Soundgarden

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For the first time since forming 27 years ago, Soundgarden will be releasing an album of live cuts. Titled Live on I-5, a reference to Interstate 5, which bisects Seattle and runs all the way down to SoCal, the compilation contains material from their incendiary 1996 West Coast tour. The band had originally hoped to release the album in 1997, but instead, bowing from internal and external pressures, they broke up. The quartet had rented a mobile studio, hired touring engineer Adam Kasper, and recorded the West Coast gigs on 2" analog tape. Now, almost 15 years later, on March 22, 2011, the 17 tracks will be “unleashed.” The grunge pioneers reformed in 2010, released the CD/DVD compilation Telephantasm, featuring singles, album cuts, live material and the previously unavailable "Black Rain,” and completely killed as they headlined Lollapalooza in Chicago last summer. Check out some HD video here. Rumors of an impending reissue of rare B-sides continue to circulate. Members of the band have other commitments – drummer Matt Cameron has been in Pearl Jam for 12 years, singer Chris Cornell moonlighted with Audioslave and solo projects, as did bassist Ben Shepherd – but guitarist Kim Thayil told Blabbermouth, "definitely this is the thing that we're most excited about." -Court

Soundgarden have been awarded a platinum record by the RIAA before their new greatest hits compilation Telephantasm has even hit stores. Why? Because Guitar Hero makers Activision have bought a million copies to bundle with their new video game, Warriors of Rock. A platinum record is hard to achieve these days; only a handful of albums released in 2010 so far have got there. But with CD sales falling while music-based video games are more popular than ever, it seems inevitable that makers of both will look for more crossover between the two formats. "These 1 million units," according to a blog post on the RIAA's official site, "[were] purchased by Activision, are non-returnable and represent official sales of the album... with royalties going to the band and its label for these sales." But does this platinum award distort the meaning of the prize? A platinum award for a million sales is supposed to represent one million fans who've bought the music release, not a single games company that expects to sell a million copies of a video game. Some Warriors of Rock buyers may never listen to the CD, and won't consider that they've "bought" it. Nielsen SoundScan, who track sales for the Billboard charts, decided not to count these million "sales," so Telephantasm won't be fast-tracked to No.1.

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