''Temple of the Dog'' is the only album by the American
rock band
Temple of the Dog
Temple of the Dog was an American rock supergroup that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. It was conceived by vocalist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden as a tribute to his friend, the late Andrew Wood, lead singer of the bands Malfunkshun ...
, released on April 16, 1991, through
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
. It is a tribute to
Andrew Wood, the former lead singer of
Malfunkshun
Malfunkshun is an alternative rock band formed in 1980 by Andrew Wood and his brother Kevin Wood. The band formed around the same time as other Washington state bands such as The U-Men (1980), Melvins (1983), Green River (1984), Soundgarden ...
and
Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1988. The band was active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood's personality and lyrics helped to catapult the group to the top of the burgeoning late 1980s/ea ...
, who died on March 19, 1990, of a
heroin overdose
An opioid overdose is toxicity due to excessive consumption of opioids, such as morphine, codeine, heroin, fentanyl, tramadol, and methadone. This preventable pathology can be fatal if it leads to Hypoventilation, respiratory depression, a lethal ...
. The album has been certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
in the United States.
Background
Soundgarden frontman
Chris Cornell
Christopher John Cornell (né Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American singer and musician best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist and songwriter for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave ...
, who had been
Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1988. The band was active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood's personality and lyrics helped to catapult the group to the top of the burgeoning late 1980s/ea ...
vocalist
Andrew Wood's roommate, approached former Mother Love Bone members
Stone Gossard
Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician who serves as a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band.
...
and
Jeff Ament
Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as the bassist of the American rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder.
Prior to his wo ...
about working on material he had written when he was on tour with Soundgarden in Europe.
[Turman, Katherine. "Life Rules." '']RIP
Rest in peace (RIP), a phrase from the Latin (), is sometimes used in traditional Christian services and prayers, such as in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist denominations, to wish the soul of a decedent eternal rest and peace. ...
''. October 1991 The line-up eventually included Soundgarden drummer
Matt Cameron
Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986. He appeared on each o ...
and newcomers
Mike McCready
Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. McCready ...
(lead guitar) and
Eddie Vedder
Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...
(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
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, g ...
. The name Temple of the Dog is derived from the opening lyrics of the
Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1988. The band was active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood's personality and lyrics helped to catapult the group to the top of the burgeoning late 1980s/ea ...
song "Man of Golden Words": "Wanna show you something, like joy inside my heart. Seems I been living in the temple of the dog".
Recording
The recording sessions took place from November to December 1990 at
London Bridge Studio
London Bridge Studio is a recording studio near Seattle that has hosted and recorded many influential artists, producers and engineers since 1985. Founded by brothers Rick and Raj Parashar and now currently owned by producers Geoff Ott, Jonatha ...
s in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
, Washington. The album was recorded in only 15 days.
The group worked with producer
Rick Parashar
Rakesh "Rick" Parashar (December 13, 1963 – August 14, 2014) was an American record producer, recording engineer and musician. Along with his brother Raj, he founded London Bridge Studio in Seattle, Washington, in 1985. During his career he wo ...
, who also engineered, mixed, and played piano. Two songs on the album, "Reach Down" and "Say Hello 2 Heaven", were written in response to Wood's death, while other songs were written by Cornell on tour prior to Wood's death or re-worked from existing material from demos written by Gossard and Ament.
[Alden, Grant. "Requiem for a Heavyweight." '']Guitar World
''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...
''. July 1997
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".
Gossard described the recording process as a "non-pressure filled" situation, as there were no expectations or pressure coming from the record company.
Gossard later said it was "the easiest and most beautiful record, that we've ever been involved with".
This was the first recording studio experience for McCready and Vedder. Regarding McCready, 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."
[Weisbard, Eric, et al. "Ten Past Ten". '']Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...
''. August 2001. The song "
Hunger Strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
" became a duet between Cornell and Vedder after Cornell was having trouble with the vocals at practice and Vedder stepped in. Cornell later said: "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".
Music and lyrics
The recorded material was mostly slow and melodic; much different musically from the aggressive
metal
A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...
-influenced sound Cornell had been doing with Soundgarden. The songs bear the street-rock flavor of Mother Love Bone's music. Steve Huey of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...
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
Metallic may be a reference to:
*Metal
*Metalloid, metal-like substance
*Metallic bonding, type of chemical bonding
*Metallicity, in astronomy the proportion of elements other than helium and hydrogen in an object
*Metallic color, a color that g ...
miasma of ''
Louder Than Love
''Louder Than Love'' is the second studio album and major-label debut by American rock band Soundgarden. It was released on September 5, 1989, by A&M Records. After touring in support of their debut album, '' Ultramega OK'' (1988), Soundgarden ...
'', 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."
All of the lyrics on the album were written solely by Cornell, and he also wrote the music for all but three of the songs. "
Say Hello 2 Heaven
"Say Hello 2 Heaven" is a song by the American rock band Temple of the Dog. Written by vocalist Chris Cornell, "Say Hello 2 Heaven" was released on June 18, 1991 as the second single from the band's sole studio album, ''Temple of the Dog'' (1991). ...
" and "Reach Down" were written by Cornell in direct response to Andrew Wood's death.
Lyrically, the rest of the songs on the album cover a variety of topics. Cornell stated that the lyrics for "Hunger Strike" express "somewhat of a political,
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
statement".
Release and reception
The album was released on April 16, 1991, through
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
and initially sold 70,000
copies in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. The album received favorable reviews, but failed to chart. In the summer of 1992, the album received renewed attention. Although it 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 with their respective albums, ''
Badmotorfinger
''Badmotorfinger'' is the third studio album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on October 8, 1991, through A&M Records. Soundgarden began the recording sessions for the album with new bassist Ben Shepherd in the spring of 1991. The alb ...
'' and ''
Ten''. A&M decided to reissue the album and promote "
Hunger Strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
" as a single, with an accompanying
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...
. The attention allowed both the album and single to chart on
Billboard charts
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...
and resulted in a boost in album sales. ''Temple of the Dog'' ended up being among the 100 top-selling albums of 1992. By 2007, it had sold over 1,000,000
copies in the United States according to
Nielsen SoundScan
Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
, and it has been certified platinum by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
.
Allmusic staff writer Steve Huey gave the album four and a half out of five stars, writing: "The album's strength is its mournful, elegiac ballads, but thanks to the band's spontaneous creative energy and appropriately warm sound, it's permeated by a definite, life-affirming aura."
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' staff writer
David Fricke
David Fricke is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 years. I ...
gave ''Temple of the Dog'' four out of five stars, saying: "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."
David Browne of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' gave the album a B+ and said: "Maybe because the musicians avoid the often-labored anthems they play with their own bands, the songs sound relaxed and airy without losing any of the crunch or drive of the best arena rock." He ended by stating: "Singer Chris Cornell's lyrics remain as annoyingly oblique as they are with Soundgarden, but don't worry. Just sit back and revel in the whomping guitars of Mike McCready and Love Bone member Stone Gossard as they mesh with the imaginative pummeling of Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron—the untamed side of the much-hyped Seattle sound, in all its wailing glory."
In 2016, the album was ranked #12 in
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
's list of the "40 Greatest One-Album Wonders".
''Temple of the Dog'' included the singles "Hunger Strike", "Say Hello 2 Heaven", and "
Pushin Forward Back". "Hunger Strike", the lead single, was the most successful song from ''Temple of the Dog'' on the Billboard rock charts, reaching number four on the
Mainstream Rock chart
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...
and number seven on the
Modern Rock chart. "Say Hello 2 Heaven" also charted on the Mainstream Rock chart.
25th anniversary releases
In 2016, a new mix of the album was made by
Brendan O'Brien, and this mix was released in various formats to mark the 25th anniversary of the original release of ''Temple of the Dog''. There were single-
CD and either single- or double-
LP releases (the two-LP package containing music on three sides and an etching on the fourth) that did not add any bonus material, as well as a double-CD release that added alternative new mixes of three songs done by
Adam Kasper
Adam Kasper is an American, Seattle area record producer and engineer, with platinum and gold awards, working with such bands as Aerosmith, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, The Tragically Hip, R.E.M., Soundgarden and ...
, demos, and alternate takes of five songs from the album, and a four-disc double-CD/single-
DVD/single-
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
release that added those bonuses, as well as footage from live performances in both the 1990s and 2010s and the music video produced for "Hunger Strike".
Track listing
Personnel
;Temple of the Dog
*
Jeff Ament
Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as the bassist of the American rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder.
Prior to his wo ...
– bass guitar, art direction and design, photography
*
Matt Cameron
Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986. He appeared on each o ...
- drums, percussion
*
Chris Cornell
Christopher John Cornell (né Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American singer and musician best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist and songwriter for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave ...
– lead vocals, harmonica
(track 6), banjo
(track 7)
*
Stone Gossard
Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician who serves as a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band.
...
– rhythm guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar
*
Mike McCready
Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. McCready ...
– lead guitars
*
Eddie Vedder
Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...
– backing vocals
(tracks 4, 8, and 9) co-lead vocals
(track 3)
;Production
*Rich Frankel, Walberg Design – art direction and design
*Don Gilmore –
additional engineering
*Lance Mercer,
Josh Taft
Josh Taft is an American music video director. He has directed music videos for Alice in Chains ("Would?"), Stone Temple Pilots ("Sex Type Thing", "Plush", and " Lady Picture Show"), Nas (" The World Is Yours"), A Tribe Called Quest ("Award T ...
– photography
*
Rick Parashar
Rakesh "Rick" Parashar (December 13, 1963 – August 14, 2014) was an American record producer, recording engineer and musician. Along with his brother Raj, he founded London Bridge Studio in Seattle, Washington, in 1985. During his career he wo ...
-
production,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
(tracks 5, 6, and 10),
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
(track 10),
mastering
*Ken Perry – mastering
*Temple of the Dog – production
Chart positions
Album
Singles
Certifications
Accolades
The information regarding accolades attributed to ''Temple of the Dog'' is adapted in part from
Acclaimed Music
Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, decade ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple Of The Dog (Album)
1991 debut albums
A&M Records albums
Temple of the Dog albums
Albums produced by Rick Parashar
Albums produced by Jeff Ament
Albums produced by Stone Gossard
Albums produced by Matt Cameron
Albums produced by Mike McCready
Albums produced by Eddie Vedder
Albums produced by Chris Cornell