Soundgarden’s 1976 Sting-Ray
The Shepherd family’s 1976 Schwinn Sting-Ray
Do you remember hard rock music in the 1990’s? The “Seattle Sound”? Bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney or Nirvana? Heavy, raw rock music with lots of guitar distortion and buzz. Lead singers wearing old T-shirts and flannel, not Spandex? Music videos that were just as likely to scare you as they were to get you to dance?
If you remember all of that, you probably remember that those musicians never took tour buses to their gigs, instead they rode their bikes. That’s why the song lyrics were so depressing. Everyone needed a nap.
You’re probably confused at this point. What the hell is he talking about? This looks like a 1976 Schwinn Sting-Ray. I’m sorry. What about the bike?
Tall bars made for sweet wheelies
Fenders kept the Seattle rain in check
This bike was part of that early ’90’s Seattle music scene. It was used in the Soundgarden music video for the song “My Wave” off of their Superunknown album. Between shots of Soundgarden concert footage, they had great action sequences of a kid racing around the south Seattle warehouse district. In the video, the kid did some pretty sweet skids and evaded a car that may or may not have been trying to run him over.
“Sting-Ray” would be a good name for a band
Turn up the volume and see the Sting-Ray in action here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEbYxEXM2cE
The bike originally belonged to video director Henry Shepherd. Henry and Soundgarden bassist Ben are brothers. The Shepherd family is from Bainbridge Island, and the bike saw lots of use on island roads. Like most of the Schwinn Sting-Rays out there, this bike was likely the first bike ridden by all of the siblings. Riders besides Henry probably included brother Ben, as well as brother Andy and their sister Emily.
The Sting-Ray now hangs on the wall here at Classic Cycle. Pluck any one of the spokes and you’ll be amazed by the feedback and the long sustain that you hear.