The album Stone Gossard called the highlight of his career: “We brought something that was special”
People might not have known it at the time, but grunge was around well before the genre was officially given a name, they just didn’t know it yet.
One of the first bands that championed that unique offset of rock was Mother Love Bone, who were made up of a lot of famous names that grunge fans will no doubt be aware of. The likes of Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were lending their musical abilities to the band before Pearl Jam was even a glint in their eye, and the result was a pretty stellar album.
Apple was released in 1990 and really set the foundation for all things grunge. Granted, it didn’t put the genre on blast quite as much as some of those later releases did, but paired with a psychedelic funk sound, the vision was evident. The reason Mother Love Bone disbanded, despite having a great sound, was that, unfortunately, their lead singer, Andrew Wood, passed away.
Pearl Jam originally formed because, after the success of Mother Love Bone, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard were inundated with vocal demos from artists who were trying to copy Wood’s sound, and the only one who came forward with any dollop of originality was Eddie Vedder. Yes, Wood had amazing vocal ability, but when those involved in Mother Love Bone moved on to their next projects, they wanted someone different, not a copycat.
“Mother Love Bone as a band is history,” said Jeff Ament. “Us going out and using the name, pretending in a sense that Andy’s still there, was never even a consideration… Getting out on the road as a band and promoting [Apple] with a singer pretending to be Andy would be a terrible waste. It would be just total prostitution. None of us got into music to be the next New Kids On The Block.”
Stone Gossard was ecstatic when Vedder sent through some vocal demos, and they finally found a singer with original flair. “My initial impression was, well, he can sing, and it sounds cool,” he said. “The only other things that I’d heard were from singers trying to be Andy, who were really into Mother Love Bone, so hearing Eddie was like, Thank God!”
Of course, losing a musical talent like Andrew Wood wasn’t something which could go without tribute. As such, before Pearl Jam released their debut, the band came together to write and record some songs which would act as an homage to Wood. A number of great grunge-like minds came together to put the album together, such as Pearl Jam alumni, as well as Chris Cornell, Mike McCready and Matt Cameron. They were only supposed to write one song, but when you have a lineup that good, limiting yourself isn’t a wise move. The end product was a self-titled LP called Temple of the Dog.
Gossard has gone on to have plenty of success with Pearl Jam since this album, but he still looks at the creative dynamic on Temple of the Dog and calls it a peak. The amount of talent on display has led to one of his greatest musical endeavours that he still looks back on as both a success and an appropriate tribute.
“Why? Well, because you have an incredible singer-songwriter in Chris Cornell who knows how to do it, and he knows how to let you be you, and you have Matt Cameron, who fucking needs one drum take to make it,” he concluded. “Both of those guys at the peak of their powers and inviting us to be part of the process, and we brought something that was special to those guys because Soundgarden was pretty rigid.”
