Soul Asylum Is Back From the Brink : After a run of bad luck, the Minneapolis-based group is finally getting its act together.

In its 10-year career, the Minneapolis band Soul Asylum released three albums on the independent label Twin/Tone and two on A&M; before reaching a crisis point last January. Disappointed by the sales of “. . .And the Horse They Rode In On,” the band suddenly severed its ties with its longtime manager as well as A&M.;

While this was going on, singer Dave Pirner suffered a broken eardrum during a high-decibel performance, seriously endangering his future as the leader of a very loud rock band. Things got so dire, Pirner recalls, that two band members had to take day jobs to make ends meet. Pretty depressing stuff for a band once hailed by the Village Voice as “the best live band in America.”

Pirner reflected on the good aspects of last year’s run of hard luck.

“When you’re a band, you spend a lot of time thinking about if it’s the right thing to be doing with your life, or if you’re just wasting your time. . . . If it’s something you can grow up with,” he said during a phone interview from his home in Minneapolis on the eve of a U.S. tour.

“So there was this period of reckoning for us after the last album, but it was a real good thing, because it helped us get sort of rededicated to everything. We stood back and went, ‘What have we been doing for the last 10 years? Is this really what we want?’ And in the end, the answer was yes.”

The result was a new manager, a new record contract with Columbia, and, eventually, a new record, the just-released “Grave Dancers Union.” It features a number of melodic hard-rock songs--like the appealing single “Somebody to Shove” and the ballad “Runaway Train”--that should endear Soul Asylum to a whole new generation of rock fans. This album, Pirner points out, utilizes more acoustic guitar than the band has in the past, and features famed keyboardist Booker T. Jones on six tracks.

But Soul Asylum’s greatest strength is still its raucous live shows, in which the charismatic Pirner and his good-natured sidekick, guitarist Dan Murphy, create communally uplifting, joyous hard-rock fests. (The group gave a showcase at the Roxy on Thursday, and plans to return for a “regular” L.A. date in the coming months.)

If ever the time was right for Soul Asylum to expand its audience beyond its loyal cult following, this is it. Alternative rock has become a marketable item, with bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam reaping the benefits of the pioneering groundwork laid by forerunners such as Soul Asylum.

Pirner doesn’t feel bitter that other groups have succeeded in his wake. “You have to be happy for (other bands’) success,” he says. “They’re fighting the same battle we did, so it’s great to see that somebody’s making it work. Everyone who’s ever loved this type of music has always known deep down it was worth something, so it’s great that the public is finally acknowledging that.

“Besides,” he adds, “when we were ‘breaking ground,’ it wasn’t like a mission, it was just because it was so fun. It still is, and that’s all that matters.”

POP DATEBOOK

Elton John will be at the Forum on Nov. 2 and 4. Tickets go on sale today. . . . Ozzy Osbourne’s show at the Pacific Amphitheatre that had been set for Oct. 10 has been moved to Nov. 14 due to scheduling conflicts, and a second date has been added Nov. 15. Tickets for the second show go on sale Sunday. . . . On sale now is Linda Ronstadt headlining two evenings of Latin music at the Hollywood Palladium, Nov. 5 and 6. . . . On sale Sunday for the Universal Amphitheatre is Joe Satriani on Nov. 14. . . . Michelle Shocked will be at the Wiltern Theatre on Nov. 11. Tickets on sale Monday. . . . Also on sale Monday for the Wiltern are two more dates for Erasure, Nov. 28 and 29, bringing the duo’s stand there to 10 nights. . . . On sale today is Testament at the Hollywood Palladium on Nov. 27.