Whither Modern Rock? Pt. II Soundgarden Rides Again

With all the reunions of big '90s bands anounced in the last year -- Blur, Pavement, Rage Against The Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Faith no More (!) -- it was inevitable that those louder-than-rock Seattleites, Soundgarden, would join in. Sure, it probably means they were just running out of cash, but I'm still looking forward to the reunion.

I must confess, I really like Soundgarden. My two favorite albums not by Nirvana from the whole Seattle scene of the early '90s are Mudhoney's Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and SG's Badmotorfinger. The former is a fuzzy, pop masterpiece that really rewards a return listen (I hadn't listened to it in years -- had it on cassette!). Badmotorfinger is a nearly flawless collection of Sabbath-influenced hard rock. A testament to its greatness -- and that of the band in general -- is that many couldn't figure out whether the band was hard rock, grunge or heavy metal. They were as loud and dark as any metal bands, but they were melodic, smart (no songs about wizards, hobbits or Satan).

When Soundgarden broke up it never made sense. Their next two albums after Badmotorfinger-- Superunknown and Down on the Upside -- were highly regarded by critics. Superunkown earned the band two grammys (ironically, the song "Spoonman," perhaps their worst song, won "best metal performance" and the song "Black Hole Sun" won best hard rock performance). There was little news about the split that made sense. Seemed singer Chris Cornell wanted to do more ballads, while guitarist Kim Thayil favored faster and harder material. Cornell would later say that the band was "eaten up by the business."

In the last decade, drummer Matt Sheppard joined Pearl Jam (with whom he's made some great music) while Cornell fronted the really abysmal Audioslave and put out a few solo albums, including one recorded with hip hop producer Timbaland, which might be the worst recording released in the last 10 years. Heavy rock, in the meantime, suffered substantially without a band that could play it well the right way -- super loud, rhythmically complicated, dark and moody but with lyrics that matter to people who are older than 16. Queens of the Stone Age has been the only band to keep heavy rock interesting, since.

It's exciting to have such a good and innovative band back. Will they be able to duplicate their heady '90s work? Who knows. Probably not. But when they go on tour, I won't miss the chance to see them.