Temple Of The Dog consists of Chris Cornell (guitar, vocals), Eddie Vedder (vocals), Jeff Ament (bass), Matt Cameron (drums), Mike Mccready (lead guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar).
Temple of the Dog is the only album from the grunge supergroup of the same name. It featured members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. The album was released on April 16, 1991 through A&M Records.
Temple of the Dog was started by Chris Cornell. After the death of his former roommate, Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, Cornell wrote two songs in tribute: "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Reach Down". Cornell approached Wood's former bandmates, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, with the intention of releasing the songs as a single.
With the band completed following the addition of Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron (who would later join Pearl Jam after the breakup of Soundgarden in April 1997) and Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready, the band started rehearsing the songs. The rehearsals soon lead to several new songs, and the single soon became an album.
Eddie Vedder, who had flown to Seattle to audition to be Pearl Jam's singer, ended up providing backing vocals. "Hunger Strike" became a duet between Cornell and Vedder. Cornell was having trouble with the vocals at practice, when Vedder stepped in. Cornell later said that "he sang half of that song not even knowing that I'd wanted the part to be there and he sang it exactly the way I was thinking about doing it, just instinctively".
Vedder's role on the album, and appearance in the video released to accompany "Hunger Strike", confused and angered several people. Pearl Jam fans, who were not aware of the background of the project, saw Vedder's lesser role as a slight; while fans of Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone presumed that Vedder's appearance on the album was due to record company machinations.
Aside from a show the band played in Seattle, at the Off Ramp Café, on November 13, 1990, while rehearsing and writing the material for the album, the band had two opportunities to perform the material live. In October 1991, both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam appeared at the Foundations Forum showcase, and in 1992 the band played at the last show of that year's Lollapalooza festival.