It's Official: Soundgarden Reuniting!
News
Attention grunge fans, your New Year's Day hangovers just got a lot more tolerable: Soundgarden have announced that they will reunite in 2010! Singer Chris Cornell shared the news via Twitter early Friday morning.
"The 12 year break is over & school is back in session," Cornell wrote of the formative quartet, which broke up in 1997. "Knights of the Soundtable ride again!"
Rumors of the reunion have run rampant over the past year -- and for good reason. Last March, guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd, and drummer Matt Cameron (who is also Pearl Jam's full-time sticksman) played three Soundgarden songs -- "Nothing to Say," "Spoonman," and "Hunted Down" -- at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe, with Tad Doyle fronting the group in place of Cornell.
In October, all four members of the band reunited backstage at a PJ concert in Los Angeles, and Cornell even joined Eddie Vedder and Co. onstage for a rendition of "Hunger Strike," their 1991 hit as Temple of the Dog. Watch video of the performance right here.
The L.A. show served as catalyst for the full-on reunion, and now Soundgarden are plotting a tour for 2010. And that's not all: according to Billboard, Soundgarden are also in negotiations to perform at several major U.S. and international festivals.
The tour will be planned around Cameron's duties with Pearl Jam, who have live concerts scheduled for spring and summer 2010. No word yet if the band plans to record new material, but Cornell has long discussed a greatest hits album and/or a new boxed set, which would include never-before-heard studio material.
So, SPIN readers, are you stoked for the Soundgarden reunion? We are. In fact, we've spent the past 20 minutes playing "Rusty Cage" on repeat and head-banging like Beavis and Butthead in a conniption fit. Watch the video below, then tell us what you think of the reunion in the comment section.
Soundgarden, "Rusty Cage"
30 Comments
Click here to comment- Posted By SoundGumms
01.29.10 8:23 PM
If there is some justice in this godforsaken world, then the guys will set aside their diffrences an create once more, music that nonother have done before. Soundgarden have the uniqe sound that many strive for but never achieve. I for one will travel the world and beyond,just to hear them once more. From the land of ICE AND SNOW (ZEPPELIN) BW GHJ
- Posted By Jeff Ament
01.09.10 10:15 PM
great news if it doesn't affects Pearl Jam.
- Posted By Got some if you Need it
01.06.10 12:22 PM
This news is very bittersweet for me - as gigantic Pearl Jam fan - it puts terrible thoughts into my head that Matty C will become a full time member of Soundgarden and leave the band - now granted if he did that, he would be one of the biggest fools on the planet - but not unfathomable - I love soundgarden and welcome the reunion with open arms and ears - but at what cost? I am not ready, nor will I ever be ready to let Cornell split up Pearl Jam for a lousy record or a two year tour or a crummy box set. I hope my Seattle boys know what they are doing - Long live Grunge - Long live Pearl Jam.
- Posted By andrew dopenose
01.06.10 10:21 AM
every word i say is what i mean...
- Posted By KeepOnRockin
01.05.10 12:31 PM
Thank god the last memory I will have of Chris Cornell will not be of his collaboration with Timbaland...
- Posted By Anonymous
01.04.10 9:41 PM
You obviously don't know anything about Chris Cornell. A real artist will extend themselves, and try new things. Chris has proven himself over, and over again that he is a true artist who believes in his music. I have seen him many times in concert and have never gotten the impression he is vain. He loves his followers and is true to them. Believe me. He is NOT washed up!
- Posted By catherine Bryson
01.04.10 9:23 PM
If you are going to make a comment about a man that is probably one of the greatest rock singers EVER..please make your nasty comments in a literate way. It is Rod Stewart you dope! Can you spell , or think?
- Posted By Anonymous
01.04.10 5:16 PM
chris cornell is washed up and this reunion will damage the credibility of this band because of what he has done since soundgarden broke up. his first solo album was good. audioslave...was audioslave and the timberland stuff was a complete joke (search for the trent reznor comments, couldn't have said it better myself). he is set to be the sammy hagar of grunge. soundgarden is one of the best rock bands of all time!!!!!!...but its a shame when the lead singer has a head bigger than the stadiums they will play. chris cornell used to be amazing...but now he is a complete wiener...kinda like Rod Stuart.
- Posted By Theres noise coming from my garden!!
01.04.10 7:32 AM
will they be playing any Timbaland songs?? hahah
- Posted By William Goodman
01.02.10 7:25 PM
- Thanks for the heads up on the spelling of "Hunger Strike," not "Hunger Strikes," guys! I blame my intense excitement for the small error.
- Posted By AssGurgle
01.02.10 6:13 PM
Well, all right! If the state of music was ever in need of some pure rock fury, now would be the time. And who better to give a hot beef injection to the insipidness that has become modern music than Soundgarden. I guess Cornell finally came to his senses and realized that hip hop and Timbaland style production could never hold a candle to even the worst day of cranking out grungetastic sludge with Soundgarden.
The ship is going down! Get out before you drown!
- Posted By Cerebus
01.02.10 5:35 PM
As somebody else mentioned, it's HUNGER STRIKE. (shakes head) Also, if Rusty Cage is the only Soundgarden video you could find to watch in twenty minutes, epic fail! Next, "grunge fans"... really? You do realize that "grunge" never really existed, right? It was a word made up by people like YOU who felt the need to call it something other than what it was; the rock music that represented the time it was being made in. Call it metal if you need to. But damn it, it's all just rock music. From the 50's right on up to today's post-whatever-made-up-word-you're-using-now. Finally, this is just way to far overdue. Alic In Chains got back together and released and album and Layne is dead! Soundgarden had no damn excuse for waiting this long because we all knew this was going to happen eventually. Really hoping it doesn't permanently pull Matt away from Pearl Jam, though. I'd finally got used to them moving past the Spinal Tap drummer syndrome.
- Posted By Anonymous
01.02.10 5:12 PM
I saw Chris Cornell on a solo gig and he did a lot of Soundgarden as well as Temple of the Dog. He can still hit all the notes. If this really happens it will make 2010 one hell of a memorable year. I hope they make it to So Cal before the wheels come off...
- Posted By queenofthesugarhillz
01.02.10 2:52 PM
yay! I can't wait to hear what they will come up with! soundgarden is quite gifted.
- Posted By Anonymous
01.02.10 2:19 PM
Will they all get stylists and teeth whitening sessions?
If they play tiny $20 shows and don't suck, OK. But realistically, it appears singer-boy would be better off joining a band with some douches, and leaving the real music-making to the music-makers.
Friends don't let friends get "How I Met Your Mother" haircuts.
- Posted By martymankins
01.02.10 1:54 PM
Amazing news. I know the naysayers will have their 15 words of fame, but in the end, this is one reunion that I've been waiting for. Cornell's solo stuff was ok (Euphoria Morning) to WTF (Scream), but his live performances were still top notch.
- Posted By idlehands237@gmail.com
01.02.10 12:34 PM
oh good! now they can annoy the piss out of me two decades later!
08.21.10 9:28 AM
Ive been waiting for this since i first heard the rumor. after listening to gay girl bands like nickelback and all these other female based puss bands on the radio, it will be like taking a tremendous dump in this mainstream toilet! when i first heard black rain on the radio, i actually thought it was soundgardens old stuff that they dug up. boy was i wrong! chris sounds like he did back in 93 and on top of that he stopped going to super cuts to get his hair cut. so glad he remembered where his bread was buttered!.......and nickelback still sucks ass!!