If you didn't see this coming, you aren't paying attention.
The Temple of the Dog self-titled debut album, their only release, was issues in April of 1991, a project featuring what would end up becoming Pearl Jam along with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. It would remain largely unnoticed until 1992, when Pearl Jam hit it big and their whole story, including how Eddie Vedder joined them, came to light.
So, you could consider this to be Pearl Jam's debut album.
This was their best known song, written by Chris Cornell.
I do, however, want to paint a picture for you.
Here's this gas station attendant from San Diego who happens to be a basketball buddy of a Red Hot Chili Pepper, who was recommended for this project by said Chili Pepper, just walking into a studio with some giants of grunge who knew each other pretty well. Yes, at this point, Chris Cornell was well known. Soundgarden was a hit band. Mother Love Bone was iconic.
This gas station attendant steps up to the mic and turns this song into a duet, which he was unaware Cornell was already looking to do, and constructed the duet you see here, and cemented his own career.
None of this matters if A&M Records don't wake up and see they have a collaboration between two of their biggest hit bands a year after this album's release. None of this matters if this isn't an instant classic of a song.
The song and album were reissued in 2016, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the initial release. A new video for this song was released, compiled from old footage of Cornell and Vedder.
No comments:
Post a Comment