BIOGRAPHY – Temple of the Dog

Although their life was short-lived Temple of the Dog gained a considerable amount of respect within the music industry, primarily due to the modest success of their single Hunger Strike in 1991. Comprised of members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, the group were first formed in mid-1990 by singer/songwriter Chris Cornell, who had made a stir on the alternative scene the previous year with Soundgarden‘s breakthrough album Louder Than Love. At the time Cornell shared a room with Andrew Wood, frontman of Seattle-based Mother Love Bone, but Wood’s death at the age of twenty-four from a heroin overdose on March 19th would have a deep impact on Cornell, who began writing songs as a tribute to his late friend.

Taking a departure from his usual style Cornell pitched the tracks to Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, founding members of Mother Love Bone (whose sole album, Apple, would be released that July), and suggested a collaboration in memory of Wood. With the addition of guitarist Mike McCready and Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron the group became Temple of the Dog, taking their name from a passage of a Mother Love Bone track, Man of Golden Words (“Seems I’ve been living in the temple of the dig where I would live, if I were a man of golden words?”). Backing vocals, meanwhile, would be provided by Eddie Vedder, who would later front Pearl Jam, the band consisting of surviving members of Mother Love Bone.

The stand out track from their eponymous album would be Hunger Strike, which was released on 7″ vinyl as a picture disc, whilst album track All Night Thing would be included as the B-side (the 12″ would also feature Your Saviour). Recorded at London Bridge Studios in Seattle, the album was produced by Rick Parashar, who would also work on Pearl Jam‘s debut Ten, Alice in Chains‘ Sap and Blind Melon‘s self-titled debut. But the band soon came to an abrupt end when Soundgarden commenced work on their next album, Badmotorfinger, whilst Pearl Jam returned to the studio to record their sophomore effort, Vs.