Temple of the Dog (album)

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Temple of the Dog
Temple of the Dog cover
Studio album by Temple of the Dog
Released April 16, 1991
Recorded November 1990–December 1990
Genre Grunge
Length 54:59
Label A&M
Producer Rick Parashar, Temple of the Dog
Professional reviews
Singles from Temple of the Dog
  1. "Hunger Strike"
    Released: 1991
  2. "Say Hello 2 Heaven"
    Released: 1991
  3. "Pushin Forward Back"
    Released: 1991

Temple of the Dog is the only album released by grunge supergroup Temple of the Dog. It was released on April 16, 1991 through A&M Records. The album is a tribute to Andrew Wood, the former lead singer of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Wood died on March 19, 1990 of a heroin overdose. The album has been certified Platinum in the United States.

Contents

[edit] Background

Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, who had been Andrew Wood's roommate, approached former Mother Love Bone members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament about working on material he had written. The line-up eventually included Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and newcomers Mike McCready (lead guitar) and Eddie Vedder (background vocals). McCready and Vedder were featured on the album due to their involvement with Ament and Gossard's next project, which became Pearl Jam.

[edit] Recording

The recording sessions took place from November 1990 to December 1990. The album was recorded in only 15 days.[1] The group worked with producer Rick Parashar. Two songs on the album, "Reach Down" and "Say Hello 2 Heaven", were written in response to Wood's death, while other songs on the album were written by Cornell on tour previous to Wood's death or re-worked from existing material from demos written by Gossard and Ament.[2] Ament described the collaboration as "a really good thing at the time" for him and Gossard that put them into a "band situation where we could play and make music".[3] Gossard described the recording process as a "non-pressure filled" situation, as there were no expectations or pressure coming from the record company.[3] Gossard later said it was "the easiest and most beautiful record, that we've ever been involved with."[4]

This was the first recording studio experience for Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder. Regarding Mike McCready, Chris Cornell said, "You almost kind of had to yell at him to get him to realize that in the five-and-a-half minute solo of "Reach Down", that was his time and that he wasn't going to be stepping on anybody else."[5] The song "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."[3]

[edit] Music and lyrics

Audio samples of Temple of the Dog
  • "Hunger Strike"
    Sample of "Hunger Strike", the first single released from Temple of the Dog. The song was written by frontman Chris Cornell and features a duet between Cornell and vocalist Eddie Vedder.
  • Problems playing the files? See media help.

The recorded material was slow and melodic; much different musically from the aggressive rock music Chris Cornell had been doing with Soundgarden. Steve Huey of All Music Guide said that the "record sounds like a bridge between Mother Love Bone's theatrical '70s-rock updates and Pearl Jam's hard-rocking seriousness...Keeping in mind that Soundgarden's previous album was the overblown metallic miasma of Louder than Love, the accessibly warm, relatively clean sound of Temple of the Dog is somewhat shocking, and its mellower moments are minor revelations in terms of Cornell's songwriting abilities."[6]

All of the lyrics on the album were written solely by Cornell. "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Reach Down" were written by Cornell in direct response to Andrew Wood's death.[1] Lyrically, the rest of the songs on the album cover a variety of topics.

[edit] Release and reception

Temple of the Dog was released on April 16, 1991 through A&M Records and initially sold 70,000 copies in the United States. The album received favorable reviews,[7] but failed to chart. The album received new attention in the summer of 1992. Both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam had risen to mainstream attention in the months since the album's release and A&M decided to re-issue the album and promote "Hunger Strike" as a single, with an accompanying music video. The attention allowed both the album and single to chart on Billboard, and resulted in a boost in album sales.[8] Temple of the Dog ended up selling more than a million copies, achieving Platinum status.[9]

David Fricke of Rolling Stone said, "For "Hunger Strike" and "Reach Down" alone, Temple of the Dog deserves immortality; those songs are proof that the angst that defined Seattle rock in the 1990s was not cheap sentiment, at least in the beginning. And you can't help but love the irony of an album, made in great sadness, kick-starting the last great pop mutiny of the twentieth century."[10]

Temple of the Dog included the singles "Hunger Strike", "Say Hello 2 Heaven", and "Pushin Forward Back". "Hunger Strike" was the most successful song from Temple of the Dog on the rock charts, reaching number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts and number seven on the Billboard Modern Rock charts. "Say Hello 2 Heaven" also charted on the Mainstream Rock charts.

[edit] Imagery and design

The name "Temple of the Dog" comes from the lyrics of the Mother Love Bone song, "Man of Golden Words".[1] The lyric from which the name derives is "Seems I've been living in the temple of the dog".

[edit] Accolades

The information regarding accolades attributed to Temple of the Dog is adapted in part from AcclaimedMusic.net.[11]

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Kerrang! United Kingdom "100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die"[12] 1998 58
Rolling Stone Germany "The 500 Best Albums of All Time"[13] 2004 474
Visions Germany "The Most Important Albums of the 90s"[14] 1999 10

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Chris Cornell, except where noted:

  1. "Say Hello 2 Heaven" – 6:22
  2. "Reach Down" – 11:11
  3. "Hunger Strike" – 4:03
  4. "Pushin Forward Back" (Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Cornell) – 3:44
  5. "Call Me a Dog" – 5:02
  6. "Times of Trouble" (Gossard, Cornell) – 5:41
  7. "Wooden Jesus" – 4:09
  8. "Your Saviour" – 4:02
  9. "Four Walled World" (Gossard, Cornell) – 6:53
  10. "All Night Thing" – 3:52

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Chart positions

Information taken from various sources.[15][16][17]

Album
Year Chart Position
1992 US Billboard 200 5
Top Heatseekers 5
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1992 "Hunger Strike" US Mainstream Rock Tracks 4
US Modern Rock Tracks 7
UK Singles Chart 51
1993 "Say Hello 2 Heaven" US Mainstream Rock Tracks 5

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Turman, Katherine. "Life Rules." Rip Magazine. October 1991
  2. ^ Alden, Grant. "Requiem for a Heavyweight." Guitar World. July 1997
  3. ^ a b c Nicholls, Justin (1991-04-14). KISW 99.9 FM: Seattle, Radio Interview by Damon Stewart in The New Music Hour with Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard. Fivehorizons.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  4. ^ "Interview with Stone Gossard and Mike McCready". Total Guitar. November 2002.
  5. ^ Weisbard, Eric, et al. "Ten Past Ten". Spin. August 2001.
  6. ^ Huey, Steve. "Temple of the Dog". All Music Guide.
  7. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. ((( Temple of the Dog > Biography ))). All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  8. ^ "In the Temple of Pearlgarden". Entertainment Weekly. July 31, 1992.
  9. ^ Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Search Results - Temple of the Dog. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  10. ^ Fricke, David. "Temple of the Dog: Temple of the Dog". Rolling Stone. December 14, 2000.
  11. ^ Temple of the Dog accolades. Acclaimed Music. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
  12. ^ 100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Kerrang!. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
  13. ^ The 500 Best Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
  14. ^ The Most Important Albums of the 90s. Visions. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
  15. ^ Temple of the Dog Chart History: Albums. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  16. ^ Temple of the Dog Chart History: Singles. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  17. ^ UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive - Temple of the Dog. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.