Yesterday, we talked briefly about Mother Love Bone. But what happened to the rest of Mother Love Bone after the death of Andrew Wood?
Many of you know the answer to this, at least partially. Stone Gossard, guitarist for the band, started writing some hard-edged stuff in reaction, and started revisiting other stuff he had written as a member of MLB. One of these songs was an instrumental named "Dollar Short". He and Jeff Ament were taking part in a tribute project (to Wood) called Temple of the Dog with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden, and a San Diego vocalist who I'm sure you've never heard of named Eddie Vedder was recruited to do some vocals for this.
Many of you know the answer to this, at least partially. Stone Gossard, guitarist for the band, started writing some hard-edged stuff in reaction, and started revisiting other stuff he had written as a member of MLB. One of these songs was an instrumental named "Dollar Short". He and Jeff Ament were taking part in a tribute project (to Wood) called Temple of the Dog with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden, and a San Diego vocalist who I'm sure you've never heard of named Eddie Vedder was recruited to do some vocals for this.
Anyway, Vedder got his hands on "Dollar Short" and came up with lyrics. Those lyrics were "Alive". After Temple of the Dog, Vedder stuck with Ament and Gossard, along with other participant Mike McCready (who was already playing with Gossard and Ament with the goal of a new band) formed a new band, Pearl Jam, which would become one of the biggest and most influential bands in the Seattle scene.
This single, the band's first, was, believe it or not, only a minor hit - bubbling under the Hot 100 and getting some commercial airplay - but it set the table for their bigger follow-up songs. And, clearly, the song (with the added McCready outro, considered one of the best guitar solos of all time) endures.
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