September 1984 Soundgarden plays their first show at Top of the Court, opening for the U-Men.
December 1984 Green River enters Crow Studios with producer Chris Hanzsek to record their debut album, the six-track Come On Down, for the Homestead label.
Feedback and Ten Minute Warning, two early Seattle bands, break up.
January 8, 1985 Duff McKagan returns to Seattle with his new band Guns 'n' Roses and plays a show at the Rock Theatre with the Fastbacks opening. Only 13 people are in attendance.
June 1985 A new band called Skin Yard opens for the U-Men at the Odd Fellows Hall as a "going away" party for the U-Men.
August 1985 Green River guitarist Steve Turner decides to leave Green River, deciding that Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard's rock star dreams were not in line with his punk/garage aesthetic. Turner is replaced by Ament's ex-bandmate in Deranged Diction, Bruce Fairweather.
September 1985 For the annual Bumbershoot festival, the U-Men play at the Mural Amphitheatre (an old World's Fair structure). During the set, singer John Bigley poured a bottle of lighter fluid into the pool, set fire to a broom, and dropped it in the pool. Soundman Tom O'Neill hurried to get his equipment off the stage while cops clubbed people in the audience. Mark Arm called it the greatest show he'd ever seen.
December 1985 Homestead Records finally release the debut Green River record "Come on Down", which was recorded in late 1984.
December 31, 1985 The U-Men (with Skin Yard opening) play a New Year's party at a downtown art studio for 200 people. After the gig ended and the doors were locked, the remaining people in the street were attacked by a street gang with nunchucks, who mistook the punks for an unfriendly rival trying to encroach on their turf. One of the victims, Rick Lewis, singer for the Olympia bands Idol Worship and Immortal Roberts, was knocked into a coma for six months.
June 1986 Chris Hanzsek and Jack Endino reopen the old Triangle Studios space in Ballard as Reciprocal Recording. One of the first projects is with Green River, who enter Reciprocal with Jack Endino to record one of the first Sub Pop releases, the "Dry As A Bone" EP. Record isn't released until July of the following year.
