SATURDAY SONG TO SEARCH TO **(GOOD EYE CLOSED)**
Soundgarden continues to be one of those legendary bands that defies pure pigeonholing. Sure, they rose to the top against the early 90s grunge backdrop, but could you really call them “grunge”? Lest we forget that way back when, they were often touted as the forerunners of “alternative metal” (whatever that means), in addition to grungesters.
SIDEBAR: Remember when “alternative” was a genre? Nowadays when people say they are into “alternative” music (and yes, it does happen every once in a while), I feel compelled to inquire “alternative to WHAT???” Back then the genre label actually meant something, but today everything just seems to be the alternative to everything else.
From the beginning, the band’s songs were sludgy enough, but always had at least a tinge (usually a boatload) of melody, largely thanks to wailer Chris Cornell but also to the inventive guitar stylings of Kim Thayil. Add the proto-rumblings of bassist Ben Shepard and thumping pocket-chop grooves of drummer Matt Cameron, and we had a truly unique rock n’ roll band that created their own sound. Five albums strong, Soundgarden broke up in 1997.
After some recent unfortunate solo Cornell material and plenty of rumors of reunion, the reformed Soundgarden finally played a couple of shows last Spring & Summer (the first of which under the anagram pseudonym Nudedragons), and it was recently announced that they will release a live album entitled Live on I5 on March 22nd (tracklist here).
Furthermore, just this past week it was mentioned on their website that the band has written some new material and hopes to release a new album later this year (!) ….
“OUR GOAL FOR 2011 – LET’S MAKE A RECORD.
Over the past few months, we’ve been busy jamming, writing and hanging out together – exploring the creative aspect of being Soundgarden. It feels great. We have some cool new songs that we are going to record very soon. Thank you for all of the support!
Loudest of Love, Ben, Chris, Kim and Matt”
We shall see.
-KW
