Revisiting that dirty kitchen sink

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• Cincinnati
• Rocky Balboa
• Mr. T
• Bjorn Again
• Metal and Hardcore

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A reader from Cincinnati writes: "Gnome, is it time for the Grunge Revival yet?" No, you sick bastard. But the natives sure are getting restless. Even Daniel House, the Rocky Balboa of indie-label owners, has roused himself from the mat to come out swingin' with two new discs and a promise that C/Z is still in the ring. Somewhere Mr. T is shaking his head in disbelief (unless he's dead—does anyone know?). House has some co-conspirators. One of C/Z's releases is a new album from the disinterred Love Battery, Confusion Au Go Go. Nice title. How 1994. At any rate, the disc's got a few keepers, but it smells like, well, you know.

The Gnome's not much of a Hellacopters fan (I prefer old Sub Pop rock, like the Murder City Devils). So it took the bottomless Sub Pop expense account to coax me into the Showbox last Thursday for Sweden's most hyped export since Bjorn Again. You didn't hear it here first, but you'll hear it again: The Emperor is not only butt-rockin'—he's butt-naked! Contrary to whatever your former-Huggy Bearfan-currently-sporting-LA Gunsstyle-eyeliner-and-bandanna roommate says, the Hellacopters are not the second coming. They're not even the third, fourth, or fifth.

These Swedish fish could take a few lessons from Zen Guerrilla, who had all the Heshers' heads spinning. Fights broke out. Librarians took off their glasses. The Gnome especially likes the way the singer looks like Slash, sporting cheap sunglasses, an embryonic gut, and visible boxer line. The memory is enough to occupy me till that long-overdue Alice in Chains boxed set finally arrives on the Sam Goody shelves.

Speaking of signs of the apocalypse: Check this little item from allstar, the online music news site that's oddly obsessed with Seattle gossip (or "natter," as the Canucks say). I couldn't really put it better myself, so I'll just quote 'em: "Ex-Soundgarden singer (and probably the hottest man in rock) Chris Cornell tells Kerrang!, as reported in New Musical Express . . . that there is a chance the famed Seattle band could get back together." Sounds like a sure thing.

On the upside, maybe the Weekly will cover That Grunge Movement this time around. You betcha!

You can reach the Metro Gnome at metrognome@seattleweekly.com.