Essential Reading
Let’s look at this Soundgarden reunion announcement. It appears to be legit. Let’s break it down and go through the chronology.
Soundgarden split in April 1997. They had run out their string. The chances of a reunion were next to nil because their manager was Susan Silver. She was married to singer Chris Cornell—see the problem?—and they were having marital problems. Some of it was band-related but most of it had to do with Chris’s substance abuse issues.
Chris eventually cleaned up and joined Audioslave. Meanwhile, there were some really bad feelings amongst all the members about how a substantial amount of money was mismanaged. A divorce came through in 2004 and there were a series of legal proceedings that stretched over four years and involved a lot of things, including fifteen guitars that Susan wouldn’t give back to Chris. That wasn’t solved until December 2008. This might have had something to do with Soundgarden turning down an offer to play a 20th anniversary show for Sub Pop Records earlier in the year.
With me so far?
The court case gets settled in December 2008. Then on March 24, 2009, three-quarters of Soundgarden—which is to say everyone but Chris Cornell—played a benefit in Seattle. It seemed to go down good and people started talking.
Then in mid-June, Brent Smith, the singer for Shinedown, gave an interview in which he said Soundgarden was definitely getting back together. The dude was slammed by just about everyone for spreading lies. But then I talked to him myself a few weeks later and he calmly said “Yeah, I know that everyone hates me for saying this stuff, but my sources are good and I know it’s happening.
Then on October 7, there was a Pearl Jam show in LA. Chris Cornell walked on stage to sing “Hunger Strike”—the old Temple of a Dog song—with Eddie Vedder. This was a de facto Temple of the Dog reunion: Eddie, Chris, Jeff, Stone, Mike McCready and Matt Cameron. Chris and Matt were also in Soundgarden together. Meanwhile, in the audience that night was Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil and bass player Ben Sheppard. Do you think they all maybe got together backstage?
For months, we heard nothing. And as late as the Monday before Christmas, Krist Novoselic of Nirvana said on his blog that he had checked out all these Soundgarden rumours and declared them to be false.
But then on New Year’s Eve—I saw this around 11:00 eastern time—Chris tweeted this: “The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!” And sure enough, if you go to www.soundgardenworld.com, you’ll see you can sign up for a mailing list. If you do you’ll hear the song "Get On The Snake". At least that’s what I saw this morning.
So what’s coming next? We’re not sure yet. They’ll have to work around Matt Cameron’s schedule because Pearl Jam has some touring commitments that extend deep into this year. But wouldn’t it be cool if Soundgarden and Pearl Jam toured together? Matt could just stay on stage and play both sets.
There’s also lots of talk about a Soundgarden box set. I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see that by the fall. The Knights of the Soundtable are back, apparently.
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5 Comments
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Isnt it odd that Alice In Chains ‘come back’ with success and not long after Soundgarden is back. Im not taking away all the stuff that Alan said. Im just saying that the success of AIC had to have an influence on this ACUTALLY happening.
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I am going to see Alice In Chains in Vancouver – it will be the first time with the new singer.
Soundgarden I saw once – Audioslave I saw three times and they were phenomenal.
This is a very cool thing and about Pearl Jam and Soundgarden touring together – I would sell my left AND right nut to go see that show.
Maybe both those bands could open for Led Zeppelin again… hmmm interesting -
On Alice in Chains: I was lucky enough to see them on the same bill with Nine Inch Nails, imagine my excitement. William has stepped up to the plate to fill the singing position so well that when I closed my eyes to ‘Rooster’, I felt like I was back in the ’90′s again. If you looked around in the crowd, you just cut the shared elation with a knife.
The amazing part is they came back with a great album, sounding fresh. The evidence of a Quality band known for making quality music.Soundgarden returning is not only a throwback, to some like myself, it’s a lifeline. If they shared a bill with Pearl Jam, it could hardly get better – I’m so excited about this I could break my rusty cage and run.
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Sasquach Festival in the Gorge in George
Memorial day weekend.
SAT NIGHT: Alice N Chains Headlines
SUN NIGHT: Pearl Jam Headlines
MON NIGHT: Soundgarden Healines with a Temple of the Dog Encore -
Sasquach Festival in the Gorge in George
Memorial day weekend.
SAT NIGHT: Alice N Chains Headlines
SUN NIGHT: Pearl Jam Headlines
MON NIGHT: Soundgarden Healines with a Temple of the Dog Encore
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