"When the bands and the Seattle scene started taking off, I had been at it for so long that it felt very natural - it was just this is another day in the life. Not having been through it before, there wasnt the perspective to say, Oh my God, were in the eye of the hurricane. It was just, This is what we do today. Okay, just one more thing. One more thing to accomplish today. I guess the part that felt...the only thing that started to feel strange, this could be strange or this could be detrimental to people, was when the press started taking pot shots at people personally. Digging for dirt in the artists private lives, being exploitative of the artist. That was the hardest part. Suddenly this private world that we had was public. Which was okay, that was exciting, except when the press got...when they looked for sensational avenues to report on. Which there wasnt for a long time. There really wasnt [any]. They had to keep coming back and saying, I guess all they know how to do up there is make amazing music. Which is what continues to happen. The Seattle backlash and highly circulated reports that there was nothing new in Seattle after 93 just keep getting proved wrong again and again. I love that."
Susan Jean Silver is an American music manager and businesswoman, best known for managing Seattle rock bands such as Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees. Silver also owns the company Susan Silver Management, and co-owns the club The Crocodile in Seattle. Silver was named "the most powerful figure in local rock management" by The Seattle Times in 1991. In 2025, Variety called Silver "o
"Im really respectful of creativity. My whole waking day is based on the idea that we are here to create something. What happens with the majority of people is that their legacy is procreation as opposed to creation. It so often becomes a substitute and people are unfulfilled. Since I never had any confidence in my own creative process, I turned my energy into the process of supporting creative people."
"I remember this guy came up to me and said Gee, you sure dont look like a hard rock manager, and I said, I am. And you dont look like an idiot, but you are."
"I loved him and will always love him. He was like a brother to me. He was this little broken but gentle spirit. We did everything we could think of to help him choose life, but sadly the disease won instead."
"I started managing in 83. The U-Men were the first, and then a group called The First Thought. A real pivotal moment for me was when a friend was working with one of the early and very influential bands in Seattle in the early 80s, called The Blackouts. They had moved away and had wanted to come back and put on a couple of shows in the area, and asked me to help them. Putting on these shows and working with the Blackouts, who happened to have a deal with Wax Trax!, was really a big moment for me, personally. I know that experience made a big difference in my wanting to pursue a career in the music business: putting on their shows definitely gave me this kind of confidence that I didnt have before - even though one of the shows was riddled with challenges that should probably have dissuaded me from taking one more step towards the music business."
"Of course, Susan Silver. I love you my sister, I love you."
"One show at the Ditto, (Cornell), had written all over himself, and was just all over the club. I remember there was a fish involved and a lot writhing around (laughs). Hed get into a trance practically, in those early days. He covered every square inch of some of those places on some nights."