Chris Cornell vs. Trent Reznor

In feuding news, Trent Reznor posted on twitter that Chris Cornell's new album is embarrassing, and then Chris Cornell responded with a Jesus reference.

The fact that two men in their late 30s are using Twitter to have a fight is neither here nor there, I guess.

Links roundup

* Chris Cornell, whose Timbaland collaboration only came out Tuesday despite all the pre-Xmas hype, is on tour. Get dates here.

* You can listen to a new Oasis b-side which finally goes whole-hog with the Beatles-influence over at Spin.

* A tribute to Mike Watt's 1995 solo album Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, which featured an all-star cast of alt-rock luminaries, including Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, and Evan Dando, among others. Check the comments section for fond remembrances of the supporting tour (the Foo Fighters opened up).

*If, like me, Jimmy Eat World didn't come anywhere near you on their Clarity 10th-anniversary tour, you can live vicariously with the Clarity Live album, which is out in April in a digital-only format.

* And Lamestain has a bunch of mp3s up right now of obscure tracks from 7-inches put out by various early-'90s Seattle bands.

This week in reunions...

* Jane's Addiction (with all four original members) played a surprise set at a Mexican bar in Los Angeles last week. If you're counting, this is the second surprise reunion this year.

* Not really a reunion, since they've never officially broken up, but the Beastie Boys were working on a new album, until they took a break last week to do a Get out and Vote tour. The Boys released an instrumental album in 2007, but their last with-vocals album was 2004's To the 5 Boroughs, which I don't remember hearing much about. Now that I think about it, the last Beastie Boys single I remember hearing on the radio was either "Intergalactic" or "Body Movin," off 1998's Hello Nasty.

*So, you know how the lead singer of Alter Bridge and Mayfield Four might front Led Zeppelin for a reunion tour next year? Well, that might also lead to a Creed reunion. Yeah, I'm not that excited, either. Meanwhile, Chris Cornell is telling people that he hasn't officially been asked to front Led Zeppelin, but he might be interested if they ask. You know, just in case they ask.

Your American Idol goes '90s update

As we previously reported here, American Idol winner David Cook has been working with an all-star cast of alt-rock luminaries, including members of Collective Soul, the Nixons, and Our Lady Peace. The first single, "Light On," was co-written with Chris Cornell. The album is out in two weeks, and while the complete list of songwriting credits isn't available, we do know that one track, "Avalanche," was co-written with Kevin Griffin of Better than Ezra.

Also wanting to get in on the action is AI runner-up David Archuleta; he's got a cover of Robbie Williams' "Angels" on his album, out next week. It's a little treacly.

I have managed to ignore every American Idol alum thus far (though the missus likes Carrie Underwood, and I enjoy Butch Walker's take on "Since U Been Gone"). I might have to buy this David Cook album, though.

Chris Cornell blogs about his dreams

Chris Cornell's been blogging in the run-up to his new album Scream, and this recent entry was fascinating. Seems Cornell had a vivid dream about Layne Staley (of Alice in Chains) and Andrew Wood (of Mother Love Bone), both long-dead of heroin addictions. It's a really, really interesting little essay, and comes highly recommended.

Meanwhile, Cornell has added a Canadian tour for November (find dates here), and you can obtain a (legal) mp3 of the title track off his new album, "Scream," here.

Links roundup

* The Smashing Pumpkins are putting out a DVD (OK, interesting...) But it's a compilation of footage from an 11-night residency on their 2007 tour. (and... no longer interested).

* Simon Jones of the reunited Verve gives us a guide to Manchester. I lived in Manchester in 1998-99, right after the Verve broke up and Oasis moved to London, when the biggest musical act in town was the still-relatively-unknown Badly Drawn Boy (and maybe the Space Monkeys). It's a cool city with a truly amazing musical history, from New Order to the Smiths to the Stone Roses to James to Oasis and beyond, including great newer bands like Doves.

* Early reviews of the Chris Cornell / Timbaland collaboration are... not positive. The phrase "career suicide" is bantered around a bit.

* The L.A. Times gets into the early-'90s controversy over Juliana Hatfield's virginity (I previously discussed this here). Her memoir is finally out; you can get it here (or her new CD, How to Walk Away, here).

* And finally, check this blog out. Forgotten Treasures specializes in out-of-print '90s albums. They've got stuff I never even heard of; some of it's surprisingly great for being so obscure.

More new Chris Cornell, and David Cook's first grunge single

Here's another track from the Timbaland / Chris Cornell collaboration, "Scream":


The comments at Idolator likened it to a God Lives Underwater b-side. Now THAT's an obscure '90s reference!

And in other Chris Cornell news, David Cook's first single, "Light On," was co-written by Cornell. See if you like it better than the Cornell solo stuff here.

9/24 UPDATE: Apparently, Cornell performed with Pussycat Dolls, Timbaland, and OneRepublic on Fashion Rocks a couple of weeks ago (video on the Squib Central site). ARGH.

This week in non-reunions...

* STILL not getting back together, but now the half of the Smashing Pumpkins who aren't currently in the Smashing Pumpkins are suing their record company, because they're not being paid for digital downloads.

* And the new Chris Cornell song, produced by Timbaland. Wow. I know we're not getting a Soundgarden reunion because Matt Cameron's playing with Pearl Jam, but... wow.


* Mazzy Star are not getting back together, but Hope Sandoval has a new song written for Air France. Hear it here.

*The three people in Florida who were hoping for a Limp Bizkit reunion have had those hopes dashed. Wes Borland has joined Marilyn Manson's band.