Seattle’s Secret Supergroup: Remembering Temple of the Dog

G-e-e-e-e-e-n-a

you sound like eddie vedder eddie vedder chris cornell all the pearl jam boys

um temple of the dog like a party isn't it yes it's um i have to say this album um i i always

know about this album but it wasn't an album i listen to very regularly same oh we're rithology

by the way rithology yeah you're neil i'm chris yeah rithology this used to be called monster shop

now rithology loads more listeners america now america like us yeah i don't know it must be

trump he did it no i'm sorry if you don't like trump or if you do i don't know i don't know

what's going on in the world if you know what's going on in the world right and tell us because

we haven't got a clue um we do albums yeah every every week every week and we've only had in my

knowledge yeah two weeks where we haven't because we've been poorly been sick yeah and we're old men

now so we're allowed to be a bit poorly yeah which is fine um but so every monday uh yeah see

we're doing really well this is great we've never done this before we normally there's 10 minutes of

rambling before we even get this stuff in is what did we do last week we did uh we did audio slave

we did audio slave with the chris cornell yeah and lindsey wrote in to tell us you should do temple

of the dog yes yeah yeah and we spoke about this at the end of last week as well we did so if you

want to hear the story of this yes continuity yes end of last week's show and then but anyway lindsey

do temple of the dog and i thought yeah that's dead good yeah and then it hit me i probably not listened

to it for like 10 years i you know i've never listened to this album in full really never not

until this week wow until we said i've like i've there's songs that i like there's you know my

favorite i think is reach down there's there's also we'll talk about that a bit um there's all

sorts of cool stuff on it i like it how it feels like it's a big jam with singing on it that's my

favorite thing about it yeah yeah it's got it's it's a proper weird album it's got it like it's got

that it's got that feel to it um produced by the band pretty much it's got in i think i love the

the production of this it's got a lovely sound to it um it's an album that sounds really good on

speak you know we talk we quite often talk about headphone albums this is a really i think this is

a really great album yes a rock and roll it's kind of a must have pushed them out yes rock album it

sounds sounds great on speakers i think this one does um i i love the story behind this now this is

where i have to stop you straight away oh go on i'm not very clear you know i'm not very good at time

yeah this i'm not i can't understand the timeline of where this happened

so this this was 90 1990 it came from essentially the band are like um it's mother love bone

essentially with chris cornell but i didn't know if it was like see this is the thing like where was

where does it fit like with the bands because i thought it was before everything and then in one

of the interviews it said no no no this is like after sound garden come off tour yeah and this thing

happens sound garden wood touring yeah um but then you have to bear in mind that like and then there's

mother love bone and then that's another and then there's temp i don't i don't then there's a sound

garden and then pearl jam and then so they're all the same sort of seattle thing aren't they they are

yeah i think that's it they're just all mates weren't they yeah so so temple of the dog came out of

mother love bone essentially and their singer andrew wood died he was a roommate of chris cornell

when sound garden got off tour actually um the last time when they went out for odd and love they got

off tour and it was right after andy had died and um and chris had written a couple songs about andy

and and played them for me and jeff and said you know if you guys want to you know help get together

and record these songs with me it'd be great i think in that sense i think we're more proud of it than

anything because it was like no pressure and we just went in and we just did it and we didn't like

think about it too much and we left a lot of stuff really just kind of the way it was and it's pretty

jammy and and it's a record that it's just a great record right he died of a heroin overdose and

cornell was out on tour with sound garden and was just a little bit sad and a bit you know i'm a bit

bit annoyed about this time sound garden weren't dead massive were they no no no nothing none of

them were big yeah yeah but i mean like they weren't like no no no they weren't yeah yeah mega mega big

and that's interesting because it impacts this album okay yeah so um so it all came from andrew wood

um so he passed chris was out on tour he wrote some songs uh then came back and showed them to the

almost like a grief thing yeah to the mother love bone guys right um and then the mother love bone

guys yeah were basically pearl jam eventually yeah come become become yeah i guess you know seeing this

band might help somebody feel differently about it or maybe you know more uplifted about it if they were

if they were uh upset about how mother love bone ended but personally i i look at pearl jam as being

like a real uh inspiring force musically so um i think other people will probably do the same you know

i think for everyone that had to experience the tragedy everybody has turned around to experience uh

something really inspirational things like this have to happen so as a group people can focus and be

together and be strong as one and and i think that's happening without conventions like this i

think i think that's happening at the shows so they they kind of go well i want to do a single i think

i want to do a single i want to do something in support i want to do something in in memorial kind of thing

and that's what then so they started to jam and then that became temple of the temple of the dog and

then and then that became an album they were going to do a single and that became an album and then you know

uh like eventually uh what came out of those two tracks that chris wrote so that was reach down and

say hello to heaven um we started with say hello to heaven we had a bit of that yeah it's such a good

song yeah um so uh uh that becomes this album essentially um but there's some lovely bits in

here that absolutely blew me away when i hadn't realized until i was kind of doing the research and

reading for this um but uh so the mother love bone guys are trying to get another band together so

they're they're in in the process of this this isn't like oh let's have a band with chris cornell

right yeah yeah this is like we're searching we're in limbo we don't really know what's happening yeah

they're all just kind of mates in there so the mother love bone guys are thinking do you know what we're

we're gonna pull another band together we don't really know what we're gonna do

but we know we're gonna do something so they start looking for other singers and they invite eddie at

the point that they're jamming for this with chris yeah they invite eddie vedder up to try out for the

band yeah and because of kind of how things were in seattle at the time they're all just mucking about

and hanging out yeah so eddie vedder ends up in the studio with this singing on this while they're

yeah yeah while they're jamming and while they're recording on this stuff

but i can't feed all the foulness when my cup's already overfilled

yeah

but it's on the table the fire's cooking

and they're farming babies while slaves are working

the blood is on the table and the mouths are choking

I'm born hungry. I don't mind stealing bread from the mouths of decadence.

But I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfillin'.

But it's on the table the fire's cookin'.

And the farmin' babies and the slaves are out workin'.

And it's on the table the mouths are chokin'.

But I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

I'm goin' hungry.

guitar solo

guitar solo

Stealing bread

I don't mind

Stealing bread

I'm going hungry

I'm going hungry

I'm going hungry

And so at that point

you've got Chris Cornell

on what would become

all a Pearl Jam

all in one place

But there was no Pearl Jam

No

That's the other bit as well

because I thought

they'd taken

it was one of these

where I thought

they'd taken a break from that

and then they're all working

with Chris Cornell

and wear a sound garden

like what's going on

but so this is

timeline wise

if we're talking about

the saga

of Seattle grunge

and grunge music

so this is like

post Mother Love Bone

but pre-Pearl Jam

if we're looking

at those guys

It's really short though

Yeah yeah

it's within the space

of months isn't it

Yeah it is

so the thing that

blew me away

from this as well

so there are two things

First of all

Eddie Vedder's

never been recorded

on anything before

It's amazing

before this session

There's an absolutely

lovely bit in here

I'm just trying to find

the bit in my notes

where it talks about

a track called

Hunger Strike

where

They're going to play

that one in a bit

It's dead good isn't it

Yeah

Where Chris Cornell

is

Chris Cornell's

the lead singer

from this

and it's his idea

he's doing it

with the Mother Love Bone guys

but Eddie Vedder's

just kicking around

doing backing vocals

and just kind of

Just hanging out

Just kicking out

and having a good

laugh with them

They're doing this track

right

called Hunger Strike

and Chris is having

a hard time

figuring the

bottom registers

of the vocals

that can't figure out

what to do

Yeah

And so

Eddie Vedder

just does it

Yeah

And then

years later

Chris Cornell

would go on

to say that

it was

almost

telepathic

I had this

vision in

my head

of what I wanted

to do

and I couldn't

sing it

but I'm quite

a high register

guy

and I couldn't

but my voice

just wasn't

doing what I

wanted it to do

and Eddie

just heard me

trying to do this

and then just

It's almost like

the universe

passing the baton

It's mad

isn't it

just like

crazy

Yeah

The song knows

what it wants

to be

but it's got

to find its

vessel

to kind of

be transmuted

through

I like that

That's a nice

thing

Hunger Strike

is the first

song that

Eddie Vedder's

ever

Yeah

Trap vocals

on

Yeah

Yeah

And that just

It shouldn't be

that mad really

I mean it's like

you know

there's got to

be a first

somewhere

But it's there

And that

that is

that is it

The other thing

that always

blows me away

It's like

it's like

but it's like

the drummer

in Dave Grohl's

band isn't it

you know what I mean

like suddenly

suddenly you're

playing drums

and Dave Grohl's

the drummer

like from Nirvana

Oh yeah

and all of a sudden

it's like

oh god

it's like this

Chris Cornell's

the singer

and then all of a

sudden you're

the guy who's

knocking around

and it's like

no no you're

doing the lead

vocal on this

Chris Cornell's

here

why do I need

to do

Chris Cornell's

voice

that was the

thing for me

with this

is

you sort of

want to hear

you want

sorry this is

awful

you want to hear

starting off

and not being

quite as good

yeah yeah

I know what you

mean

I know what you

mean

that progression

yeah yeah

something at the

beginning

and like

oh you know

but you hit this

and you go

oh no he always

had it

I think

yeah he was

just born

with it

I do love

the idea

that

Eddie Vedder

got a phone call

from the

Mother Love Band

guys

he's like

hey do you

want to come

up to Seattle

and do some

grunge

and he was like

yeah yeah

whatever

I guess when a

plane comes up

there does the

thing

and there's oh

we're doing a

recording thing

do you want to

come and have

a beer

and then

ends up

and essentially

Pearl Jam

fall out

of that

because Chris

Cornell goes back

and does the

Soundgarden thing

and then all of a

sudden there's

Pearl Jam

and then they're

sitting around

going oh well

yeah alright

and then

and then 10

happens

what

10 happened

4 months

so 10 was

released 4 months

after

Temple of the Dog

we've done 10

we haven't done 10

we haven't done 10

we've got to do 10

and I think that was

where I got to

with this

when as soon as

Lindsay said

you should do

Temple of the Dog

I thought that

leads straight

we've got to do 10

we have to do 10

that's it

we're right

what are we now

like 10 minutes

ish

yeah

and we've already

decided what's next

it feels like

we've never done this

this is normally

like the end

feels pretty mega

doesn't it

yeah no we've got to

do 10 next

that's it

that's vital

I think 10's got to

be one of those

albums that is

you know

like we

the show is

always meant to

be about

iconic albums

yeah

and it kind of

wavers a little bit

like because

I mean

I mean no

disrespect by this

but this album's

not an iconic album

no no no

there's so

like

probably

it will be for

someone of course

it will

two thirds of the

people that listen

to the show

I've never heard

of it before

yeah yeah

and then you know

and of course it is

like you say

it's big to some

people but

there are albums

like Back in Black

yeah yeah

where they're just

standards

yeah

millions and millions

of copies

they are iconic

they're just these

things that exist

and I think

10 is one of those

10 is one of those

albums that is just

it's just

it's like a line

in the sand

of the universe

isn't it

it's just like

that's a moment

in time that was

there you know

and that's why

music's so amazing

to me

well there's a

another interesting

bit with this

I think with this

Temple of the Dog

album

when it was

released

I'm trying to find

the actual number

in my notes

but it's tiny

oh 70,000 copies

yeah yeah yeah

so Temple of the Dog

the band's

self-titled

debut album

was released

April 16th

1991

through A&M Records

and initially sold

70,000 copies

it's now sold millions

yeah yeah yeah

but they sold

70,000 copies

what's really interesting

is that later

they said

because you have to

bear in mind

they'd kind of

become Pearl Jam

yeah yeah yeah

before this album

had been released

so they'd done

the session

they'd recorded

Temple of the Dog

then like you know

the lads kind of

fell out of the studio

went to a bar

and went oh we're

Pearl Jam now

yeah yeah

and then Cornell's

bogged off back to

Soundgarden

so you've got

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

exists and they've

got a record deal

and they're recording

10

yeah

and this is coming

out and they said

well we should put

a Pearl Jam

sticker on the

Temple of the Dog

album to help

itself

so people know

who it is

people know who

we are and who

it is right

because I think

they were worried

oh well people

won't know who

Pearl Jam are

yeah yeah

that way

oh really

and so

the bit that's

really interesting

I know

the bit that's

amazing is that

then 10 gets

released

yeah

and now you've

got Pearl Jam

are now massive

yeah

and you've got

Soundgarden that

are massive

and then all of a

sudden this Temple

of the Dog album

which is a nothing

album is now a

super group

yeah yeah

and suddenly

gets reissued

and sells millions

of copies

because it's a

super group

because everyone

knows Soundgarden

and everyone knows

Pearl Jam

but it was all

before

and I think

that's where

the timeline

got

that's why

yeah yeah yeah

it's mad isn't

it

but most people

didn't pick it

up

until

92 probably

got reissued

in 92

so lots of

people picked

it up in 92

and not when

it was actually

so was that

that you said

about the four

months later

was it the

reissue

no

oh no

so it was

done again

so Temple

of the Dog

came out

in 91

April 16th

1991

I've not got

the date for

10 but it

was like

you know

tail end of

the summer

10 came out

and then

so that would

have been the

end of 91

and of course

then Pearl Jam

blew up in 92

as people go

oh actually

you know

return and alive

comes in

yeah

this is a bit

massive

yeah

and then

and then so

the record label

was like

hang on a minute

we've got this

thing here with

Soundgarden and

Pearl Jam

on it

let's do

something

that quick

let's wang that

out the door

again

what a great

word wang is

that's what they do

isn't it

that's what record

companies do

I've noticed

they just repress

anything at the

minute

so they're just

any old shit

can I just

just an observation

I've just made

yeah

because what you do

when you talk

is you put your

glasses on your head

can't see

and then

and then you put

your glasses down

yeah

when you're doing

the when you're

looking at your

notes

yeah

but it's

let me talk

this is really

funny

there's a

subconscious thing

when you put

your glasses down

yeah

I go into

listing modes

that oh his

glasses are on

oh he's now

telling the

he's now the

teacher

he's now

do you know

the worst thing

that ever happened

to me

I

so when

when I got to

50 I really

needed reading

glasses

and I can't

I'm used

I can't

I refuse to make

the font bigger

on my phone

obviously

oh mate

you've seen the

size of my

phones on the

screen

the size of

a house

I can't

I can't cope

and I was at

a conference

last year

and I was

doing the

keynote for

this conference

and if you've

never done this

kind of stuff

before what

happens is you're

on the stage

and you get

these monitors

yeah

right so you

get these big

monitors

and it's got

it's got your

text on it

right so

when you write

your talk

yeah

they'll kind

of roll

your notes

right

for me

they're just

bullet points

it's not like

you know

it's not like

verbatim

but I need it

right I'm getting

old enough now

that I forget

why I'm there

to be honest

talk about this

Neil

it is

it's literally

like talk about

this talk about

this talk about

this talk about

that and

anyway they did

it and set it

up with me

and it was all

great

but when they

set it up

I'd got my

glasses on

because I was

on the podium

thing and I was

fine I got my

glasses on and I

looked at the

thing and I'm

okay

and then

it dawned

on me that

as soon as I

looked out to

get eye contact

with the audience

yeah I can't

see a thing

it's just blurred

right because I

got my reading

glasses on

and then I

realised I'm in

shock that when

I take my

reading glasses

off I can't

read the notes

anymore and I'm

just like oh

what do I do

now

yeah yeah

so I literally

I had to I put

my reading glasses

on like five

minutes before when

I put my

reading glasses

on and then

did that verbatim

thing where I

was like regurgitating

the notes in

my head and

then my reading

glasses off so

there you go

I'm doing it

again in May and

I've asked them

to if they said

have you got any

requests to make

the font bigger

proper old man

isn't it

proper old man

we've got it now

where they've got

the thing where

they put it on

the heads up

display haven't

they

I don't know

yeah yeah so

they've got this

they've got this

like projection

thing where

they'll put it

either you can't

see me we're

going to have

video super soon

yeah we're

talking about

for our birthday

yeah on the

something of May

9th of May

we're going to

have video

yeah we've said

it now on the

podcast

it doesn't mean

anything does it

so either side

of you so that

you're looking at

one and then

you're looking at

the other

yeah and then

they film you

but it looks like

you're talking to

the audience

oh so that's the

new thing that

they're doing like

like Trump's

speech is all

that you can see

it if you watch

Trump's speech

again yeah the

integration speech

is that what you

call it integration

is that it

inauguration yeah

yeah that yeah

so you you watch

him and you'll see

it you'll see it

he's reading

that side and

then he flips over

to the other side

and it from the

film it looks like

he's talking to

different people

in the group but

he's just reading

the different

displays I had to

remember mine

do you know what

you know like 20

years ago I could

write it once on a

plane and then

remember and I

wouldn't even have

to I just like

turn it walk on

still hungover

not slept for a

day and just do

it yeah and now

if I can't I'm

lost I have to go

three three things

without it being

written down did

I ever tell you

that story this is

going well off

piece I did the

story where I got

an award from

Steve Ballmer

once oh wow

right yeah yeah

and was he

dancing he was

not dancing no

and anyway there

were like four of

us that had won

these these like

global awards

and I was it

was one of the

first years that

I'd like done

like internal

talks yeah

um and I'd

been like dragged

over the coals

the year before

for doing

swearing so I'd

written on the

back of my hand

in thick black

marker do not

swear um and

anyway there's a

picture of me

receiving a really

fancy award from

Steve Ballmer

and then I shake

his hand and you

can see do not

swear on the back

of my hand and

it's like that

needs framing

that's brilliant

yeah

I got known as

the do not swear

guy I don't know

what that's got to

do with what we're

doing but um well

we we do very well

not swearing on the

podcast don't we

that's I'm quite

good at not swearing

I'm I'm I'm a bit

sweary sometimes and

I'm quite good I'm

very sweary I'm

quite I think I

think what I've

discovered is that I

need something to

make me swear yeah

and I think I'm

dead relaxed with

music music relaxes

me and I'm just

thinking about you

know you know when

we're doing these

things I kind of

imagine like I

mean as we're

talking about this

I'm imagining

like Temple of

the Dawn imagine

those boys in a

studio it's kind of

you know it's a

little bit dusty

smoky you know

it's hot it's

seattley it's you

know is seattle a

hot place no oh

well it's april in

seattle it would

have been uh I'm

thinking in a

studio is a hot

yeah oh yeah

no no yeah

it just smells of

smells of boys yeah

yeah um but

seattle is like

uk weather like

this right yeah it

was gray rainy um

and then slightly

more actually so

the reason I know

that I spent such

a lot of time

working in seattle

yeah it's a

cool place to

work actually but

uh so yeah

typically if it's

like 10 degrees

here like 10

degrees celsius I

don't know what

that is for our

american friends it's

like 400 degrees

fahrenheit so

like 7800 degrees

fahrenheit I was

going to say 10

degrees is like like

a bit cold yeah

yeah yeah it's like

not cold yeah yeah

a bit it's it's

telling you what it

is it's putting a

t-shirt on and no

no hoodie yeah and

then regretting it

like I'm doing today

yeah you are and it's

about 10 degrees

yeah yeah but the

temperature normally

when I fly out from

London it's roughly

the same when I land

in seattle always

yeah yeah and the

weather's the same and

it rains the same it

does like it feels the

same just mean it's

got the same rain

same it just the

weather in seattle is

the same as it is in

the uk got it yeah

makes sense always all

the time yeah I

don't know why that

is I have to say I

do like seattle it's

lovely but I um is it

quite an artistic

creative place yeah

it's lovely it's it's

uh I was it's like it

feels like a bit of

bohemian in places it's

quite cool there's a lot

of art there's a lot of

Bristol yeah Norwich

okay Norwich yeah

yeah yeah it's quite

cool um play I really

liked it there's I mean

there's the obvious

kind of touristy you

know um oh come here

mate I'll show you

where Kurt Cobain

lived yeah yeah there's

a bit of art yeah

which is a bit crappy

but but outside of that

obvious stuff it's just

a quite cool laid back

place yeah quite liked

it we I would always

land on the Saturday

and then like you

you know things would

kick off on a on a

Monday and on the

Sunday you could almost

walk down like the the

main streets in Seattle

and not like you

wouldn't see anybody it

was just like really

yeah really really kind

of a swad

swaddling cocked yeah

it was it it's like a

kind of um I was

I would say lazy like

sleepy kind of just

yeah yeah this but it's

I don't mean it in a

negative way no no no

it's just uh just cool

chill yeah I just I I

liked it quite a lot I

get the impression that

Portland's a bit like

that that sort of thing

I think that oh yeah

the Pacific Northwest in

general is just kind of

it's pretty liberal and

yeah yeah and and um

yeah it's a bit like it's

a bit like going back to

the 70s yeah yeah you know

what I mean it's kind of

it's quite retro in a in a

in a in a nice way if that

makes that makes sense um I

liked it um it'd be nice to

retire there if I could

afford I'd love to get a

house on the lake yeah um

out near Redmond and

so pretty cool nice so

I'm segwaying it back into

this oh god yeah what

were we doing uh podcast

is that is is that why

music comes out of pod

pocket out of Seattle like

is it about you know the

styling music that came

through yeah yeah the the

kind of grunge stuff that

scene that existed yeah is

is that a product of its

environment is that a

product of I know it's a

product of the industry so

it was it was a bit of a

yeah a bit of a you know

like a middle finger so

that that kind of like

really heavily produced

power metal it was yeah it

was it was really that I

mean that whole stuff was a

response it was a response

to like as as as like the

hair metal was a response to

prog rock and yeah what

would classic like an iron

major and all that stuff um

yeah the grunge scene was a

response to the strip it was

kind of like you know the

antithesis yeah yeah we're

not we're not going to do

our hair and yeah but we're

not even going to have a

bath yeah we're just going to

turn up you know I mean it

was that it was a radically

different wasn't it you spot on

um I do wonder actually whether

whether you know the the

culture in Seattle framed the

music or because it was there

was a big punk scene yeah in

Seattle prior um and and I

wonder if but I wonder if it

was kind of the grunge scene

you know change the

culture so yeah yeah do

you know what I mean it's

kind of where uh people like

yeah people that were alive at

that point in time even you

see them now they've really

embraced that um I guess that

culture of yeah stuff but there

must have been something there

there's something in the water I

think it's just kind of a yeah I'm

when the spoon is hot and the

needles shine

that the world in black is upon your

back and your body shakes so you put

your back and your body shakes so you put

it's just kind of a yeah and you close the

And close the shirts

That's how to do it

That's how to get your time

Yeah, you might do it

Then you can't change your mind

Oh

You gotta hold on to your time

'Til you break through an instant of

Trouble

When you try to talk

And the words get hard

And they've brought you down

Don't you stand

Don't you stand

Mmm, don't get you away

I know you're swinging

Yeah, I'm swinging your mother's son

Oh

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I know you're playing

Oh, sometimes the words get hard

Oh

Oh

But if somebody left you

Out on the list

If somebody pushed you

Over the end

You gotta hold on to your time

And break through an instant of

Trouble

And you're trying to do it

You're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

Yeah, you're trying to do it

To live some love

Trouble

Temple of the Dog, years active. They were active from 1990 to '92, which I think is interesting. They've done various reunions and stuff since then.

It was released on the A&M label

Members Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder

Who is Pearl Jam plus Chris Cornell

Yeah, they could have written that in the whole thing

Pearl Jam never changed members, did they either?

No

It was that all the way through

Yeah, I don't think they have

No

No, you're right

Yeah

Wow

Yeah, yeah

There can't be many bands

No

That have never changed members

No

I'm trying to think of any other bands

Didn't somebody go off and do some stuff with Soundgarden for a bit, maybe?

There was a bit of mucking about with the drummers

Yeah, I think so

But I don't think they left

I think they were just like

No, no, no, it was just an in addition

Yeah

Yeah, they were all just mates, aren't they?

Yeah

So, yeah, which is a little bit weird

Anyway, the album started with two tracks "Reach Down and Say Hello to Heaven" from Chris Cornell written about the death of his friend Andrew Wood

What else have I got in here?

Oh, the album was recorded in 15 days

Yeah, yeah, you can hear that

You can hear that it was a very concentrated, time together type thing

Well, there's a lovely bit in the Wikipedia page where Cornell says there was no expectations or pressure

No one was expecting anything from us

Yeah, yeah

We were doing this, it was kind of a cathartic thing

It just felt good and we were all having a good time

Yeah

But it just happened, yeah, it just happened quickly

So, yeah, there was no real pressure on them

They just got through quickly

We talked about already the "Hunger Strike" track is the first time you hear Eddie Vedder sing on a record ever

Which is, and it's such an amazing song as well

Yeah

That one to me sounds very Pearl Jamming

Yeah, yeah, yeah

That's kind of for where they would

Yeah, I mean, you know, I said I said I think before we started recording that actually it sounds like

It sort of sounds like two different, a different band to Soundgarden and Pearl Jam

Yeah, yeah, yeah

But actually, that one in particular

Yeah

Is very much Pearl Jam with Chris Cornell on additional vocals

That's what you're hearing on that for sure

It's the bit where you hear Eddie Vedder's voice

Yeah

You hear the impact Eddie Vedder's voice has on the sound which I think is pretty excellent

Yeah

And it's about ten minutes long as well

It is, it's a very long song

In the-

Oh no, not that one, sorry

No, "Reach Down" is the long one, isn't it?

Yeah, oh, the second track

Yeah, yeah, yeah

That's like eleven minutes long, it's your kind of song

Yeah, I like that one

Oh, I listened to Steven Wilson finally as well

Oh, did you?

Yes

For those, I've been screaming at Chris for three weeks now to listen to Steven Wilson

I'll put it on and I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm like, wow, yeah, that's cool"

Yeah

There's no beginning and end to me

No, no, it's wicked

It's like space rock, isn't it?

Yeah, it's totally cool

It's just swirly and

Yeah, 'cause I had one of the Porcupine Tree albums in a car that I had

Yeah

And

"Deadwing"

Oh, which one was it?

"Lightbulb Sun"

No

That's my favourite

No, it was, no, was it "Fear of a Blank Planet"?

"Fear of a Blank Planet", that's got the

Oh, it's got one of my favourite tracks ever on it and I can't remember it

It's the one, it's got like a, almost like a, like an industrial beginning to it

Yeah, yeah, yeah

So I had this Audi convertible with a CD player in it

I remember that

Yeah, yeah, yeah

And

I remember we were, we did a photo shoot

Up a tree

Yeah, we did

Yeah

That was brilliant

And

Yeah

And we all turned up with like cowboy and western shirts on

You all looked like you were going line dancing

Brilliant

It was absolutely brilliant that was

Paddy was up the tree

We've got Paddy up a tree

What if he falls out?

He falls out

We're just in

We're in so much trouble

And then that woman came out

We're just like, we're in the middle of a field

And that woman came over

All right

Yeah

It's just like

Yeah

That was bonkers

Yeah, yeah, yeah

It was like something out of a

That was like something out of a British movie

It was like something out of

Yeah

Oh, I don't know

Do you know what I mean?

Like a full Monty or something

Yeah, yeah, yeah

God, mega

Sorry, yeah

You're in your Audi

Oh yeah, yeah

But I'd burnt this CD

Obviously

I don't think you could actually buy it

Oh, no way

I can't remember

There was something like

And I got it off like downloaded

Yeah

And burnt onto the CD

Lime

Yeah, probably something like that

That was the only thing that I had in that car ever

So by the time that I owned that car

No way

If I had to leave the stereo

And the entire ownership of me having that car

That album went round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round

Hundreds and hundreds of times

And that's it

That's what I listened to

I'm looking at the tracks Fear of a Blank Planet, My Ashes, Anesthetized, Sentimental, Way Out of Here and Sleep Together

I think the track I remember is Fear of a Blank Planet

Yeah, but yeah, that's another one where it's

You put it on

No, I'm genuinely playing it on my iPad

Because I think this is going to go over really well

I'm going to turn the volume up

Yeah

So good

I love the way this comes in where the bass kicks in

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Stephen Wilson's dead clever, isn't he?

Yeah

I'm just going to listen to this now

I've got to wait until it starts though

Because the drum is really cool

But there's definitely

Stephen Wilson

Yeah

Has got a sound

Yeah

He is 100%

Like that new record

Yeah, yeah

It's that sound

It is

There's a lot about it

Which is the way that he produces drums

The way that the guitars fit on everything

The way the vocals sit

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

He's got his own very idiomatic kind of thing to that

Yeah, very good

If you like that kind of proggy stuff

It's, yeah, it's excellent

I have to say that Lightbulb Sun is

There's that one, Fear of a Blank Planet

And Lightbulb Sun

I love both of those two

I think they're excellent

We've got well off track there, haven't we?

I have no idea what we're doing

They're staying in, not getting rid of it

Staying on the podcast

Staying on the podcast

People would delete that

Like it was some tangent

No, it's all part of the journey

It is, isn't it?

Yeah

The thing, do you know what I like about podcasts?

Yeah

There are no rules

You do what you want

Yeah, but I do

Do you know, I like

I like

Like if I wanted to know

About a particular album

Yeah

I'd just go and look it up

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm not going to go to a podcast for that

What I like about podcasts is

It kind of makes me feel like

I've got friends

Do you know what I mean?

And I mean that in a really serious way

I'm sitting at home

Lonely and I'm on my own

Yeah

And I've got my cat

Yeah

And then I can put a podcast on

You've got a few cats

But I put a podcast on

And it's like there's other people with me

Yes

I put a podcast on

That's about something that I like

I like

And you form your opinions

And you're like

But you're with them

That's the difference

Yeah, it's a bit like being in the pub

With people

Yeah, yeah, yeah

And you know

And it's not

I mean we're not the BBC

We're not going to stick on

There's no script

As you can

I mean it might be shocking

But it is

It's like

I don't know

And I like that

I kind of like it

When they're kind of

You know

There are some podcasts

Which I like Jake Humphries does

The performance podcast

Right

And he's phenomenal

I just think he's

He's just brilliant

He's such a good interviewer

Absolutely brilliant

And you watch them

And often when I listen to his stuff

I kind of

It like changes my perception on the world

Yeah, yeah, yeah

They're just incredible

I don't always want that

Sometimes I want like two people

Just waffling

Yeah

And I like

I kind of like the

I like the stories

And I like hearing what people are up to

I hear what people like

And I don't know

I think there's

It's nice

It's very human

Podcast style

It is

Yeah

I was doing

Facts

Yeah

I think I've run out of facts

Shall I just say I've run out of facts?

This is really good

Because we've already done the facts

And we've already know what we're doing next week

So I kind of don't know where I'm going now with this

Because we've

We've gone off the structure that we normally have

With these things

We do

I'm going to say

Peak chart positions

Yeah

US

Number five

Pete Sharp

Who's Pete Sharp?

Pete Sharp?

Pete Sharp?

I've been gardening today

I could talk about that

Yeah

In the US

It got to number five

Yeah

In the chart

And in Canada

I don't know where

Is Canada America now?

Oh gosh

Oh no don't say that

No that's not

Yeah yeah no

If you know what's going on

Tell us

Because we're living on a little island

Yeah we don't know what's happening

No one tells us what's going on

Do you know I feel like

I said this to my friend this week

I said I feel like

You know like in

You see watch World War 2 movies

Yeah

No one knew what was going on

Yeah

Like there was no

Like you know what I mean

There wasn't internet

Yeah

So you

It was all done by letters

And word of mouth

And nobody knew what was going on

A little bit like that

Yeah yeah

No idea what's going on

I switch on my telly box

I know what

You never know what's happening

At any particular time

No

Anyway it got to 5 in the US

And it got to 11 in Canada

In 1992

So after it came out

Way way way after it was released

Because of the Pearl Jam

Yeah

Soundgarden thing

And Soundgarden thing

Yeah

It was released on CD

Cassette

Yeah

And LP

Cassette's becoming popular again

Yeah it's weird isn't it

People like all that now

That torture with a pencil

Having to wind it on

I don't like

Cheering your tape up

And no

I like reel to reel

Yeah

I like mini disc

Yeah

I like LP

I like mini disc

Mini disc

Mini disc feels nice

Yeah yeah yeah

I like

I like compact discs actually

Yeah yeah

I like compact discs

Not a big fan of the cassette

No

I like compact discs

Where it goes

I don't like it

Where you put it in a tray

And it goes

I don't like that

Oh

You're getting very specific

Yeah

You like that

Anyway

Yeah so that was

That was there

Which is obviously nice

And then there were three singles

Hunger Strike

Say Hello to Heaven

And Pushing Forward Back

Which was the US promo

The singles

Again

They did well

But in 92

Oh right

Yeah

So Hunger Strike

Peaked at 4 in the US

In the UK

51

Really

So they must

Because there's a video

For Hunger Strike

Yes they recorded it

And never released it

Never released it

No

Right

So I'm reading on the Wikipedia page

So the video must have

So they must have

Recorded the video

Yeah

Around 10 time

Yeah

Maybe even after that

No it was done before 10

Right

And then

It was in the video though

Yes

Right okay

The video was done before

They knew that

They knew they were going to

Release that as a single

But it didn't get put out

Didn't get put out

Because the album didn't sell

Yeah

It didn't sell

They didn't bother

Yeah

And then 10 is coming

Yeah

You know Cornell's

But you have to think about

Like nobody's

Nobody's on the hook

Nobody's paid

Tons of cash for this

Yeah

No one's poured like a million dollars

Into a studio somewhere

It's literally just

You know

Five or six blokes

Hanging around in Seattle

For like a month

So

Interestingly they redid

The video in 2016

I didn't know that

And I've not looked at it

It was certified

Platinum

Yeah

And I can't remember

What platinum means

But it's a lot

Yeah

I think it's a million

Don't know

It's gold

It's gold too many

I can't

I do know this

And I've forgotten it

But it was a lot

It went from nothing

Yeah

To being

You know

This

This big selling thing

Yeah

And it's

Yeah

I think it's an interesting

I think it's an interesting record

But it's an interesting record

Like you mentioned before

In that

Transformation

That

Stepping stone

Of what Pearl Jam became

Yeah

I don't think

It's

I mean it's not 10

No

Do you know what I mean

It's not

It's got

That's the thing I would say

About this one

Is that

I said earlier

It feels like jamming

With lyrics

I love it

Which is amazing

But like

It doesn't

It doesn't sound awful

There aren't really songs on it

Like in the

In the sense of

You know

I get it

Like Alive is a song

Or Jeremy is a song

Or even

Even Flow

Or

You know

Spoon Man

Or

You know

Or Black Hole Sun

You know

They're

They're

Songs

They're

You know

Beautiful

Beautiful

Crafted songs

This felt like

Guys that are discovering themselves

That are hugely

Hugely talented

And that are playing together

And sort of working stuff out

And

And sort of jamming on it

And making kind of moments

You know

Yeah

I mean

It's

It's absolutely mad

I was

I just

Started to look at

At 10

So 10 was released on

August 27th

91

It was recorded

March 27th

To April

The 26th

91

Wow

So they

They were not long

Out of

You know

So this would have been

In the canon

And then they would have

Almost gone straight in

And done 10

Which is

So

What it must have done

Is triggered something

Creatively within them

I think so

Yeah

I think

Yeah

I think it's just

It's just

Yeah

It's

It's

It's mad

Isn't it

Really

That

Yeah

It's

Like looking at

The Wikipedia page

For 10

It's like

There's a

There's a table

Of like

100 greatest albums

Ever

And all of the

Magazines and stuff

That have listed it

As like being

The best album ever

Right

But it's mad

Isn't it

The

The

The stuff

That came

That came out

On that

You know

Jeremy

And even

Flo

Alive

Yeah

And

But even

Like the

You know

The

Like what would be

The album tracks

The tracks

That were not

Big

Yeah

Yeah

They're still

Yeah

Way up there

Yeah

Mega

They're still

Mega

It must

That must have

Been a really

Tough

A really

Tough time

To go and sit

With it

Because they'll

Have recorded

That and then

Gone into the

Records

Near the

Record label

And said

Yeah

We're gonna

We're gonna

Put these

As singles

Please

Yeah

You know

I mean

You can imagine

The record label

Yeah

How do you

How do we do that

Yeah

How do you even

Choose

I've just found out

What the numbers are

So gold is

500,000

Yeah

Platinum is a million

A million

Yeah

And then it goes up

In increment

So like

Triple Platinum

Is three million

For example

Oh okay

And then Diamond

Is ten million

Ten million

Ten million

So that's really

Really good

Isn't it

Yeah

But it's a lot

Isn't it

It's a lot

Yeah

It did sell

A lot

That

You know

For

For something

That was unheard of

Yeah

Yeah

Yeah

It didn't have

A lot of

Push behind it

Yeah

Didn't chart

Anywhere really

When it

Didn't chart

Anywhere in the

World when it

Was released

No

No

And it was only

On the back of

You know

Ten

From Pearl Jam

I had another

Look at it

Yeah

And that's it

I think we've done

I think we've done

All the things

Yeah I think we're good

I think we're good

And we know

And we know

What's next

We've probably

A little waffle

As well

We've probably

Missed something

Yeah

Normally what happens

Is on the Monday

When we have

The new thing

Comes out

People message

To say

You should have said

Why did you not mention

Do you know what I mean

Well that's because

We want other people

To be part of the story

With us isn't it

That's exactly why

Yeah

That's exactly why

We want to do everything

We want

We want

Yeah

Contributions

And conversation

And debate

I do love

The

And we forget

Yeah we do

The community

That's kind of

Building up

Around the show

Is I think

Getting really interesting

And there's a whole bunch

Of incredibly

Knowledgeable

Music fans

And collectors

Yeah

And it's brilliant

It's absolutely brilliant

I think

It's

You know

And you're having

Sometimes I'll be having

A bad day

And I'll go on to X

Or go on to Facebook

Or go on to

Blue Sky

And there'll be

Conversations and threads

And things happening

From people

And you just think

I like it

Yeah it's nice

Feels good

Yeah it's good

Feels good

And since renaming

And becoming a profology

Because we used to be called

Monster Shop

We did

For a long time

And the algorithm

Blocked that

Quite a lot

Didn't like that very much

No I didn't

Because we were not a shop

Yeah so we did

Riffology

Well you did

It was a good name

And then we put that on

And then all of a sudden

Everyone was listening

Yeah it suddenly got really busy

It did make me wonder

Just what if you did

Have a shop

How does that work

Yeah yeah

Yeah

We can't do that as well

We're already very busy

A shop

Merchandise

Honestly

One of these days

I'm going to do

Like loads of t-shirts

And stuff

With having the

The Riffology logo

Logo on the front

And then

Quotes about riffs

On the back

Yeah yeah yeah

And I even started to look

And I found some brilliant

Quotes from people

And I would love to do it

But the last time

We talked about this

Last week didn't we

But the last time

We tried to sell t-shirts

We lost

That cost us money

It cost a pound

Every time someone

Bought one

So I'm eager

Not to do that again

That's because

We're business people

We are business people

And luckily

Not many people

Bought them

So

Like

We didn't

We're not

We're not bankrupt

But

Never mind

I reckon that's us

For this week mate

It is

Yeah

It is

It's not

Do you know

It's five past nine

On a Sunday night

Yeah normally

We only just started

Yeah

Sometimes we'll kind of

Roll back in at one o'clock

In the morning

Don't we

With school on that same day

It's hard work

That is

I can't stay up anymore

No

But anyway

I think we could

That's been good fun

I've enjoyed that

Thanks for listening with us

Thank you

10 next week

10 next week

Love you bye

Love you bye

Reach down

Which was the second song

I wrote

The Temple of the Dog

Record

I wanted it to be

Sort of like

A Neil Young

Fuck you to the world

Of people who don't

Want to hear a guitar solo

I'm going to make

An 11 or 12 minute song

That's mostly guitar solo

And that's going to be

The first song on the album

And you can fuck off

When I heard

Pretty play guitar

I was like

We're going to pull it off

For real

This isn't going to be a joke

He can actually fucking play

Because I couldn't

Out of his mind

This guy's a

He's a fucking rock star

Like he's got problems

And we just thought

He was a nice little kid

He's got something in there

Like he's infected

And that's going to come out again

Somewhere

Good luck guys

He knows me

Yeah that's

I would say that's

100% accurate

Well I hadn't seen the other night

You would fall in the corner

On the chair

Well below

I left a cold

Purple glasses

And glitter in your hair

And you said

Hey this is where

I want to sit

And buy you a drink

Someday

When you were going

To the dark shows

But you passed away

Now you said

I got all this room

And no more

Need to death

But ready

You've got some love

A customer

Put you in touch

With your man

Lovers

But he said

Little man

You've got no business

Being all frustrated

Oh you've got to rest

You've got to rest

You've got to rest

You've got to reach down

And pick the crowd up

Oh I want to reach down

And pick the crowd up

Carry back in my hand

To the promised land

To the promised land

I had an angel shine my wings

She said nothing but

That's for the golden boy

She made me promise

Not to tell

I have it under a spell

Singing the golden world

To the broken boys

And I call a blessing

On the wind

I'm feeling lighter

Than the breath from a dove

I've got no hands

To tie behind my bed

I'm sparking like a heart attack

And I've got rumors

From my wings

And my messages of love

Love was my drum

That's not what I died of

So don't you think of me

Crying louder than some billion dollar baby

Crying louder than some billion dollar baby

Oh I want to rest

I want to rest

I want to rest

I want to rest

I want to reach down

And pick the crowd up

I want to reach down

And pick the crowd up

Carry it back in my hand

To the promised land

To the promised land

To the promised land

To the promised land

To the promised land

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We'll be right back.