Soundgarden reunion in 2010

Many of us had been hoping that the calendar-end of this largely wasted opportunity of a decade might symbolically signal a return to the cultural riches of the one that came before, but it’s doubtful that anyone was expecting such a return to happen in so soon – or so literally. As the clock was counting down to 2010 last night, Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell used his Twitter account to inform the world of his intentions to get the old band back together:

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

While his post includes a link to new official website SoundgardenWorld.com (did the band even have an old official website?), the new page includes no details as far as tour plans, whether the reunion will involve a new album, or even which band members will be participating (bassist Ben Shepherd replaced Hiro Yamamoto in 1990, and drummer Matt Cameron has been a member of Pearl Jam since 1998).

Although Cornell had always deflected questions about a possible reunion by stating that he liked how the band ended its long run the first time around, the door for a return seemed to be wide open after the recent rebirth of fellow Seattle rockers Alice in Chains (despite the death of singer Layne Staley) along with recent re-ups from other 90’s rock bands like Stone Temple Pilots and even Creed.

Despite the lack of details given regarding the Soundgarden reunion, and the casual nature of the announcement (on a holiday no less), the news appears to be generating significant interest and discussion; although Cornell hasn’t made any additional Twitter posts since last night, the word “Soundgarden” has been been used on Twitter today at a rate of about once every ten seconds.

More news when there is any.

UPDATE: Twitter user Jared Rose, who currently possesses the (never been active) @Soundgarden username on Twitter, has publicly offered the name to Chris Cornell, stating “I didn’t think you’d ever need it!”