Show Notes
Temple of the Dog was a one-off collaboration between members of Soundgarden and the band that would become Pearl Jam. Conceived as a tribute to the late Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone, the album has since earned a place as a key moment in the evolution of the Seattle sound.
In this episode of Riffology (formerly The Monster Shop), Neil and Chris revisit the album’s origins, explore its spontaneous creation, and discuss how it brought together Chris Cornell, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, and a not-yet-famous Eddie Vedder.
Ideal for fans of grunge history, early ’90s alternative rock, or anyone curious about how one tribute album became something far more enduring.
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G-e-e-e-e-e-n-a you sound like eddie vedder eddie vedder chris cornell all the pearl jam boys um temple of the dog like a party isn't it yes it's um i have to say this album um i i always know about this album but it wasn't an album i listen to very regularly same oh we're rithology by the way rithology yeah you're neil i'm chris yeah rithology this used to be called monster shop now rithology loads more listeners america now america like us yeah i don't know it must be trump he did it no i'm sorry if you don't like trump or if you do i don't know i don't know what's going on in the world if you know what's going on in the world right and tell us because we haven't got a clue um we do albums yeah every every week every week and we've only had in my knowledge yeah two weeks where we haven't because we've been poorly been sick yeah and we're old men now so we're allowed to be a bit poorly yeah which is fine um but so every monday uh yeah see we're doing really well this is great we've never done this before we normally there's 10 minutes of rambling before we even get this stuff in is what did we do last week we did uh we did audio slave we did audio slave with the chris cornell yeah and lindsey wrote in to tell us you should do temple of the dog yes yeah yeah and we spoke about this at the end of last week as well we did so if you want to hear the story of this yes continuity yes end of last week's show and then but anyway lindsey do temple of the dog and i thought yeah that's dead good yeah and then it hit me i probably not listened to it for like 10 years i you know i've never listened to this album in full really never not until this week wow until we said i've like i've there's songs that i like there's you know my favorite i think is reach down there's there's also we'll talk about that a bit um there's all sorts of cool stuff on it i like it how it feels like it's a big jam with singing on it that's my favorite thing about it yeah yeah it's got it's it's a proper weird album it's got it like it's got that it's got that feel to it um produced by the band pretty much it's got in i think i love the the production of this it's got a lovely sound to it um it's an album that sounds really good on speak you know we talk we quite often talk about headphone albums this is a really i think this is a really great album yes a rock and roll it's kind of a must have pushed them out yes rock album it sounds sounds great on speakers i think this one does um i i love the story behind this now this is where i have to stop you straight away oh go on i'm not very clear you know i'm not very good at time yeah this i'm not i can't understand the timeline of where this happened so this this was 90 1990 it came from essentially the band are like um it's mother love bone essentially with chris cornell but i didn't know if it was like see this is the thing like where was where does it fit like with the bands because i thought it was before everything and then in one of the interviews it said no no no this is like after sound garden come off tour yeah and this thing happens sound garden wood touring yeah um but then you have to bear in mind that like and then there's mother love bone and then that's another and then there's temp i don't i don't then there's a sound garden and then pearl jam and then so they're all the same sort of seattle thing aren't they they are yeah i think that's it they're just all mates weren't they yeah so so temple of the dog came out of mother love bone essentially and their singer andrew wood died he was a roommate of chris cornell when sound garden got off tour actually um the last time when they went out for odd and love they got off tour and it was right after andy had died and um and chris had written a couple songs about andy and and played them for me and jeff and said you know if you guys want to you know help get together and record these songs with me it'd be great i think in that sense i think we're more proud of it than anything because it was like no pressure and we just went in and we just did it and we didn't like think about it too much and we left a lot of stuff really just kind of the way it was and it's pretty jammy and and it's a record that it's just a great record right he died of a heroin overdose and cornell was out on tour with sound garden and was just a little bit sad and a bit you know i'm a bit bit annoyed about this time sound garden weren't dead massive were they no no no nothing none of them were big yeah yeah but i mean like they weren't like no no no they weren't yeah yeah mega mega big and that's interesting because it impacts this album okay yeah so um so it all came from andrew wood um so he passed chris was out on tour he wrote some songs uh then came back and showed them to the almost like a grief thing yeah to the mother love bone guys right um and then the mother love bone guys yeah were basically pearl jam eventually yeah come become become yeah i guess you know seeing this band might help somebody feel differently about it or maybe you know more uplifted about it if they were if they were uh upset about how mother love bone ended but personally i i look at pearl jam as being like a real uh inspiring force musically so um i think other people will probably do the same you know i think for everyone that had to experience the tragedy everybody has turned around to experience uh something really inspirational things like this have to happen so as a group people can focus and be together and be strong as one and and i think that's happening without conventions like this i think i think that's happening at the shows so they they kind of go well i want to do a single i think i want to do a single i want to do something in support i want to do something in in memorial kind of thing and that's what then so they started to jam and then that became temple of the temple of the dog and then and then that became an album they were going to do a single and that became an album and then you know uh like eventually uh what came out of those two tracks that chris wrote so that was reach down and say hello to heaven um we started with say hello to heaven we had a bit of that yeah it's such a good song yeah um so uh uh that becomes this album essentially um but there's some lovely bits in here that absolutely blew me away when i hadn't realized until i was kind of doing the research and reading for this um but uh so the mother love bone guys are trying to get another band together so they're they're in in the process of this this isn't like oh let's have a band with chris cornell right yeah yeah this is like we're searching we're in limbo we don't really know what's happening yeah they're all just kind of mates in there so the mother love bone guys are thinking do you know what we're we're gonna pull another band together we don't really know what we're gonna do but we know we're gonna do something so they start looking for other singers and they invite eddie at the point that they're jamming for this with chris yeah they invite eddie vedder up to try out for the band yeah and because of kind of how things were in seattle at the time they're all just mucking about and hanging out yeah so eddie vedder ends up in the studio with this singing on this while they're yeah yeah while they're jamming and while they're recording on this stuff but i can't feed all the foulness when my cup's already overfilled yeah but it's on the table the fire's cooking and they're farming babies while slaves are working the blood is on the table and the mouths are choking I'm born hungry. I don't mind stealing bread from the mouths of decadence. But I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfillin'. But it's on the table the fire's cookin'. And the farmin' babies and the slaves are out workin'. And it's on the table the mouths are chokin'. But I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. I'm goin' hungry. guitar solo guitar solo Stealing bread I don't mind Stealing bread I'm going hungry I'm going hungry I'm going hungry And so at that point you've got Chris Cornell on what would become all a Pearl Jam all in one place But there was no Pearl Jam No That's the other bit as well because I thought they'd taken it was one of these where I thought they'd taken a break from that and then they're all working with Chris Cornell and wear a sound garden like what's going on but so this is timeline wise if we're talking about the saga of Seattle grunge and grunge music so this is like post Mother Love Bone but pre-Pearl Jam if we're looking at those guys It's really short though Yeah yeah it's within the space of months isn't it Yeah it is so the thing that blew me away from this as well so there are two things First of all Eddie Vedder's never been recorded on anything before It's amazing before this session There's an absolutely lovely bit in here I'm just trying to find the bit in my notes where it talks about a track called Hunger Strike where They're going to play that one in a bit It's dead good isn't it Yeah Where Chris Cornell is Chris Cornell's the lead singer from this and it's his idea he's doing it with the Mother Love Bone guys but Eddie Vedder's just kicking around doing backing vocals and just kind of Just hanging out Just kicking out and having a good laugh with them They're doing this track right called Hunger Strike and Chris is having a hard time figuring the bottom registers of the vocals that can't figure out what to do Yeah And so Eddie Vedder just does it Yeah And then years later Chris Cornell would go on to say that it was almost telepathic I had this vision in my head of what I wanted to do and I couldn't sing it but I'm quite a high register guy and I couldn't but my voice just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do and Eddie just heard me trying to do this and then just It's almost like the universe passing the baton It's mad isn't it just like crazy Yeah The song knows what it wants to be but it's got to find its vessel to kind of be transmuted through I like that That's a nice thing Hunger Strike is the first song that Eddie Vedder's ever Yeah Trap vocals on Yeah Yeah And that just It shouldn't be that mad really I mean it's like you know there's got to be a first somewhere But it's there And that that is that is it The other thing that always blows me away It's like it's like but it's like the drummer in Dave Grohl's band isn't it you know what I mean like suddenly suddenly you're playing drums and Dave Grohl's the drummer like from Nirvana Oh yeah and all of a sudden it's like oh god it's like this Chris Cornell's the singer and then all of a sudden you're the guy who's knocking around and it's like no no you're doing the lead vocal on this Chris Cornell's here why do I need to do Chris Cornell's voice that was the thing for me with this is you sort of want to hear you want sorry this is awful you want to hear starting off and not being quite as good yeah yeah I know what you mean I know what you mean that progression yeah yeah something at the beginning and like oh you know but you hit this and you go oh no he always had it I think yeah he was just born with it I do love the idea that Eddie Vedder got a phone call from the Mother Love Band guys he's like hey do you want to come up to Seattle and do some grunge and he was like yeah yeah whatever I guess when a plane comes up there does the thing and there's oh we're doing a recording thing do you want to come and have a beer and then ends up and essentially Pearl Jam fall out of that because Chris Cornell goes back and does the Soundgarden thing and then all of a sudden there's Pearl Jam and then they're sitting around going oh well yeah alright and then and then 10 happens what 10 happened 4 months so 10 was released 4 months after Temple of the Dog we've done 10 we haven't done 10 we haven't done 10 we've got to do 10 and I think that was where I got to with this when as soon as Lindsay said you should do Temple of the Dog I thought that leads straight we've got to do 10 we have to do 10 that's it we're right what are we now like 10 minutes ish yeah and we've already decided what's next it feels like we've never done this this is normally like the end feels pretty mega doesn't it yeah no we've got to do 10 next that's it that's vital I think 10's got to be one of those albums that is you know like we the show is always meant to be about iconic albums yeah and it kind of wavers a little bit like because I mean I mean no disrespect by this but this album's not an iconic album no no no there's so like probably it will be for someone of course it will two thirds of the people that listen to the show I've never heard of it before yeah yeah and then you know and of course it is like you say it's big to some people but there are albums like Back in Black yeah yeah where they're just standards yeah millions and millions of copies they are iconic they're just these things that exist and I think 10 is one of those 10 is one of those albums that is just it's just it's like a line in the sand of the universe isn't it it's just like that's a moment in time that was there you know and that's why music's so amazing to me well there's a another interesting bit with this I think with this Temple of the Dog album when it was released I'm trying to find the actual number in my notes but it's tiny oh 70,000 copies yeah yeah yeah so Temple of the Dog the band's self-titled debut album was released April 16th 1991 through A&M Records and initially sold 70,000 copies it's now sold millions yeah yeah yeah but they sold 70,000 copies what's really interesting is that later they said because you have to bear in mind they'd kind of become Pearl Jam yeah yeah yeah before this album had been released so they'd done the session they'd recorded Temple of the Dog then like you know the lads kind of fell out of the studio went to a bar and went oh we're Pearl Jam now yeah yeah and then Cornell's bogged off back to Soundgarden so you've got Pearl Jam Pearl Jam exists and they've got a record deal and they're recording 10 yeah and this is coming out and they said well we should put a Pearl Jam sticker on the Temple of the Dog album to help itself so people know who it is people know who we are and who it is right because I think they were worried oh well people won't know who Pearl Jam are yeah yeah that way oh really and so the bit that's really interesting I know the bit that's amazing is that then 10 gets released yeah and now you've got Pearl Jam are now massive yeah and you've got Soundgarden that are massive and then all of a sudden this Temple of the Dog album which is a nothing album is now a super group yeah yeah and suddenly gets reissued and sells millions of copies because it's a super group because everyone knows Soundgarden and everyone knows Pearl Jam but it was all before and I think that's where the timeline got that's why yeah yeah yeah it's mad isn't it but most people didn't pick it up until 92 probably got reissued in 92 so lots of people picked it up in 92 and not when it was actually so was that that you said about the four months later was it the reissue no oh no so it was done again so Temple of the Dog came out in 91 April 16th 1991 I've not got the date for 10 but it was like you know tail end of the summer 10 came out and then so that would have been the end of 91 and of course then Pearl Jam blew up in 92 as people go oh actually you know return and alive comes in yeah this is a bit massive yeah and then and then so the record label was like hang on a minute we've got this thing here with Soundgarden and Pearl Jam on it let's do something that quick let's wang that out the door again what a great word wang is that's what they do isn't it that's what record companies do I've noticed they just repress anything at the minute so they're just any old shit can I just just an observation I've just made yeah because what you do when you talk is you put your glasses on your head can't see and then and then you put your glasses down yeah when you're doing the when you're looking at your notes yeah but it's let me talk this is really funny there's a subconscious thing when you put your glasses down yeah I go into listing modes that oh his glasses are on oh he's now telling the he's now the teacher he's now do you know the worst thing that ever happened to me I so when when I got to 50 I really needed reading glasses and I can't I'm used I can't I refuse to make the font bigger on my phone obviously oh mate you've seen the size of my phones on the screen the size of a house I can't I can't cope and I was at a conference last year and I was doing the keynote for this conference and if you've never done this kind of stuff before what happens is you're on the stage and you get these monitors yeah right so you get these big monitors and it's got it's got your text on it right so when you write your talk yeah they'll kind of roll your notes right for me they're just bullet points it's not like you know it's not like verbatim but I need it right I'm getting old enough now that I forget why I'm there to be honest talk about this Neil it is it's literally like talk about this talk about this talk about this talk about that and anyway they did it and set it up with me and it was all great but when they set it up I'd got my glasses on because I was on the podium thing and I was fine I got my glasses on and I looked at the thing and I'm okay and then it dawned on me that as soon as I looked out to get eye contact with the audience yeah I can't see a thing it's just blurred right because I got my reading glasses on and then I realised I'm in shock that when I take my reading glasses off I can't read the notes anymore and I'm just like oh what do I do now yeah yeah so I literally I had to I put my reading glasses on like five minutes before when I put my reading glasses on and then did that verbatim thing where I was like regurgitating the notes in my head and then my reading glasses off so there you go I'm doing it again in May and I've asked them to if they said have you got any requests to make the font bigger proper old man isn't it proper old man we've got it now where they've got the thing where they put it on the heads up display haven't they I don't know yeah yeah so they've got this they've got this like projection thing where they'll put it either you can't see me we're going to have video super soon yeah we're talking about for our birthday yeah on the something of May 9th of May we're going to have video yeah we've said it now on the podcast it doesn't mean anything does it so either side of you so that you're looking at one and then you're looking at the other yeah and then they film you but it looks like you're talking to the audience oh so that's the new thing that they're doing like like Trump's speech is all that you can see it if you watch Trump's speech again yeah the integration speech is that what you call it integration is that it inauguration yeah yeah that yeah so you you watch him and you'll see it you'll see it he's reading that side and then he flips over to the other side and it from the film it looks like he's talking to different people in the group but he's just reading the different displays I had to remember mine do you know what you know like 20 years ago I could write it once on a plane and then remember and I wouldn't even have to I just like turn it walk on still hungover not slept for a day and just do it yeah and now if I can't I'm lost I have to go three three things without it being written down did I ever tell you that story this is going well off piece I did the story where I got an award from Steve Ballmer once oh wow right yeah yeah and was he dancing he was not dancing no and anyway there were like four of us that had won these these like global awards and I was it was one of the first years that I'd like done like internal talks yeah um and I'd been like dragged over the coals the year before for doing swearing so I'd written on the back of my hand in thick black marker do not swear um and anyway there's a picture of me receiving a really fancy award from Steve Ballmer and then I shake his hand and you can see do not swear on the back of my hand and it's like that needs framing that's brilliant yeah I got known as the do not swear guy I don't know what that's got to do with what we're doing but um well we we do very well not swearing on the podcast don't we that's I'm quite good at not swearing I'm I'm I'm a bit sweary sometimes and I'm quite good I'm very sweary I'm quite I think I think what I've discovered is that I need something to make me swear yeah and I think I'm dead relaxed with music music relaxes me and I'm just thinking about you know you know when we're doing these things I kind of imagine like I mean as we're talking about this I'm imagining like Temple of the Dawn imagine those boys in a studio it's kind of you know it's a little bit dusty smoky you know it's hot it's seattley it's you know is seattle a hot place no oh well it's april in seattle it would have been uh I'm thinking in a studio is a hot yeah oh yeah no no yeah it just smells of smells of boys yeah yeah um but seattle is like uk weather like this right yeah it was gray rainy um and then slightly more actually so the reason I know that I spent such a lot of time working in seattle yeah it's a cool place to work actually but uh so yeah typically if it's like 10 degrees here like 10 degrees celsius I don't know what that is for our american friends it's like 400 degrees fahrenheit so like 7800 degrees fahrenheit I was going to say 10 degrees is like like a bit cold yeah yeah yeah it's like not cold yeah yeah a bit it's it's telling you what it is it's putting a t-shirt on and no no hoodie yeah and then regretting it like I'm doing today yeah you are and it's about 10 degrees yeah yeah but the temperature normally when I fly out from London it's roughly the same when I land in seattle always yeah yeah and the weather's the same and it rains the same it does like it feels the same just mean it's got the same rain same it just the weather in seattle is the same as it is in the uk got it yeah makes sense always all the time yeah I don't know why that is I have to say I do like seattle it's lovely but I um is it quite an artistic creative place yeah it's lovely it's it's uh I was it's like it feels like a bit of bohemian in places it's quite cool there's a lot of art there's a lot of Bristol yeah Norwich okay Norwich yeah yeah yeah it's quite cool um play I really liked it there's I mean there's the obvious kind of touristy you know um oh come here mate I'll show you where Kurt Cobain lived yeah yeah there's a bit of art yeah which is a bit crappy but but outside of that obvious stuff it's just a quite cool laid back place yeah quite liked it we I would always land on the Saturday and then like you you know things would kick off on a on a Monday and on the Sunday you could almost walk down like the the main streets in Seattle and not like you wouldn't see anybody it was just like really yeah really really kind of a swad swaddling cocked yeah it was it it's like a kind of um I was I would say lazy like sleepy kind of just yeah yeah this but it's I don't mean it in a negative way no no no it's just uh just cool chill yeah I just I I liked it quite a lot I get the impression that Portland's a bit like that that sort of thing I think that oh yeah the Pacific Northwest in general is just kind of it's pretty liberal and yeah yeah and and um yeah it's a bit like it's a bit like going back to the 70s yeah yeah you know what I mean it's kind of it's quite retro in a in a in a in a nice way if that makes that makes sense um I liked it um it'd be nice to retire there if I could afford I'd love to get a house on the lake yeah um out near Redmond and so pretty cool nice so I'm segwaying it back into this oh god yeah what were we doing uh podcast is that is is that why music comes out of pod pocket out of Seattle like is it about you know the styling music that came through yeah yeah the the kind of grunge stuff that scene that existed yeah is is that a product of its environment is that a product of I know it's a product of the industry so it was it was a bit of a yeah a bit of a you know like a middle finger so that that kind of like really heavily produced power metal it was yeah it was it was really that I mean that whole stuff was a response it was a response to like as as as like the hair metal was a response to prog rock and yeah what would classic like an iron major and all that stuff um yeah the grunge scene was a response to the strip it was kind of like you know the antithesis yeah yeah we're not we're not going to do our hair and yeah but we're not even going to have a bath yeah we're just going to turn up you know I mean it was that it was a radically different wasn't it you spot on um I do wonder actually whether whether you know the the culture in Seattle framed the music or because it was there was a big punk scene yeah in Seattle prior um and and I wonder if but I wonder if it was kind of the grunge scene you know change the culture so yeah yeah do you know what I mean it's kind of where uh people like yeah people that were alive at that point in time even you see them now they've really embraced that um I guess that culture of yeah stuff but there must have been something there there's something in the water I think it's just kind of a yeah I'm when the spoon is hot and the needles shine that the world in black is upon your back and your body shakes so you put your back and your body shakes so you put it's just kind of a yeah and you close the And close the shirts That's how to do it That's how to get your time Yeah, you might do it Then you can't change your mind Oh You gotta hold on to your time 'Til you break through an instant of Trouble When you try to talk And the words get hard And they've brought you down Don't you stand Don't you stand Mmm, don't get you away I know you're swinging Yeah, I'm swinging your mother's son Oh Yeah, yeah, yeah I know you're playing Oh, sometimes the words get hard Oh Oh But if somebody left you Out on the list If somebody pushed you Over the end You gotta hold on to your time And break through an instant of Trouble And you're trying to do it You're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it Yeah, you're trying to do it To live some love Trouble Temple of the Dog, years active. They were active from 1990 to '92, which I think is interesting. They've done various reunions and stuff since then. It was released on the A&M label Members Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder Who is Pearl Jam plus Chris Cornell Yeah, they could have written that in the whole thing Pearl Jam never changed members, did they either? No It was that all the way through Yeah, I don't think they have No No, you're right Yeah Wow Yeah, yeah There can't be many bands No That have never changed members No I'm trying to think of any other bands Didn't somebody go off and do some stuff with Soundgarden for a bit, maybe? There was a bit of mucking about with the drummers Yeah, I think so But I don't think they left I think they were just like No, no, no, it was just an in addition Yeah Yeah, they were all just mates, aren't they? Yeah So, yeah, which is a little bit weird Anyway, the album started with two tracks "Reach Down and Say Hello to Heaven" from Chris Cornell written about the death of his friend Andrew Wood What else have I got in here? Oh, the album was recorded in 15 days Yeah, yeah, you can hear that You can hear that it was a very concentrated, time together type thing Well, there's a lovely bit in the Wikipedia page where Cornell says there was no expectations or pressure No one was expecting anything from us Yeah, yeah We were doing this, it was kind of a cathartic thing It just felt good and we were all having a good time Yeah But it just happened, yeah, it just happened quickly So, yeah, there was no real pressure on them They just got through quickly We talked about already the "Hunger Strike" track is the first time you hear Eddie Vedder sing on a record ever Which is, and it's such an amazing song as well Yeah That one to me sounds very Pearl Jamming Yeah, yeah, yeah That's kind of for where they would Yeah, I mean, you know, I said I said I think before we started recording that actually it sounds like It sort of sounds like two different, a different band to Soundgarden and Pearl Jam Yeah, yeah, yeah But actually, that one in particular Yeah Is very much Pearl Jam with Chris Cornell on additional vocals That's what you're hearing on that for sure It's the bit where you hear Eddie Vedder's voice Yeah You hear the impact Eddie Vedder's voice has on the sound which I think is pretty excellent Yeah And it's about ten minutes long as well It is, it's a very long song In the- Oh no, not that one, sorry No, "Reach Down" is the long one, isn't it? Yeah, oh, the second track Yeah, yeah, yeah That's like eleven minutes long, it's your kind of song Yeah, I like that one Oh, I listened to Steven Wilson finally as well Oh, did you? Yes For those, I've been screaming at Chris for three weeks now to listen to Steven Wilson I'll put it on and I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm like, wow, yeah, that's cool" Yeah There's no beginning and end to me No, no, it's wicked It's like space rock, isn't it? Yeah, it's totally cool It's just swirly and Yeah, 'cause I had one of the Porcupine Tree albums in a car that I had Yeah And "Deadwing" Oh, which one was it? "Lightbulb Sun" No That's my favourite No, it was, no, was it "Fear of a Blank Planet"? "Fear of a Blank Planet", that's got the Oh, it's got one of my favourite tracks ever on it and I can't remember it It's the one, it's got like a, almost like a, like an industrial beginning to it Yeah, yeah, yeah So I had this Audi convertible with a CD player in it I remember that Yeah, yeah, yeah And I remember we were, we did a photo shoot Up a tree Yeah, we did Yeah That was brilliant And Yeah And we all turned up with like cowboy and western shirts on You all looked like you were going line dancing Brilliant It was absolutely brilliant that was Paddy was up the tree We've got Paddy up a tree What if he falls out? He falls out We're just in We're in so much trouble And then that woman came out We're just like, we're in the middle of a field And that woman came over All right Yeah It's just like Yeah That was bonkers Yeah, yeah, yeah It was like something out of a That was like something out of a British movie It was like something out of Yeah Oh, I don't know Do you know what I mean? Like a full Monty or something Yeah, yeah, yeah God, mega Sorry, yeah You're in your Audi Oh yeah, yeah But I'd burnt this CD Obviously I don't think you could actually buy it Oh, no way I can't remember There was something like And I got it off like downloaded Yeah And burnt onto the CD Lime Yeah, probably something like that That was the only thing that I had in that car ever So by the time that I owned that car No way If I had to leave the stereo And the entire ownership of me having that car That album went round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round Hundreds and hundreds of times And that's it That's what I listened to I'm looking at the tracks Fear of a Blank Planet, My Ashes, Anesthetized, Sentimental, Way Out of Here and Sleep Together I think the track I remember is Fear of a Blank Planet Yeah, but yeah, that's another one where it's You put it on No, I'm genuinely playing it on my iPad Because I think this is going to go over really well I'm going to turn the volume up Yeah So good I love the way this comes in where the bass kicks in Yeah, yeah, yeah Steven Wilson's dead clever, isn't he? Yeah I'm just going to listen to this now I've got to wait until it starts though Because the drum is really cool But there's definitely Steven Wilson Yeah Has got a sound Yeah He is 100% Like that new record Yeah, yeah It's that sound It is There's a lot about it Which is the way that he produces drums The way that the guitars fit on everything The way the vocals sit Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah He's got his own very idiomatic kind of thing to that Yeah, very good If you like that kind of proggy stuff It's, yeah, it's excellent I have to say that Lightbulb Sun is There's that one, Fear of a Blank Planet And Lightbulb Sun I love both of those two I think they're excellent We've got well off track there, haven't we? I have no idea what we're doing They're staying in, not getting rid of it Staying on the podcast Staying on the podcast People would delete that Like it was some tangent No, it's all part of the journey It is, isn't it? Yeah The thing, do you know what I like about podcasts? Yeah There are no rules You do what you want Yeah, but I do Do you know, I like I like Like if I wanted to know About a particular album Yeah I'd just go and look it up Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm not going to go to a podcast for that What I like about podcasts is It kind of makes me feel like I've got friends Do you know what I mean? And I mean that in a really serious way I'm sitting at home Lonely and I'm on my own Yeah And I've got my cat Yeah And then I can put a podcast on You've got a few cats But I put a podcast on And it's like there's other people with me Yes I put a podcast on That's about something that I like I like And you form your opinions And you're like But you're with them That's the difference Yeah, it's a bit like being in the pub With people Yeah, yeah, yeah And you know And it's not I mean we're not the BBC We're not going to stick on There's no script As you can I mean it might be shocking But it is It's like I don't know And I like that I kind of like it When they're kind of You know There are some podcasts Which I like Jake Humphries does The performance podcast Right And he's phenomenal I just think he's He's just brilliant He's such a good interviewer Absolutely brilliant And you watch them And often when I listen to his stuff I kind of It like changes my perception on the world Yeah, yeah, yeah They're just incredible I don't always want that Sometimes I want like two people Just waffling Yeah And I like I kind of like the I like the stories And I like hearing what people are up to I hear what people like And I don't know I think there's It's nice It's very human Podcast style It is Yeah I was doing Facts Yeah I think I've run out of facts Shall I just say I've run out of facts? This is really good Because we've already done the facts And we've already know what we're doing next week So I kind of don't know where I'm going now with this Because we've We've gone off the structure that we normally have With these things We do I'm going to say Peak chart positions Yeah US Number five Pete Sharp Who's Pete Sharp? Pete Sharp? Pete Sharp? I've been gardening today I could talk about that Yeah In the US It got to number five Yeah In the chart And in Canada I don't know where Is Canada America now? Oh gosh Oh no don't say that No that's not Yeah yeah no If you know what's going on Tell us Because we're living on a little island Yeah we don't know what's happening No one tells us what's going on Do you know I feel like I said this to my friend this week I said I feel like You know like in You see watch World War 2 movies Yeah No one knew what was going on Yeah Like there was no Like you know what I mean There wasn't internet Yeah So you It was all done by letters And word of mouth And nobody knew what was going on A little bit like that Yeah yeah No idea what's going on I switch on my telly box I know what You never know what's happening At any particular time No Anyway it got to 5 in the US And it got to 11 in Canada In 1992 So after it came out Way way way after it was released Because of the Pearl Jam Yeah Soundgarden thing And Soundgarden thing Yeah It was released on CD Cassette Yeah And LP Cassette's becoming popular again Yeah it's weird isn't it People like all that now That torture with a pencil Having to wind it on I don't like Cheering your tape up And no I like reel to reel Yeah I like mini disc Yeah I like LP I like mini disc Mini disc Mini disc feels nice Yeah yeah yeah I like I like compact discs actually Yeah yeah I like compact discs Not a big fan of the cassette No I like compact discs Where it goes I don't like it Where you put it in a tray And it goes I don't like that Oh You're getting very specific Yeah You like that Anyway Yeah so that was That was there Which is obviously nice And then there were three singles Hunger Strike Say Hello to Heaven And Pushing Forward Back Which was the US promo The singles Again They did well But in 92 Oh right Yeah So Hunger Strike Peaked at 4 in the US In the UK 51 Really So they must Because there's a video For Hunger Strike Yes they recorded it And never released it Never released it No Right So I'm reading on the Wikipedia page So the video must have So they must have Recorded the video Yeah Around 10 time Yeah Maybe even after that No it was done before 10 Right And then It was in the video though Yes Right okay The video was done before They knew that They knew they were going to Release that as a single But it didn't get put out Didn't get put out Because the album didn't sell Yeah It didn't sell They didn't bother Yeah And then 10 is coming Yeah You know Cornell's But you have to think about Like nobody's Nobody's on the hook Nobody's paid Tons of cash for this Yeah No one's poured like a million dollars Into a studio somewhere It's literally just You know Five or six blokes Hanging around in Seattle For like a month So Interestingly they redid The video in 2016 I didn't know that And I've not looked at it It was certified Platinum Yeah And I can't remember What platinum means But it's a lot Yeah I think it's a million Don't know It's gold It's gold too many I can't I do know this And I've forgotten it But it was a lot It went from nothing Yeah To being You know This This big selling thing Yeah And it's Yeah I think it's an interesting I think it's an interesting record But it's an interesting record Like you mentioned before In that Transformation That Stepping stone Of what Pearl Jam became Yeah I don't think It's I mean it's not 10 No Do you know what I mean It's not It's got That's the thing I would say About this one Is that I said earlier It feels like jamming With lyrics I love it Which is amazing But like It doesn't It doesn't sound awful There aren't really songs on it Like in the In the sense of You know I get it Like Alive is a song Or Jeremy is a song Or even Even Flow Or You know Spoon Man Or You know Or Black Hole Sun You know They're They're Songs They're You know Beautiful Beautiful Crafted songs This felt like Guys that are discovering themselves That are hugely Hugely talented And that are playing together And sort of working stuff out And And sort of jamming on it And making kind of moments You know Yeah I mean It's It's absolutely mad I was I just Started to look at At 10 So 10 was released on August 27th 91 It was recorded March 27th To April The 26th 91 Wow So they They were not long Out of You know So this would have been In the canon And then they would have Almost gone straight in And done 10 Which is So What it must have done Is triggered something Creatively within them I think so Yeah I think Yeah I think it's just It's just Yeah It's It's It's mad Isn't it Really That Yeah It's Like looking at The Wikipedia page For 10 It's like There's a There's a table Of like 100 greatest albums Ever And all of the Magazines and stuff That have listed it As like being The best album ever Right But it's mad Isn't it The The The stuff That came That came out On that You know Jeremy And even Flo Alive Yeah And But even Like the You know The Like what would be The album tracks The tracks That were not Big Yeah Yeah They're still Yeah Way up there Yeah Mega They're still Mega It must That must have Been a really Tough A really Tough time To go and sit With it Because they'll Have recorded That and then Gone into the Records Near the Record label And said Yeah We're gonna We're gonna Put these As singles Please Yeah You know I mean You can imagine The record label Yeah How do you How do we do that Yeah How do you even Choose I've just found out What the numbers are So gold is 500,000 Yeah Platinum is a million A million Yeah And then it goes up In increment So like Triple Platinum Is three million For example Oh okay And then Diamond Is ten million Ten million Ten million So that's really Really good Isn't it Yeah But it's a lot Isn't it It's a lot Yeah It did sell A lot That You know For For something That was unheard of Yeah Yeah Yeah It didn't have A lot of Push behind it Yeah Didn't chart Anywhere really When it Didn't chart Anywhere in the World when it Was released No No And it was only On the back of You know Ten From Pearl Jam I had another Look at it Yeah And that's it I think we've done I think we've done All the things Yeah I think we're good I think we're good And we know And we know What's next We've probably A little waffle As well We've probably Missed something Yeah Normally what happens Is on the Monday When we have The new thing Comes out People message To say You should have said Why did you not mention Do you know what I mean Well that's because We want other people To be part of the story With us isn't it That's exactly why Yeah That's exactly why We want to do everything We want We want Yeah Contributions And conversation And debate I do love The And we forget Yeah we do The community That's kind of Building up Around the show Is I think Getting really interesting And there's a whole bunch Of incredibly Knowledgeable Music fans And collectors Yeah And it's brilliant It's absolutely brilliant I think It's You know And you're having Sometimes I'll be having A bad day And I'll go on to X Or go on to Facebook Or go on to Blue Sky And there'll be Conversations and threads And things happening From people And you just think I like it Yeah it's nice Feels good Yeah it's good Feels good And since renaming And becoming a profology Because we used to be called Monster Shop We did For a long time And the algorithm Blocked that Quite a lot Didn't like that very much No I didn't Because we were not a shop Yeah so we did Riffology Well you did It was a good name And then we put that on And then all of a sudden Everyone was listening Yeah it suddenly got really busy It did make me wonder Just what if you did Have a shop How does that work Yeah yeah Yeah We can't do that as well We're already very busy A shop Merchandise Honestly One of these days I'm going to do Like loads of t-shirts And stuff With having the The Riffology logo Logo on the front And then Quotes about riffs On the back Yeah yeah yeah And I even started to look And I found some brilliant Quotes from people And I would love to do it But the last time We talked about this Last week didn't we But the last time We tried to sell t-shirts We lost That cost us money It cost a pound Every time someone Bought one So I'm eager Not to do that again That's because We're business people We are business people And luckily Not many people Bought them So Like We didn't We're not We're not bankrupt But Never mind I reckon that's us For this week mate It is Yeah It is It's not Do you know It's five past nine On a Sunday night Yeah normally We only just started Yeah Sometimes we'll kind of Roll back in at one o'clock In the morning Don't we With school on that same day It's hard work That is I can't stay up anymore No But anyway I think we could That's been good fun I've enjoyed that Thanks for listening with us Thank you 10 next week 10 next week Love you bye Love you bye Reach down Which was the second song I wrote The Temple of the Dog Record I wanted it to be Sort of like A Neil Young Fuck you to the world Of people who don't Want to hear a guitar solo I'm going to make An 11 or 12 minute song That's mostly guitar solo And that's going to be The first song on the album And you can fuck off When I heard Pretty play guitar I was like We're going to pull it off For real This isn't going to be a joke He can actually fucking play Because I couldn't Out of his mind This guy's a He's a fucking rock star Like he's got problems And we just thought He was a nice little kid He's got something in there Like he's infected And that's going to come out again Somewhere Good luck guys He knows me Yeah that's I would say that's 100% accurate Well I hadn't seen the other night You would fall in the corner On the chair Well below I left a cold Purple glasses And glitter in your hair And you said Hey this is where I want to sit And buy you a drink Someday When you were going To the dark shows But you passed away Now you said I got all this room And no more Need to death But ready You've got some love A customer Put you in touch With your man Lovers But he said Little man You've got no business Being all frustrated Oh you've got to rest You've got to rest You've got to rest You've got to reach down And pick the crowd up Oh I want to reach down And pick the crowd up Carry back in my hand To the promised land To the promised land I had an angel shine my wings She said nothing but That's for the golden boy She made me promise Not to tell I have it under a spell Singing the golden world To the broken boys And I call a blessing On the wind I'm feeling lighter Than the breath from a dove I've got no hands To tie behind my bed I'm sparking like a heart attack And I've got rumors From my wings And my messages of love Love was my drum That's not what I died of So don't you think of me Crying louder than some billion dollar baby Crying louder than some billion dollar baby Oh I want to rest I want to rest I want to rest I want to rest I want to reach down And pick the crowd up I want to reach down And pick the crowd up Carry it back in my hand To the promised land To the promised land To the promised land To the promised land To the promised land We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.