Chris Cornell Announces Soundgarden Reunion

With the start of the New Year, Soundgarden is also getting a fresh start in the 21st Century. Last night, a Soundgarden reunion was announced on Chris Cornell’s Twitter and Myspace accounts, with a link to http://www.soundgardenworld.com, the band’s (first?) official website.  For fans signing up for their mailing list, you’ll be treated to the music video for “Get on the Snake”,  a track from 1989’s Louder Than Love. As of yet, there are no solid plans regarding touring or the recording of a new album, but information should be expected in the coming weeks and months.

But is this reunion all good? Ever since Chris Cornell’s third solo album, Scream, failed to reach critical and commercial acclaim, rumors have been swirling around the internet about a possible Soundgarden reunion.  This writer asks the question, is Cornell doing this for the money? He has always been the missing link in a full-scale reunion, this being proven when the band reunited with Tad Doyle on vocals back in March 2009. Now that Scream has been met with lackluster sales and critical backlash, it seems a little too coincidental that he is suddenly getting back with his old bandmates.

Another point of contention is the strength of Cornell’s voice. Even though it has recovered a fair bit from his Audioslave days, there’s still the question of whether or not he can reach the stratospheric high notes he was famous for in Soundgarden. Judging from his recent solo performances, it sounds like he has a good shot at replicating most of the songs, but time shall tell.

Despite my criticism, I’m as big a Soundgarden fan as the next guy, and I really hope I’m proven wrong in my skepticism. Here’s to 2010 being the year of Soundgarden!

11 Albums You NEED to Hear

1. Appetite for Destruction by Guns N’ Roses

For something recorded in 1987, it’s raw, fresh, visceral, and relevant.

2. Ten by Pearl Jam

A perfect, well-rounded album. Strong riffs, thoughtful lyricism, and an anthemic sound bring it all together.

3. The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails

It’s long, but there’s a lot of great, complex songs to dig into.

4. Black Holes & Revelations by Muse

Muse has always been a stunning band, and with this release, they play to their strengths. There is an obvious addition of electronica elements added to their hard-rocking, Queen-esque sound, as well.

5. Pinkerton by Weezer

Quirky, off-beat, and catchy could sum this record up well. Full of raw confessions and blaring guitars, it’s a definite departure from their debut, and arguably their best work.

6. Binaural by Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam took a big leap here,s tepping into unchardted territory while creating meaningful songs that ignore their “grunge” label.

7. Shangri – La Dee Da by Stone Temple Pilots

Lots of psychedelic elements mixed with STP’s traditional hard-rocking/alternative sound. It’s more “them” then any prior work.

8. Title of Record by Filter

Moving from their atypical industrial sound, the fury actually lets up for a few moments with slower tracks like “Take a Picture”, all while new textures blend with and explore the band’s sound.

9. Into the Wild by Eddie Vedder

A folksy, ambitious solo album from Pearl Jam’s lead singer that merges perfectly with the movie it scores.

10. Superunknown by Soundgarden

Cornell’s voice is Earth-shattering, and as a whole the record is very cohesive and muscular.

11.  The Colour and the Shape by Foo Fighters

Take the drummer from Nirvana, give him a backing band, and add his throat-shredding vocalls and aggressive power-chords and you get an album that’s a perfect snapshot of mid-90s rock after the grunge explosion.

Metallica Rips Off Pearl Jam

Seems like every opinion of Metallica I see is that they haven’t had any good ideas since the Black Album. Now, I’m no Metallica fan (Unless liking four or five songs off the Black Album qualifies me), but when I found this out today, you can imagine I was angry, seeing as Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands.

Metallica’s new song “The End of the Line” steals a riff directly from Pearl Jam’s song “Why Go?”. Hear it here from 0:34 to 0:56:

Now listen to Pearl Jam’s “Why Go?” here: