90s At 9 'Spoonman' Is A Real Person

"Spoonman" was released in 1994 as the first single off Soundgarden's 4th studio album Superunknown.  It helped launch Soundgarden into the mainstream. It reached #3 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #9 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Chris Cornell wrote the song "Spoonman" for the movie Singles in 1992 at this time he had yet to meet street artist Artis the Spoonman. The final version of the song featured Artis the Spoonman playing spoons. He was paid a $1000 flat fee for 2 hours work it took four takes to nail it. They paid him another $7000 flat fee for appearing in the music video. Had he known what a success the song would be and had he had a lawyer he probably would have gone for royalties instead of a flat fee, but hey hindsight right?

Soundgarden "Spoonman" 1994