Retro Video of the Week: "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog

Last Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the release of Temple of the Dog's only album, their self-titled release.  It was a bittersweet album, as it was a tribute to the late Andrew Wood, who had been the frontman of Seattle grunge band Mother Love Bone.  Wood died of a heroin overdose in March 1990.

Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell was Wood's former roommate, and Cornell approached former Mother Love Bone guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament about doing an album in honor of Wood.  They recruited Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and then-unknown singer Eddie Vedder and guitarist Mike McCready.  At the time, the latter two were working with Ament and Gossard in what would become Pearl Jam.  The grunge supergroup chose the name Temple of the Dog from one of Wood's lyrics to a Mother Love Bone song.

They recorded the album in late 1990, and it was Vedder and McCready's first time recording music.  The result ended up being a beautiful grunge tribute to Wood that eventually went platinum in the U.S.

The Cornell-penned song "Hunger Strike" is, in my opinion, the brightest shining star on the album, and it's one of my favorite songs from the '90s.  The album was reissued in 1992, and "Hunger Strike" was released as a single that year as well (and the video was released), after Pearl Jam had hit it big with their debut album Ten and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger was doing well too.  The album reached #5 on the Billboard album chart in 1992, and "Hunger Strike" went to #4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks chart and #7 on the Billboard Alternative Rock tracks chart.

The interplay between Cornell's soaring voice and Vedder's deeper baritone on "Hunger Strike" still gives me chills, perhaps even more since Cornell committed suicide a few years ago.  What an amazing song, especially that last part where Cornell just explodes and shows the world that he had one of the best voices in rock history.