DOGS OF THE SEATTLE GRUNGE TEMPLE COOKED UP A FIERY FLANNELETTE ROCK JAM

The tag `alternative rock` has certainly become more and more of an ambiguous description of music the longer it has been since Seattle grunge music stormed into popular music culture in the early 90`s, albums like Nirvana`s Nevermind, Pearl Jam`s Ten and Alice in Chain`s Facelift were the frontrunners of the new heavy rock sound which defined a generation of young people. 

A few splinter groups from around Seattle made a few memorable albums, but sadly they were soon forgotten about because the alternative rock surge waited for no one and so many mediocre bands were catapulted into superstardom, not on the back of their musical prowess, but on.the back of the image factor which the record companies done a good job of promoting so often, even when they were trying to promote a crappy band which simply wasn`t up to being in
the A-League of rock bands. 

Some grunge bands should have never been allowed out of the garage to play in public, that is how hopeless some of them were. 

But alternative bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, and to a lesser extent Nirvana and Pearl Jam, had some saving graces which so many copycat bands of the mid to late 90`s never had. 

Pearl Jam was always let down by vocalist Eddie Vedder if you ask me, the bands raw and rootsy grunge sound, led by the very Neil Young inspired Mike McCreadie, was definitely the best asset Pearl Jam ever had. 

I just never liked Eddie Vedder`s voice, I just cant help it. But Chris Cornell, who is the singer for Soundgarden, came to the rescue and Pearl Jam (including Vedder), recorded an album with Cornell at the very end of 1990 under the band name of TEMPLE OF THE DOGS. 

Unlike Vedder`s irritating voice, I like Chris Cornell, he is a terrific heavy rock vocalist and surprisingly charismatic for some flannelette rocker from Washington state.

There are 10 songs on this supergroup grunge opus, and in true Cornell style, some songs are lyrically abstract in the extreme and you dont have a damn clue what the guy is singing about. 

Some songs are written by Cornell, others are written by one or more of the Pearl
Jammers. The only song I want to mention is the number two song `Reach Down`. 

I think it is a corker of a Seattle grunge song, one of the most intense jams ever recorded
in Seattle. The studio CD version lasts for 11.11 minutes, but I couldn`t find a You Tube studio version on the net, so you'll have to settle for this very `rusty` live version
which I highly suspect is a bootleg recording on somebody's movie camera, maybe even their mobile phone haha.

And the live version only goes for nine and a bit minutes as well, dont know why "Pearlgarden" decided to snip two minutes off the song when playing it live. Anyway, have a listen to the clip below, and get some grunge into you.


YouTube - Reach down - Temple of the dog (live 1992)