars in "Coronation Street". The show had also gained a new rival on Channel 4 with the launch of "Brookside", and BBC was preparing to launch "EastEnders", which would first air in February 1985. " Writers drew on the show's many archetypes, with established characters stepping into the roles left by the original cast. Phyllis Pearce (Jill Summers) was hailed as the new Ena Sharples in 1982, the Duckworths moved into No.9 in 1983 and slipped into the role once held by the Ogdens, while Percy Sugden (Bill Waddington) appeared in 1983 and took over the grumpy war veteran role from Albert Tatlock. The question of who would take over the Rovers Return after Annie Walker's 1983 exit was answered in 1985 when Bet Lynch (who also mirrored the vulnerability and strength of Elsie Tanner) was installed as landlady. In 1983, Shirley Armitage (Lisa Lewis) became the first major black character in her role as machinist at Baldwin's Casuals.


title: Coronation Street

text: Ken Barlow married Deirdre Langton (Anne Kirkbride) on 27 July 1981. The episode was watched by over 15 million viewers – more ITV viewers than the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana two days later. In the 1980s relationships were cemented between established characters: Alf Roberts (Bryan Mosley) married Audrey Potter (Sue Nicholls) in 1985; Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) married Sally Seddon (Sally Whittaker) in 1986; Bet Lynch married Alec Gilroy (Roy Barraclough) in 1987; and 1988 saw the marriages of widowed Ivy Tilsley to Don Brennan (Geoffrey Hinsliff), and the long-awaited union of Mavis Riley and Derek Wilton (Peter Baldwin), after over a decade of on-off romances and a failed marriage attempt in 1984.