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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (not really at all) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

We haven’t done one one of these all summer, but we came up with a fun one for this week:

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME AND PLAY ANY METAL BAND/MUSICIAN SOME OF THEIR MUSIC AND/OR SHOW THEM PHOTOS/VIDEOS OF THEMSELVES FROM THEIR FUTURE (OUR PRESENT), WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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For whatever reason, I just haven’t gotten that excited about the Soundgarden reunion yet. Maybe it’s not “real” enough for me at this point; maybe when the band finally does a proper tour and I’m holding the ticket in my hand, I’ll suddenly be really, really stoked. Or maybe Chris Cornell has just pissed away all my good will towards him, and I’ll never care.

Whatever. Point being, I had no intention of checking out the band’s performance on Conan earlier this week, until I read Shane Mehling’s assertion on The Deciblog that guitarist Kim Thayil is so “fucking old” that “looks like Kim Thayil’s dad.” Say no more, Mr. Mehling. I love a good laugh at other people’s expense. Curiosity piqued!

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Unless your New Years Eve revelry landed you in county lock-up or somewhere else without Internet access (or you just own an iPhone), you’ve likely heard the fantastic albeit unsurprising news that SOUNDGARDEN HAS REUNITED. Chris Cornell announced it precisely at the stroke of midnight (Eastern Standard Time) via his often bizarre and unintentionally hilarious Twitter account:

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

So Soundgarden’s back together. What the hell does that mean?

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Los Angeles’ Hotel Cafe is a 165-person capacity venue, a seemingly unlikely place to find a world famous rocker with millions of record sales under his belt. And yet last Thursday it hosted noneother than Chris Cornell for an “intimate” sold out performance. As expected, YouTube has amateur footage of songs from the setlist, which included “Euphoria Morning” and Audioslave’s “Doesn’t Remind Me”, as well as covers of The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Of course, the track that stands out the most for me was “Call Me A Dog”, a song from the Temple Of The Dog album. The project, a tribute to the late Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, reformed somewhat during a recent Pearl Jam concert in L.A. The solo acoustic performance above (audio quality trumps video quality) is naturally much more subdued and somber, which helps to remind us all that Cornell is a gifted songwriter, even despite his misguided dalliance with Timbaland. With a reworked rock version of Scream in the planning, the former Soundgarden frontman might just earn back the respect of fans who balked at his attempt to mimic Justin Timberlake.

In other news, Timbaland’s upcoming Shock Value 2 album features vocal contributions from Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Chris Daughtry. Yeah, you read right…

-GS

[Gary Suarez is going hungry. He usually manages WHOLLY DIVER (a Dio tribute site) and the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

All this talk about Slash’s upcoming solo album has got me playing “Fantasy Velvet Revolver” in my head once again. Though I still hold out hope that Axl’s idea of having Perry Farrell front the band comes to fruition, I know in my heart that there’s probably a better chance of Scott Weiland rejoining the band, which is admittedly a pretty remote possibility. Remote like Siberia.

So looking through the list of vocalists purportedly gracing the axeman’s new record, I see a number of qualified albeit unlikely candidates to fill Weiland’s still-vacant spot. Yeah, it would be a heavy music lover’s dream to have Ozzy Osbourne sing for the band, considering the craptastic nature of his last few solo albums. Realistically, that would be an unholy managerial nightmare with the potential capacity to yield a catastrophic clusterfuck to put the legal woes of Black Sabbath and Guns N’ Roses to shame. Dave Grohl’s too busy counting his money and playing geriatric rock with his idols to commit to yet another band. These days, Alice Cooper and Lemmy Kilmister have the commercial drawing power of, well, Alice Cooper and Lemmy Kilmister, and maybe would shift a few more units than a Velvet Revolver fronted by an unknown (anyone remember Eric Dover or Rod Jackson?) or that dude from Spacehog. Don’t even get me started on Fergie.

One other name on that list, however, actually makes sense…

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Some months back, Chris Cornell took the first step to undo the self-inflicted damage caused by his god-awful Timbaland-produced solo album Scream: he re-recorded one of its songs as a straightforward soft rock tune. Since then, the former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman has taken some considerable steps towards restoring his rocker reputation, including performing John Lennon’s “Imagine” on the September 11th episode of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien and unexpectedly reuniting grunge rock one-off Temple Of The Dog at a recent Pearl Jam concert.

Now comes news that the much maligned Scream will receive a full-blown “rework” to better reflect the rest of Cornell’s easily digested radio-friendly solo discography. Though, Cornell has yet to make any public statement about this, the existence of another re-recorded Scream cut says it all. Listen to this new version of “Never Far Away” and imagine just how positively banal Scream (Naked) will ultimately sound.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is simply irresistible. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Though recently convicted of murder, Phil Spector is regarded as one of the greatest music impresarios of the 20th century. His “Wall Of Sound” production style made him stand out from the pack, though the final results were not always met with appreciation by the artists with which he worked–perhaps the most noteworthy of these dissatisfied parties being The Beatles. Paul McCartney in particular loathed Spector’s approach on Let It Be, and a very different version of the album appeared in 2003. Whether or not such a revision will occur with Chris Cornell’s Timbaland-produced Scream remains to be seen, but an undeniably rock-centric version of his latest single certainly raises the question.

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Chris Cornell has taken quite the public beating lately, from Trent Reznor’s Twitter taunting to the generally negative response to his recent Timbaland-produced album Scream. (Check out what our own Sammy O’Hagar had to say about it.) Well, perhaps on the advice of some stodgy A&R type at the bloated major label he happens to be signed to, he’s finally decided to respond to some of the criticism via the cutting edge music periodical known as The Washington Post. Below are some noteworthy extracts:

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Headbanger’s Blog just alerted me to the fact that Trent Reznor allegedly left the following message on Twitter:

“You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell’s record? Jesus.”

All I have to say is this:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

As you were.

-AR

P.S. I know what you’re thinking: “What the fuck does that picture of Eliza Dushku have to do with Trent Reznor or Chris Cornell?” And the answer is, as far as I can tell, nothing. I did a Google image search for “Trent Reznor” “Chris Cornell” in hopes of finding a photo of the two singers in friendlier times, and instead the picture of Dushku sticking out her chest came up. And since she’s really hot, I thought, hey, why the heck not?

Well, the day has finally arrived. That’s right, Internets: Chris Cornell’s new solo album, the Timbaland-produced Scream, is now available wherever people buy music these days. For me, that place is Amazon, where the MP3 version is already at the super-promotional-discount-to-inflate-Soundscan-numbers-price of $2.99 USD. Now you too can empathize with Sammy O’Hagar and hear what promises to be the Now And Zen of the former Soundgarden frontman’s career – minus the hits, of course!

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Let me begin by saying that I thoroughly enjoy Timbaland. His work with Ludacris, Jay-Z, and especially Missy Elliot has yielded great, forward-thinking results for his genre of choice. Yes, metal faithful, I think Justin Timberlake’s work with him is damn fine pop music as well. However, Timbaland’s best work has been within the confines of pop music, and I have yet to have a problem with that. His first foray into rock – or rock music as I (and many others, in that his work with No Doubt, Duran Duran, and OneRepublic haven’t exactly strayed far from the bands’ roots) know it is a spectacular, bordering on legendary, misfire. Chris Cornell – Soundgarden’s former golden-throated front man that has spent the better part of this decade coasting with Audioslave – picked perhaps the worst partner for his gravelly shout on his latest (even terribly titled) solo album, Scream. And though I am far from one to decry someone’s sense of artistic exploration, I must say that this one is hilariously misguided. The only thing keeping this album from being a so-horrifically-bad-it’s-good triumph is the familiar sound of Cornell’s shriek over a terribly mismatched backing track, a ploy seemingly utilized for the sake of a desperate stab at commercial relevancy. He’s a long way from Louder than Love, Badmotorfinger, and Superunknown, and it’s hard to see how he’d be able to make his way back.

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As threatened previously, I have decided to see Chris Cornell live in concert this Spring, my perverse fascination getting the best of me. Apparently, he did a handful of North American gigs last year, including an autumnal jaunt through select Western U.S. and Canadian cities. From glancing at some of those setlists, it appears that most of those performances were exclusive showcases of material from Scream, the delayed Timbaland-produced album now due out this March. (Those who buy a ticket to these shows will get a free digital copy of the album upon release.)

What’s truly unsettling, however, is what else I stumbled upon in my Intarweb searching: a Verizon-sponsored website that allows fans to create horrible mash-ups of new Cornell tunes and Soundgarden classics. Trust me: you will never think of “Jesus Christ Pose” the same way again.

-GS

Is Twitter the new Facebook (if Facebook was, in fact, the new MySpace)? MetalSucks isn’t gonna wait to find out, and has now officially joined 2008 by signing up for Twitter (follow us!). In case you’re over the age of 20 and not yet hip to Twitter, Twitter is a social networking site that’s basically just the “status update” section of Facebook with everything else stripped away. Users can update their profiles with short messages and links with quick updates about what they’re currently doing (140 characters or less), from a web interface or from their mobile phone. Musicians have begun dabbling in the world of Twitter, and, naturally, this provides loads of entertainment for us.

Aside from the obvious humor inherent in a bunch of br00tal metal dudes doing something that’s called a “Tweet,” some notable metal musicians are already ensconced in the world of Twitter. And what’s cool about it is that you know, at least until marketing department heads become hip to it, that you’re getting a direct link to the actual person. When Vernon Reid Tweets about the guy that designed his custom pedalboard, you know it’s him. When Fred Durst Tweets about a tattoo of Frankenstein he’s getting… uh, you know it’s him, for better or worse. Let’s look at what some notable quotables in the metal world are saying on Twitter:

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By now, y’all are more than aware that Chris Cornell has been recording with hip-hop producer Timbaland. The consensus around the blogosphere has been that this is going to be a fiery trainwreck of Mariah Carey Glitter proportions. Now, throwing fuel on the burning upholstery, Cornell solo concerts to promote Scream (as in, what you’ll probably do when you eventually hear this album) have been announced. I know I should just go hide in my secret underground bunker with my special lady and repopulate society until this whole thing blows over – but I think I actually want to see this disaster LIVE!

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Since we all seem to be in agreement that the new Chris Cornell / Timbaland joint is a steaming pile of dog turds, let’s harken back to better times, shall we? Are you a fan of the early, raw Soundgarden featuring Mr. Cornell running around in combat boots with his shirt off, or the proggier, trippier Soundgarden of the mid ’90s? You tell us.

So back in March we reported the rumors that Chris Cornell was recording his next solo album with famous hip-hop producer Timbaland (Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg, Nelly Furtado, etc) and wondered aloud about said project.

Lucky for you (or not, as it were), an anonymous source has sent us a radio rip of the first single “Long Gone.”

Please excuse me while I log into my ebay account to sell all of my Soundgarden CDs.

-VN

People Magazine is reporting that Chris Cornell’s (ex-Soundgarden, ex-Audioslave) third solo album will be produced by hip-hop guru Timbaland (Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg, etc). Said Timbaland, “This is the best work I’ve done in my career,” and said Cornell, “This is the most excited I’ve been about an album in years. The music is natural, not self-conscious … open.” Timbaland said he is currently mixing the album and hopes to release it within a month (!).

This is either going to be the worst rap/rock combination since Limp Bizkit and Method Man’s “N 2 together now” (confession: I liked this song when it came out. It was still 10x better than any proper Limp Bizkit songs) or the most genius collaboration since Mike Patton and Dan the Automator. Or it could just sound like an ordinary rock record… and be mostly uninteresting like Cornell’s last effort.

-VN