bin laden resurfaces in popular rock band
SEATTLE, WA—The rock-music and military-intelligence worlds are both abuzz this week with news that fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden has teamed with former members of grunge supergroup Soundgarden to form an even-more-super supergroup called Soundladen.
"I'd describe our sound as a killer combo of Eastern mysticism and kick-ass, in-your-face rock 'n' roll," Soundladen lead singer Chris Cornell explains in a halting, yo-dude kind of accent. "Osama's guitar playing shows a restraint and tasteful phrasing you wouldn't expect from such a notorious figure, but notoriety is really what rock 'n' roll is all about. He's just another black sheep just like all of us are deep down, man."
Rock critics are already heaping praise on Soundladen's debut CD, There's a Hummus Among Us, on which Osama delivers a heart-rending guest vocal on a cover of "Choices" by George Jones. They're already tossing around the word "Grammy" for bin Laden's tear-jerking admission that he's made some awful mistakes in his life. It's bin Laden's only vocal on the CD—for the rest of the album he delivers a torrent of searing Middle Eastern hot licks on his Rickenbacker guitar, drawing numerous comparisons to Clapton and that guy in the White Stripes.
"I was wrong about the West," bin Laden says warmly while changing a guitar string. "Western culture has allowed me to reinvent myself as an alternative musician. While I love the Islamic world, it never allows you to reinvent yourself—you're just kind of invented once, and that's it. But now I've been reinvented, and I'm READY TO ROCK!"
