Can you believe it? It’s just one week until Mr. Faded Glory makes the pilgrimage to Seattle, Washington. One week!
Sadly, that’s not a segue. Right now those pesky Barenaked Ladies are running through your mind, but campy song classic One Weekstill isn’t on this countdown. Look for it later in the year, though, on “Top 25 songs that made us all want to commit suicide in late summer 1998.” On to Number 2 in our grunge manifest:
Temple of the Dog, Hunger Strike.
Chris Cornell‘s swirling and epic tribute to late Mother Love Bone singer Andy Wood resonated for months upon its chart entry in 1991, gaining notoriety and thundering into the rock landscape during grunge’s 1992 explosion. Though the band is the current lineup of Pearl Jam, the album has Cornell‘s unmistakable fingerprints all over it, and was a landmark grunge release entertwining the two superpowers, albeit under the umbrella of Wood‘s demise.
The plucking, methodical opening guitar chords are instantly recognizable 15 years after its release — still inspiring chills in followers of Mother Love Bone, Cornell, Soundgarden, and to an extent, Pearl Jam.
The entire Temple of the Dog record is outstanding — Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard mesh almost seamlessly as the memory of glam-band and charismatic frontman Wood fades (or burns) into memories. The iconic guitar solo and clash-of-the-titans vocals between Cornell and special guest Eddie Vedder revealed a picturesque interplay, between guitar, mourning, wailing, thinking, and hesitance. Hunger Strike remains a classic not just for its place in grunge music and Seattle history — but rock and roll history in general.
Even today, “I don’t mind stealing bread,” and “I’m goin’ hungry,” two bizarrely innocent phrases, instantly create a mind landscape of the song — I can still remember where I was when I first heard Hunger Strike. I was 14, and wasn’t completely obsessed with Seattle – though I loved Nevermind, and Ten, but treated them more as casual listening rather than Biblical reverence. I played a lot of basketball, mowed a lot of lawns, and ran around a lot on a Trek 820 that summer. Somehow, one summer day, I was home, laying face-down on the couch, snoozing during an afternoon. We were remodeling the porch or something and were taking a short break in the afternoon. (Yes, ironic, isn’t it? Remodeling the porch!)
Anyway, I had flipped away from the video previously a few times during the summer during MTV‘s “Rock Blocks,” which was their theme. (You remember – Club Block, Rock Block, R+B Block. It was Block Party Summer. Somehow, EMF‘s Unbelievable! was a strong enough song to transfer freely across any Genre Block, but, you know, we were dumb.)
You remember the lasting images of the video, right? You know, the one with the lighthouse, Cornell in full-Jesus mode, a flannel-clad Vedder emerging from the weeds to deliver his cameo. The bonfire between PJ and SG at the end, as the day closes. Well, that video came on as I was napping, my eyelids briefly fluttering as I caught the lighthouse, heard the opening guitar stanza, and decided before drifting off in time with Cornell‘s opening lines to leave the remote be.
Through my sleep, somehow, the picturesque guitar opening, the crescendo of Vedder and Cornell’s respective deliveries, and the landmark chorus burned into my head — so much so that I rolled over, off the couch, fell flat on my back, and my braces bit my tongue. It was that memorable.The first time I really heard Hunger Strike — a masterpiece — and I still pause every time I hear the song. The next day I joined Columbia House just to get Temple’s album, along with ten others, for a penny!
I don’t know that I still consider Hunger Strike even my favorite song on Temple of the Dog (Possibly Wooden Jesus or All Night Thing). I do know, however, there are few songs that still possess the ability to stop me in my tracks in passing, and give me goose bumps during the right listen. Hunger Strike is one of these. Not only the perfect complement to Crown of Thorns (Official Theme Song of Mr. Faded Glory), but a grunge and hard rock classic that deserves its place in the legacy of rock and roll for eternity.
So what could top it? Guess you’ll have to wait ’til Wednesday. You’ll be goin’ hungry . . .
