Soundgarden

Alongside Alice In Chains, Soundgarden assured a place for the genuinely downtuned and dejected in the music industry's fevered raid upon "grunge" in the early '90s. The band decided to reunite for Lollapalooza, 13 years after breaking up due to industry pressure and creative conflicts after 1996's somewhat muddled and atypically muted Down On The Upside. Members have kept busy in acts like singer Chris Cornell's Audioslave and drummer Matt Cameron's steady employer, Pearl Jam, though Soundgarden's most sonically adventurous member, guitarist Kim Thayil, has stayed out of the spotlight entirely. Now that Cornell's solo career has culminated in 2009's hideous Timbaland-produced Scream, let's hope that Soundgarden is ready to ride into thunderous glory once more. 

Updated 07/27/2010