10 Greatest Duets In Rock History
1. Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
It really looked like the hope for the Seattle scene to make it had faded away after Andy Wood's passing. Long before Nirvana came onto the scene, the funk and arena rock stylings of Mother Love Bone seemed poised for success until Wood was found unresponsive after a drug overdose. At a time when things seem pretty dismal, the surviving members of the Mother Love Bone found a way to heal through music.
Teaming up with Wood's longtime friend Chris Cornell, Temple of the Dog was a project created to honor their fallen friend. Even though every song on this record has that hard rock shimmer, nothing really magical happens until you arrive at Hunger Strike. Shopping around for a new vocalist, the remaining Love Bone members found a young singer named Eddie Vedder, who provided the perfect baritone counterpart to Cornell's squeals.
Despite coming together for a morbid reason, each of these bands benefited from Temple of the Dog, with Mother Love Bone morphing into Pearl Jam and Soundgarden rising to prominence some years later. Now with Cornell having passed on, hearing him go for those high notes in the studio brings the entire track to life all over again. Grunge had not really been a major player in the rock scene yet, but it was songs like these that showed that the tides where turning toward Seattle pretty fast.