Grunge/Metal band Soundgarden came out of a 12 year hiatus last year to play a headline slot on Lollapolooza, and then a few months later announce a new album would be on the way. According to frontman Chris Cornell, it all happened because of a poorly worded tweet..
On new year’s day 2010 Cornell sent their fanbase in to a complete frenzy after tweeting “The 12 year break is over and school is back in session” … “To learn more, sign up now. Knights of the soundtable ride again! soundgardenworld.com”. The tweet almost directly implying that the band would finally make their return in 2010.
However.
The band were actually just trying to launch their new website: “We had neglected our legacy and our fans, so we were just starting the fan club up again,” says guitarist Kim Thayil.
Cornell said the same last year: “[There was a] concern about protecting the band’s legacy. There was no catalogue promotion, no Soundgarden website. So we got back together to have a discussion about serving the fanbase and it felt really great.”
The tweets generated so much hype, and with the band getting constant phone calls to play shows, they thought it might be fun to play the Lollapalooza show and eventually talk about some new material. You can’t under estimate the power of a bands fanbase.
