Temple of the Dog
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 Early shot of Temple of the Dog
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| Background information | ||
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock Grunge Hard rock |
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| Years active | 1990–1992, 2003 | |
| Label(s) | A&M | |
| Associated acts |
Green River Mother Love Bone Bad Radio Brad Mad Season Three Fish Wellwater Conspiracy Audioslave Soundgarden Pearl Jam |
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| Members | ||
| Chris Cornell Jeff Ament Stone Gossard Mike McCready Eddie Vedder Matt Cameron |
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| Temple of the Dog | ||
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| Studio album by Temple of the Dog | ||
| Released | April 16, 1991 | |
| Recorded | November-December, 1990 | |
| Genre | Grunge | |
| Length | 54:59 | |
| Label | A&M | |
| Producer(s) | Rick Parashar, Temple of the Dog | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
Temple of the Dog is a grunge supergroup formed by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and ex-members of Mother Love Bone. The group released its only album, the self-titled Temple of the Dog, in December 1990 through A&M Records [1].
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[edit] Formation
Temple of the Dog was started by Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell. After the death of his former roommate, Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, Cornell wrote two songs in tribute: "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Reach Down". Cornell approached Wood's former bandmates, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, with the intention of releasing the songs as a single. The band's lineup was completed by the addition of Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and future Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready. The band started rehearsing the songs, as well as re-working some existing material from demos written by Gossard, Ament, and Cameron. One such demo became a song for two bands, recorded as "Footsteps" for Pearl Jam and as "Times of Trouble" for Temple of the Dog. These rehearsals soon led to several new songs, and the planned single soon became a full album. The album and group became known as Temple of the Dog, after a lyric in the Mother Love Bone song, "Man of Golden Words".
Eddie Vedder, who had flown to Seattle to audition to be Pearl Jam's singer, ended up providing backing vocals. "Hunger Strike" became a duet between Cornell and Vedder. Cornell was having trouble with the vocals at practice, when Vedder stepped in. Cornell later said that "he sang half of that song not even knowing that I'd wanted the part to be there and he sang it exactly the way I was thinking about doing it, just instinctively."[citation needed]
In the summer of 1992, the album received new attention. Though the album had been released more than a year earlier, A&M Records realized that they had in their catalog what was essentially a collaboration between Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, who had both risen to mainstream attention in the months since the album's release. A&M decided to re-issue the album and promote "Hunger Strike" as a single, with the video subsequently entering heavy rotation on MTV. The attention allowed both the album and single to chart on Billboard.
While rehearsing and writing the material for the album, the band played a full show in Seattle at the Off Ramp Café on November 13, 1990. In the time since the album's release, the band reformed for short live performances on two occasions where both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were performing. In October 1991, the band performed "Hunger Strike" at the Foundations Forum showcase. In September 1992, the band performed "Hunger Strike" and "Reach Down" at the last show of that year's Lollapalooza festival in Fairfax, Virginia.
"All Night Thing" (as well as Soundgarden's "Loud Love") appeared in the 1992 film Wayne's World, though not on the soundtrack album.
At a Pearl Jam show on October 28, 2003, Chris Cornell joined them on-stage effectively re-uniting the band for renditions of "Hunger Strike" and "Reach Down". The version of "Reach Down" recorded that night later appeared on Pearl Jam's annual Ten Club Christmas Single that year. Pearl Jam has also been known to perform "Hunger Strike" live without Cornell on rare occasion.
Cornell's post-Soundgarden band, Audioslave, added "Call Me A Dog", "All Night Thing", and "Hunger Strike" to their live set in 2005.
[edit] Track listing
- "Say Hello 2 Heaven" (Cornell) – 6:22
- "Reach Down" (Cornell) – 11:11
- "Hunger Strike" (Cornell) – 4:03
- "Pushin Forward Back" (Ament/Cornell/Gossard) – 3:44
- "Call Me a Dog" (Cornell) – 5:02
- "Times of Trouble" (Cornell/Gossard) – 5:41
- "Wooden Jesus" (Cornell) – 4:09
- "Your Saviour" (Cornell) – 4:02
- "Four Walled World" (Cornell/Gossard) – 6:53
- "All Night Thing" (Cornell) – 3:52
[edit] Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Billboard 200 | 5 |
| 1992 | Heatseekers | 5 |
Singles - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "Hunger Strike" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 4 |
| 1992 | "Hunger Strike" | Modern Rock Tracks | 7 |
| 1993 | "Say Hello 2 Heaven" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 5 |
[edit] Personnel
- Jeff Ament - bass guitar
- Matt Cameron - drums, percussion
- Chris Cornell - banjo, harmonica, vocals, guitar
- Stone Gossard - rhythm guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar
- Mike McCready - lead guitars
- Rick Parashar - organ ("All Night Thing"), piano ("Call Me a Dog," "Times of Trouble," "All Night Thing"), producer
- Temple of the Dog - producer
- Eddie Vedder - backing vocals ("Pushin Forward Back," "Your Saviour," "Four Walled World"), vocals ("Hunger Strike," "Wooden Jesus")
[edit] References
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Temple of the Dog". All Music Guide. Retrieved June 13, 2005.
- Temple of the Dog interview ("he sang half...")
- Temple of the Dog history (live appearances)
[edit] External links
| Soundgarden |
| Chris Cornell | Kim Thayil | Matt Cameron | Ben Shepherd |
| Scott Sundquist | Hiro Yamamoto | Jason Everman |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums Ultramega OK | Louder than Love | Badmotorfinger | Superunknown | Down on the Upside |
| EPs: Screaming Life | Fopp | Loudest Love | Songs from the Superunknown |
| Compilations: Flower | Screaming Life/Fopp | A-Sides |
| Singles: "Hunted Down" | "Flower" | "Loud Love" | "Hands All Over" | "Room a Thousand Years Wide" | "Jesus Christ Pose" | "Outshined" | "Rusty Cage" | "Spoonman" | "Black Hole Sun" | "Fell on Black Days" | "My Wave" | "The Day I Tried to Live" | "Superunknown" | "Pretty Noose" | "Burden in My Hand" | "Blow Up the Outside World" | "Ty Cobb" | "Bleed Together" |
| Related Articles |
| Temple of the Dog | Singles | Grunge music | Audioslave | Pearl Jam | Alice Mudgarden | Hater | Wellwater Conspiracy |
| Audioslave |
| Chris Cornell | Tom Morello | Tim Commerford | Brad Wilk |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Audioslave | Out of Exile | Revelations |
| DVDs: Audioslave | Live in Cuba |
| Singles: "Cochise" | "Like a Stone" | "Show Me How To Live" | "I Am The Highway" | "What You Are" | "Be Yourself" | "Your Time Has Come" | "Doesn't Remind Me" | "Out of Exile" | "Original Fire" | "Revelations" |
| Related articles |
| Rage Against the Machine | Soundgarden | Interscope Records | Epic Records | Axis of Justice |
