Temple Of The Dog.
The project is almost legend now in the histories of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, and the name inspires respect and a kind of awe from fans of both bands. It’s also been a project to which many misconceptions and misunderstandings are attached; how, who, and when will there be another album, another reunion. Most of us came on board after the fact, when Temple had already become a commodity. Lots of us came on board much later, and only know the legend.
Temple was a labor of love, a tribute to a dead friend, an outgrowth of the mourning process. It wasn’t intended to be the commodity that it was later forced to become. This is an exploration of the project’s genesis, motivation and creation, as well as its aftermath.
The story begins with aspiring “Freddie [Mercury] prodigy,” Andrew Wood. People give Stone and Jeff shit about wanting to be rock stars, selling out, the usual bullshit. Those people obviously never knew anything about Andy Wood. The saying is that Andy always played to the balcony, even if there were only 10 people in the room. His idols were Freddie Mercury of Queen and Marc Bolan of T.Rex, and Andy seemed to be one of those people destined for stardom.
“L’andrew, mythical love child from Olympus, now resides in Seattle where he fronts a band called Malfunkshun…” – from early Malfunkshun show posters
The Seattle music scene has a reputation for being incestuous. There’s a good reason for that: it is. Everyone either ends up playing or working with everyone else. Andrew’s first real project, Malfunkshun, included his brother Kevin, as well as fellow Bainbridge Island neighbor Regan Hagar (later of Satchel and Brad).
Continue reading: History of Temple of the Dog – Part 2, the death of Andrew Wood.
Back to History of Temple of the Dog – Index.