10 Songs. Spontaneous. Creation: Temple of the Dog

Wanna show you something like the joy inside my heart
Seems I've been living in the temple of the dog
Where would I live, if I were a man of golden words?
Or would I live at all?

Man of Golden Words, Mother Love Bone

On March 19th, 1990, the Seattle music scene reeled at the death of fabulously glam singer Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone and singer and bassist for the band Malfunkshun. His roommate and dear friend Chris Cornell said his goodbyes before life support was turned off from the 24 old. He had turned his life around but the streets held root in him. Andy's death stunned his bandmates and friends. Sadly, many do not know the importance of this moment in time or even who Andy was. While many know of their song Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns from The Singles soundtrack, the band never took hold in the mainstream and the loss of Wood proved its demise. Mother Love Bone was not grunge. They were a modicum at the time that brought a little of members Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard's Green River rock sound to Andy's glam influence and magnetic persona. Yet the band had signed with Polygram Records in 1988 and that in itself was a pretty monumental deal for a Seattle Band. 

Cornell began writing songs about his friend as well as honing some songs he had been working on and encouraging the band members to do the same. Approaching Andy's bandmates who, without their true north, all liked the idea of recording some songs in memory of their friend. The members had stopped playing music for some time. It got them playing at a time where music was likely the best therapy while they searched for their next step.

The line-up included Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament on bass guitar (both ex-members of Mother Love Bone), Mike McCready on lead guitar, and Matt Cameron on drums. They had played around with the idea of releasing some singles, but the idea was scrapped for recording an album and releasing it at that. In 15 days, they recorded 10 songs that encompassed their feelings of Andrew as well as the state of the world. 

At the same time of the recording, the band members of Mother Love Bone were rehearsing with their new singer for  their new band, Mookie Blaylock. Needing another vocalist to help fill in with the song Hunger Strike, Eddie Vedder sang with Chris Cornell on the song that would make the rounds of MTV, everyone collectively asking "who is that guy?" On the 2011 documentary Pearl Jam Twenty, Vedder stated, That was the first time I heard myself on a real record. It could be one of my favorite songs that I’ve ever been on — or the most meaningful.

While the album would not gain much traction on the charts, Rolling Stone's David Fricke wrote in 2000 that the album, retrospectively, deserves immortality. The songs are complex, blending not only Cornell's range and vocal talent, but also the birthing of the sound from the ashes of their beloved lead singer's death.

Let's break down each track.

Say Hello 2 Heaven

Right after Andy died, we [Soundgarden] went to Europe, and it was horrible, because I couldn't talk about it, and there was no one who had loved him around. I wrote two songs, "Reach Down" and "Say Hello 2 Heaven". That was pretty much how I dealt with it. ~Chris Cornell

The opening track is not only perfect, it's a summation of the feelings felt and the story of Andy himself. It's an emotional and fitting tribute to the Man Golden Words. 

I never wanted
To write these words down for you
With the pages of phrases
Of all the things we'll never do
So I blow out the candle and
I put you to bed
Since you can't say to me now
How the dogs broke your bone
There's just one thing left to be said

Say hello to heaven

Reach Down

You can visualize the story this song tells. You can also feel the positive energy that Andrew Wood had on Chris's life. The song is a highlight on the album as you can hear the Pearl Jam sound begin to evolve out of Mother Love Bone. 

Love, yes love was my drug, but that's not
What I died of, so don't think of me
Crying louder than some billion dollar baby

Hunger Strike

The most well known song off the album, that could have gone so differently if Eddie Vedder had not been rehearsing with his new band. The song is a good indicator of the social voice that Pearl Jam would lead with through their songs. 

I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouths of decadence
But I can't feed on the powerless
When my cup's already overfilled

Pushing Forward Back

"'Pushin Forward Back' is good shovin' built from the black thunder of Led Zeppelin and the twin-guitar lightning of the original Alice Cooper band ...When Vedder joins Cornell in the chorus of 'Pushin Forward Back', their harmonies virtually bleed with need." David Fricke of Rolling Stone (12-2000)

Baby brother clinging to her hair
Gracious, pleading not another
Soul to bare, he started pushin'
All my kings have fallen down
I started pushin'

Call Me a Dog

It's a beautiful and sad song about relationships and unreciprocated love. This one stems from Chris's own failed relationship at the time. 

You call me a dog
Well that's fair enough
It doesn't bother me as long as you know
Bad luck will follow you
If you keep me on a leash and
You drag me along

Time of Trouble

Gorgeous but sad song about the struggle of addition. Chris knew well of Andy's attempt to get clean and the challenges he faced. 

I saw you swinging
Swinging your mother's sword
I know you're playing but
Sometimes the rules get hard
But if somebody left you out on a ledge
If somebody pushed you over the edge
If somebody loved you and left you for dead
You got to hold on to your time till you break
Through these times of trouble

Wooden Jesus

A questions asked many a time, "can you buy your way into Heaven?"

 

Porcelain Mary her majesties pure
Looking for virgin territory
Coat hanger halos don't come cheap
From television shepherds with living room sheep,
And I pray.

Your Savior

Coincidentally after Wooden Jesus, Your Savior is directed at those who push their idols and gods upon others, with promises of pearly gates and eternal happiness. 

People like you, I know myself
Walk in the shoes of somebody else
Whisper to me, my tragic fate
Whisper to me, my tragic end
But don't give me your savior

Four Walled World

It could be a song about a mental prison, but likely a song about the prison of addiction. 

And now the sun is low
And these walls try to break my soul
And now the moon is full
And I won't see nothing tonight
But the tears in her eyes and
My four walled world

All Night Thing

Again, it could be about lovers and it could be about drugs. 

-This was the last song I heard live from Chris Cornell - 

And we fall like a tear falling
To the ground
I'll never come around
And you'll never hear a word from me
If it's an all night thing

Still Talkin' To Myself And Nobody's Home: Use Your Illusion I & II

Fun how ev'rything was Roses
When we held on to the Guns
Just because you're winnin'
Don't mean you're the lucky ones
         ~ Breakdown - Guns N Roses


On September 17, 1991, Guns N Roses released two of the most anticipated albums in music history: Use You Illusions I and II. The albums debuted at number two and one respectively. This was the first album, that if I wasn't 13, I would have sat outside in a line to buy at midnight. So the next best thing was to call and reserve a copy over the phone - at midnight. Tough sell was mom, credit card and parental advisory sticker.

So what was it that made this release so in demand and special? The addition of drummer Matt Sorum? Izzy Stradlin's freedom on the albums? If you look back at Appetite for Destruction, GNR was simply and angry rock and roll band. Drugs, sex, alcohol, sex and a show every now and then. It was brash, in your face, rock and roll. When everyone got a glimpse of You Could Be Mine and Knocking on Heaven's Door, it hinted at a departure away from trying to re-make Appetite.

When I finally got my hands on these two and listened, I had never heard anything like it. It wasn't a Sweet Child O' Mine or a Mr. Brownstone, these songs were melodic, some were heavier, they were rock symphonies if you will. The songs were longer, pushing the envelope with the 2.5 minute radio ready songs. Accompanying these songs were mini films of gorgeous, well crafted videos.

The most well known video from these albums would have to be the November Rain video, inspired by the Del James short story, Without You. This was the first in a series of three that would tell the story of Axl and tragic love (intertwined with really cool concert footage, of course).

Don't Cry followed with just as much confusion instead of answers, Axl in a Revolutionary War outfit, Shannon Hoon hanging out with them on the roof, and the green Axl below the cemetery. 

To round out the trilogy, Estranged is one of my favorite songs on the album. It is in the same soaring solos, chilling piano moments and building crescendos. But the video is just downright odd but sadly symbolic of Axl's life at the moment. Yes, jumping off a tanker after envisioning himself swimming with dolphins, only to be rescued by a USCG rescue swimmer. WHAT? Just watch 
  

Those songs along with You Could Have Been Mine are the ones that, I would say, most associate with when they hear these albums. But waking up today with these albums in my mind, I went back and listened. I listened with 23 years on my soul. And damn, it was a great album.* The lyrics are phenomenal, the chords are perfect, and the fusion of light and heavy throughout makes Use Your Illusions I and II one of the best double albums of the 90's . Yes, I'm putting that out there.

We'll never have another time like this. The heavy metal era was something special and so very unique to those growing up in it and trying to find an identity. This was a time when we waited for albums to be released. There were no internet leaks or download instantly at home. You had to earn your music.

The album cover was also a bit of a stretch from the cross and skulls of Appetite. This one, designed by Mark Kostabi, redesigns Raphael's painting, School of Athens. If you ask me, the highlighted figure of the unknown philosopher looks like an early Banksy to me.

From all of the songs on these albums, my highlight, lyrically, is Breakdown. It gives such insight into relationships that, at 13, I had no clue what the song was really about. Now, it is simply beautiful and portrays the reality of the ups and downs of many relationships. Musically, the song has it's ups and downs as well, building and falling, breaking and then finishing a calm mix of piano notes and guitar chords.

So if you have some extra time or want to go back through memory lane. I highly recommend taking a listen again to these albums. I can't recommend one over the other. Both have songs that are good for their own reasons.

It's also humbling for me to think that this would really be the last we would have of the Guns N Roses that we grew up with. This was before Axl went off the deep and decided to show up late to all of his shows. I'm happy this was a double album, that we were able to hear all of this wonderful music from the at their peak. Take a listen and let me know if it brings back the same memories - or evokes something the album didn't before.

*

I
Right Next Door To Hell
Dust N' Bones
Live And Let Die
Don't Cry
Perfect Crime
You Ain't The First
Bad Obsession
Back OFF Bitch
Double Talking Jive
November Rain
The Garden
Garden Of Eden
Don't Damn Me
Bad Apples
Dead Horse
Coma

II
Civil War
14 Years
Yesterdays
Knocking On Heaven's Door
Get In The Ring
Shotgun Blues
Breakdown
Pretty Tied Up
Locomotive
So Fine
Estranged
You Could Be Mine
Don't Cry (Alt)
My World