Everything about Temple Of The Dog totally explained
Temple of the Dog was an
American rock band that formed in 1990. It was conceived by
Chris Cornell of
Soundgarden as a tribute to his friend, the late
Andrew Wood, lead singer of
Malfunkshun and
Mother Love Bone. The line-up included
Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar,
Jeff Ament on bass guitar (both ex-members of Mother Love Bone),
Mike McCready on lead guitar,
Matt Cameron on drums and
Eddie Vedder, providing backing vocals.
The band released its only album, the self-titled
Temple of the Dog, in April 1991 through
A&M Records. Although earning praise from music critics at the time of its release, the album wasn't widely recognized until 1992, when Vedder, Ament, Gossard and McCready had their commercial breakthrough with
Pearl Jam.
History
Temple of the Dog was started by
Soundgarden singer
Chris Cornell, who was a roommate of
Andrew Wood, the lead singer of
Malfunkshun and
Mother Love Bone. Wood died on
March 19,
1990 of a
heroin overdose, the day Cornell got back from a tour. As he went on to tour Europe a few days later, he started writing songs in tribute to his late friend. That is why Cornell approached Wood's former bandmates,
Stone Gossard and
Jeff Ament—who were still figuring out how to continue without Mother Love Bone—with the intention of releasing the songs as a single. One such demo became a song for two bands; recorded as "
Footsteps" for Vedder's and Gossard's future band, Pearl Jam and as "Times of Trouble" for Temple of the Dog. The idea of doing covers of Wood's solo material also came up, but was abandoned quickly, as they realised it would make people (including Wood's close friends and relatives "
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." but failed to chart. Contemporary critic Steve Huey, from
All Music Guide, rated it with four and a half stars out of five, while
David Fricke from
Rolling Stone wrote—in retrospective—that it "deserves immortality". The band members were pleased with the material, as it achieved its purpose; Cornell believed that "Andy really would have liked" the songs,
In a recent interview with
Ultimate Guitar Archive, Cornell stated he'd be open for a Temple of the Dog reunion, or "some collaboration with any combination of those guys". In the time since the album's release, the band reformed for short live performances on four occasions where both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were performing. They performed "Hunger Strike" on
October 3,
1991 at the Foundations Forum in
Los Angeles (Temple of the Dog played after secret headlining act
Spinal Tap); and "Hunger Strike" on both
August 14,
1992 in
Reston,
Virginia and
September 13,
1992 in
Irvine,
California (both shows were part of the
Lollapalooza festival series in 1992). They also played "Reach Down" on the latter occasion. 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 occasions.
Cornell's post-Soundgarden band,
Audioslave, added "Call Me A Dog", "All Night Thing", and "Hunger Strike" to its live set in 2005. Additionally, Cornell added the aforementioned songs, "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Pushin Forward Back" to his solo live set in 2007.
Discography
Albums
Singles
"Hunger Strike", A&M (1991)
"Say Hello 2 Heaven" (Promo), A&M (1991)
"Pushin Forward Back" (Promo), A&M (1991)
Notes and references
Further Information
Get more info on 'Temple Of The Dog'.
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