Temple of The Dog - 1991

Ahhhh, the dawn of the 90's supergroup.  There were a bunch of 'em.  Slash's Snakepit, The Firm, The Foo Fighters, Perfect Circle, and the source of today's pick, Temple of The Dog.

Let me preface today's Vinyl Monday pick with something.  The only reason this is even a pick has more to do with me liking music and or things influential to it.  Generally everything I own on vinyl, I do so because it's perfection is truly only enjoyable on master recorded piece of wax.  Guilty pleasures aside, there are even some that are so important and presented so well that even if it's not the greatest recording, it's certainly an important one.  Certainly important enough to own on a medium that will hold up to the test of time.  All that said, let's get going back to Seattle.

Is it me or is there a sudden resurgence in 90's nostalgia as of late?  If for no other reason than this being 2015, one would think that we would be longing for all the things promised in Back To The Future.  Sure enough though, there are things buzzing about in the musical world lately.  Last week I covered 90's creation Sleater-Kinney and their 2015 release.  This week, another Seattle upstart that for intents and purposes birthed 90's grunge. In 1991 Temple of The Dog's self titled release, Temple of The Dog brought together Chris Cornell, (Far and away the greatest rock singer of his generation and I'll defend that to my death.) of Soundgarden, Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, Members of Mother Love Bone, and others.  They came together in tribute of their friend and the death Andrew Wood who was the lead singer of both Mother Love Bone and Malfunkshun.  

If you've ever listened to it, you could easily say that their sound was definitely more Pearl Jam than Soundgarden.  A lot of that I'm sure had do with the with formation of Pearl Jam later that year.  Listen to their debut, Ten and you'll hear what I'm talking about.  Soundgarden that that point, while they've been around for the better part of the previous 15 years was really just coming into their own too.  Meaning, that alternative rock finally had a platform.  Temple of The Dog was released in the early spring of 1991 and while it was never a chart burner, it certainly lit a fire under a bunch of musicians to create some rather impressive stuff that we now know as the grunge generation.    

Unfortunately, 1991 was also the year of Mariah Carey and therefore nobody was really winning anything.  Hell, even MC Hammer, and Michael Jackson couldn't get much going.  We're also talking about a year that Sinead O'connor won a Grammy for best alternative album.  In an overall disappointing year in music, it's great that the cream can rise to the top and create something that will speak to and for a new generation of fans.  Temple of the dog went platinum in 2 countries and to this day, the group does still pop out every not and again.  

Hunger Strike

Songs of note, Hunger Strike, obviously, Say Hello 2 Heaven, and Pushin Forward Back.  If you ever wanted to know why you loved alternative music so much in your high school and college days, you better start here.  I've never played the album pictured above, as it's the re-issue pressed on 180 gram and deserves only a great turntable.  One that I really need to invest in soon.  Music On Vinyl released this in October of 2013, and you can find it any any good record store.  If you pay more than $30 for it, you're fucking up.  Next week, Mr. Whatever.