Some American

Soundgarden To Reunite

Chris Cornell’s career took a bit of a backward slide in the last half of the naughties, with the demise of supergroup Audioslave being followed by a couple of craptacular solo efforts, the last of which could be described as a travesty. I found the whole thing depressing to watch and, rumors of Cornell’s possible involvement with a Led Zep reunion notwithstanding, I kind of just wanted the man to go away, never to return.

And then this happened:

“The 12 year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!”

Cornell made the above announcement via his Twitter feed on New Years Eve, confirming a long rumored reunion with former bandmates Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd as Soundgarden in the new year. The message was accompanied by a link to this site, which invites people to sign up for email updates before displaying a video for “Get On The Snake” from the band’s sophomore break out Louder Than Love.

Beyond that, there is little available in the way of tangible news. MTV.com is reporting on rumors that the group is considering headlining slots at several major US festivals during 2010, as well as figuring out how to plot a tour around Cameron’s prior commitments with Pearl Jam. I hope you’re listening, Voodoo Music Experience.

For my part, I’m hoping this won’t be some kind of cynical cash in along the lines of the recent Alice In Chains comeback. My love for Soundgarden’s back-catalogue knows no bounds, but I don’t want that to be corrupted by new material that doesn’t replicate earlier magic (which is very likely what would happen… see this). But that being said, the chance to see “Burden In My Hand”, “Rusty Cage”, and “Superunknown” played live by the hands that wrote them is very exciting indeed.