On April 16, 1991, the one-off supergroup Temple of the Dog released its self-titled album, a memorial to former Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood. MLB disbanded months before they were scheduled to debut, after Wood’s fatal overdose in March 1990.
With prompting from Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, Temple of the Dog was born. The group consisted of Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, formerly of MLB, whom Cornell approached about the concept. Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron joined, as did Mike McCready, while Eddie Vedder fell into it almost accidentally while auditioning for Pearl Jam.
Temple of the Dog Created the ‘Easiest and Most Beautiful’ Album With No Pressure From Record Execs
Cornell, Gossard, Ament, Cameron, McCready, and Vedder were already in each other’s orbits in varying degrees. Whether as current bandmates, childhood friends, neighbors, or collaborators. Andrew Wood was the through-line that initially brought Temple of the Dog together. Meanwhile, the album worked so well because there were no expectations.
When Temple of the Dog was released in April 1991, it was a masterclass in what could happen when artists were free from record-label pressure. They recorded in roughly 15 days, and the album included two songs that were direct responses to Wood’s death. Other tracks Cornell wrote while on tour with Soundgarden that didn’t fit his band’s style. Additionally, some were existing demos by Gossard and Ament.
In Stone Gossard’s words, the recording process was “just so non-pressure filled, nobody expected this to be anything.” At first, the album was pitched as a tribute to Andrew Wood, which it still was, in part. But it eventually became an excuse to collaborate for the sake of collaborating.
“It sort of at first was this requiem thing, but it ended up just sort of being ‘Let’s make a record,’” said Chris Cornell in an April 1991 radio interview alongside Gossard and Jeff Ament. The project also became a good way for the former Mother Love Bone members to figure out their future.
Temple of the Dog’s one and only album remains a staple of the grunge genre to this day
“It was a really good thing at the time for us too, because Stone and I were still trying to figure out what the hell we were doing,” said Ament. “It kind of put us in a band situation where we could play and make music, and I think in some ways it was so much fun that we didn’t want to stop.”
In 2001, Spin published an oral history of Pearl Jam a decade on from their album Ten. Of course, a timeline of Pearl Jam wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Temple of the Dog. Gossard said at the time that he still listened to their album and marveled at what they had made.
“I still listen to it and think that it’s the best thing I’ve ever been involved with,” he said. “Whatever that combination of people was, I’d never been in a situation where it was that easy. I’ve almost been looking for that ever since.”
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