After 13 years, Soundgarden releases its first new album... through Guitar Hero

'90s rock band Soundgarden has become the firstgroup to release a new album exclusively as downloadable contentfor Guitar Hero. And because of the game's extreme number of units sold, the album is already declared a platinum seller even though the actual CD won't be released until next week.

When Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock was released, dozens of classic rock albums made their way to digital form for the first time. But Soundgarden's Telephantasm had never beenreleased as an album in the first place. It contains a bunch of Soundgarden's favorite hits as well as some never-before-released studio cuts.


Above: Recognize these guys? If not, they want to make sure you notice them in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

The Associated Pressrefers to this as the first time a full album from a band has ever beenreleased in a musicvideogame before being released in stores anddigital download services.

The great thing about Guitar Hero is that so many people are introduced to bands they would never seek out otherwise. For a band like Soundgarden, that certainly has its appeal. After all, as many fans as it still has from its heyday, the younger crowd probably would never give the band a second look. That is, until they see them as they scroll through a Guitar Hero set list.

Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell affirmed that fact in an interview with the AP, saying,"In the obvious way, it's going to reach a certain amount of younger people that either may or may not know about Soundgarden. No matter what, I feel like releasing it this way is going to reach a lot of people who have not heard our music or have not heard a lot of it."

Cornell, by the way, is now 46-years-old. They really need to start putting in then-and-now pictures of these rockers. Or better yet - a mini-game that tests whether you can identify once-hot rock stars from current photos. But maybe that's just us...

Oct 1, 2010



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