Sub Pop to Reissue First Soundgarden Single on Record Store Day

Thank you Soundgarden for sending us a tasty lead story for the first March '10 Word On the Street! The band sent an e-mail yesterday saying they are teaming up with Sub Pop for the first time in, golly, 20 years or so, to reissue the first single produced by either entity. A limited edition release of "Hunted Down"/Nothing To Say" on orange vinyl will be released on Record Store Day, April 17. The original single was released in 1987 and is currently available for a mere $500 at your friendly eBay dealer. But wait, there's more! Our Soundgarden pals also offered up a free download of a live 1996 performance of "Spoonman," recorded in San Diego. They added this comment, sure to fuel a whole 'nother batch of speculation: "On this '96 tour we recorded all of the shows (on 2-inch tape) from the West Coast run, to one day release as a live album. We never got around to mixing those shows until recently and we were surprised how crazy cool it all is!"

Download "Spoonman" (Live in San Diego)

A Mother Love Bone Moment?

Speaking of the good ol' days, we have to wonder if something very special might happen on April 14 when Brad and Satchel take the stage at the Showbox Market. Granted, a Brad reunion show is a pretty major event in itself, and having Satchel onboard ups the ante considerably. But, consider the special guests slated to appear: Jeff Ament, Bruce Fairweather, and Greg Gilmore. Add Brad guitarist Stone Gossard to the mix, and what do you get? Well, you get all of the surviving members of MLB in the same place, on the same night. And, if you were at Sunday's Hootenanny for Haiti at the Showbox, you'd know that Gossard, Brad singer Shawn Smith, Duff McKagen, Mike McCready, and Matt Cameron performed a spine-tingling version of MLB's "Crown of Thorns." Tickets go on sale March 5... and we think you might wanna check it out!

Ten(!) Unreleased Stones Songs On New Exile Reissue

There are reissues and then there are REISSUES! The upcoming shiny new version of Exile On Main Street is firmly in the all caps category.  Ten unreleased Stones songs recorded between 1969 and 1971 will be on the re-do, including unheard cuts "Plundered My Soul," "Dancing In the Light," "Following the River" and "Pass the Wine." Alternate versions of "Loving Cup" and "Soul Survivor" are also included. The tracks came to light after Universal Music Group asked Mick Jagger to search for bonus tracks for the release. Although Jagger thought there was nothing left from the time period, he dug into his archives and found Stone solid gold. He and Keith Richards then went into the studio and added some percussion and guitar bits, and Jagger rewrote and recut lyrics for one of the songs, but for the most part, they left them alone. As Richards told Rolling Stone magazine, "I didn't want to interfere with the Bible, you know." The remastered version of Exile will hit the shelves on May 18. A deluxe version will include a DVD documentary of the recording of the album titled Stones In Exile, which also features footage from the infamous Cocksucker Blues. Also included in the deluxe version is the original version on vinyl and a 50-page photo book. 

Garage Days Revisited: Listen to the Earliest Known Metallica Recordings!

Speaking of gold-digging, a rare slab of some serious heavy has been unearthed...a 1982 cassette recording of Metallica performing "Hit The Lights," "Jump In the Fire," Diamond Head's "Sucking My Love" and others in their former bassist's garage. At the time of the recording, Dave Mustaine was the band's sole guitarist and James Hetfield was the dude out front swinging the mic around. Bassist/garage-keeper Ron McGovney would soon be replaced by Cliff Burton. Meanwhile, back in the future, The Big Four tour, featuring Metallica, Megadeth (w/Mustaine), Slayer and Anthrax will commence in Warsaw, Poland and Prague, Czech Republic on June 16 and 19, 2010 with a few more of the festival dates still in the works.

Metallica "Hit The Lights" 1982 Practice

Metallica "Sucking My Love" 1982 Practice