Soundgarden had disbanded permanently the year before Alice in Chains formed.
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle , Washington , in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley . Soundgarden . Matt Cameron became the band 's full-time drummer in 1986 , while bassist Ben Shepherd became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990 . Cornell remained in Soundgarden until his death in May 2017 , putting the band 's future in doubt and leaving Thayil as the only remaining original member of the band . Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label ( A&M Records in 1988 ) , though the band did not achieve commercial success until they popularized the genre in the early 1990s with Seattle contemporaries Pearl Jam , Nirvana , and Alice in Chains . In 1997 , the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction .