Mike McCready Rips Hendrix-Style National Anthem Ahead of Seattle NFL Game

Grunge was born in Seattle. And it never really left. Mike McCready, Soundgarden and Taylor Momsen reminded sports fans of the Emerald City’s place in modern music history on Wednesday (Sept. 10), when the New England Patriots came to town.  

At the top of the NFL blockbuster hosted by the Seattle Seahawks, the league’s reigning champions, McCready made a statement with a performance of the national anthem. The founding member and lead guitarist with Pearl Jam made his axe do all the talking, for an otherworldly performance that would’ve made Jimi Hendrix smile.

Earlier, Lumen Field participated in a moment’s silence, a tribute to the thousands of lives lost in the terror attacks 25 years ago. When it was McCready’s turn, he cranked it to 11.

Watch here and here.  

The Marshall stacks were turned up again at halftime, when another Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Soundgarden, stepped into play. McCready joined in on guitar, with the Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen on vocals for a medley that included “Outshined” and “Spoonman.”

Momsen has fronted the band on several occasions following the death of singer Chris Cornell in May 2017, at age 52. In November of last year, Momsen subbed in for Cornell at Soundgarden’s Rock Hall induction, performing their hits “Rusty Cage” and “Black Hole Sun.” She previously sat in with them at the “I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell” benefit in January 2019 at the Forum in Los Angeles.

In addition to the all-star hometown rock tribute, the Seahawks hosted a pregame Salute 250 Kickoff Concert featuring Luke Bryan, which took place three hours before kick-off.

Soundgarden are gearing up for a comeback, with an album featuring the final group of songs recorded with Cornell. Drummer Matt Cameron recently confirmed the surviving members are in the process of mixing tracks recorded with producer Terry Date for what is planned as an eight-track LP. He also said the songs are based on demos the group’s members began working on in 2013 and 2014 and then again in 2015 and 2016 before what would be their final tour with Cornell in 2017.

Separately, McCready has been steadily working away at a rock opera tribute to his band’s 1990s grunge heyday with his multimedia project Farewell to Seasons. Deluxe editions and the Platinum graphic novel package will drop with a soundtrack featuring new and original songs created by McCready, due out next month.

For the record, the home team Seahawks prevailed over the Patriots in the NFL Kickoff by a slim margin, 13-10.

Check out a snippet of the halftime performance here and here.