Soundgarden Returnzzzzzzzz….

Chris Cornell tweets the news, somewhat cryptically, of a reunion underway by the grunge granddaddies.

By Fred Mills

Hey, all you laimstains! Ready for the grunge revival? Harboring a lurking suspicion that the recent Target-retailed Pearl Jam album was, like, a seriously harsh realm? It's been some time since you've been swingin' on the flippity-flop in your kickers and wack slacks. How would a Soundgarden reunion sound to you?

It's been 15 years since the release of 1994's mega-selling Superunknown, after which the band split up, in 1997. Aside from a few sorta-but-not-quite one-off deals, including a Matt Cameron-Kim Thayil-Ben Shepherd performance last March in Seattle and Chris Cornell coming onstage at a Pearl Jam gig to do Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike," there hasn't been a peep outta the S-garden camp. What there HAS been is the underperforming Audioslave, featuring Cornell fronting ¾ of Rage Against the Machine, in which guitarist Tom Morello barely got out of with his dignity intact; and a string of underwhelming Cornell solo albums, including 2009's Timbaland-produced Scream, which spawned a raft of Cornell-Timbaland-related one-liners as well as more than a few withering Trent Reznor web postings and tweets.

But at exactly 9pm on December 31, Chris Cornell himself, who has over a million Twitter followers, tweeted the following news:

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

There's not much at the Soundgarden site at the moment other than a form where you can sign up to get email updates from the band. Billboard is citing "sources" who advise that "the group is weighing offers from several major U.S. and international festivals. But a tour routing is still a work in progress, due to [drummer Matt] Cameron's prior commitments to play with Pearl Jam in the spring and summer of next year."

Billboard adds that it was at the Pearl Jam show Cornell turned up at that may have sparked the reunion, as Shepherd and Thayil were also present at the show, and the latter two have also been planning to put together a Soundgarden boxed set.

All aboard, ladies and germs, the nostalgia train is boarding. First stop: Pavementville. Score!

As a public service, we reintroduce the Lexicon Of Grunge, so bone up on it if you don't want to be a total cob nobbler.

• bloated, big bag of bloatation - drunk
• bound-and-hagged - staying home on Friday or Saturday night
• cob nobbler - loser
• dish - desirable guy
• fuzz - heavy wool sweaters
• harsh realm - bummer
• kickers - heavy boots
• lamestain - uncool person
• plats - platform shoes
• rock on - a happy goodbye
• score - great
• swingin' on the flippity-flop - hanging out
• tom-tom club - uncool outsiders
• wack slacks - old ripped jeans