The guitar riff used for two different grunge classics
There was never any sense of competition in the early days of grunge rock. Stemming from the Seattle rock scene erupting in the late 1980s, most artists fluctuated in every band were usually looking to play music with their friends regardless of whether there was a market for it. Since there were many shifting band members around this time, it was no surprise that there were a few shared riffs among the bands as well.
Then again, it’s not a mistake that every band in the early grunge scene had a specific set of influences. When combing through the early songs by bands like Soundgarden and Melvins, it’s easy to see each member wearing the sounds of Black Sabbath on their sleeves, taking the sludgy sounds of metal and blending them with the sounds of art rock akin to Frank Zappa.
Of all the bands to emerge from the scene, the one with the most commercial potential was Mother Love Bone. Creating songs destined to be played in stadiums, Andy Wood became the ideal rock frontman of the time, playing to his strengths as a vocalist and channelling his heroes like Freddie Mercury and Paul Stanley.
Even though it seemed like everything would be perfect, Wood would end up falling prey to his addictions, succumbing to a drug overdose before the grunge movement properly got off the ground. Since Wood had been sharing an apartment alongside Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, the Soundgarden frontman would put together demos meant to commemorate his fallen friend.
Deciding to record the songs with the surviving members of Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog would be a collaboration between both bands, with Stone Gossard throwing in riffs that he had also been working on. While adding Eddie Vedder to the sessions would plant the seeds for what would become Pearl Jam, the song ‘Times of Trouble’ straddled the sounds of both bands.
Featuring a spare guitar riff, Cornell’s take on the tune feels indebted to Wood’s loss. Considering how friendly the two were together, Cornell feels stricken with grief throughout the song as he longs to see his friend once again. Little did he know that part of the song had already been reworked by Vedder into one of Pearl Jam’s early compositions.
Included on the demo tape that would ultimately get Vedder in the band, the singer would transform the song into the track ‘Footsteps’. Included as part of the trilogy of songs that Vedder would call ‘MamaSon’, the track carried on the story from the songs ‘Alive’ and ‘Once’, featuring the scarred child awaiting his execution after going on a killing spree when his psyche snaps.
Whether it was because of the association with Temple of the Dog or being one of the lesser songs found during the Ten era, ‘Footsteps’ would ultimately be canned for Pearl Jam’s debut, only turning up as one of the B-sides to the ‘Jeremy’ single. Although it could come down to lazy songwriting, it’s interesting to see where one riff can go when it’s put into the hands of two separate alternative icons.
