On October 6, 2009, Chris Cornell walked onstage at a Pearl Jam concert in Los Angeles and sang “Hunger Strike” with the full Temple of the Dog lineup behind him. What most people in the crowd did not know was that the other three members of Soundgarden, the band Cornell had not played with since 1997, were at the show too. Less than three months later, Soundgarden announced it was coming back.
It was one of those nights fans of Seattle rock still talk about. Before it was over, Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell would be on that same stage, playing the guitar solo on “Alive.”
A Tuesday night at the Gibson Amphitheatre
Pearl Jam was in the middle of a four-night, sold-out stand at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, just outside Hollywood. The shows were part of the Backspacer Tour, supporting the band’s ninth studio album, Backspacer, which had just gone to No. 1 on the charts.
October 6 was the third of those four nights, and the surprises came during the encores.
“The presence of one man”
Eddie Vedder stepped to the microphone to introduce a guest. According to SPIN’s report from the show, he told the crowd that sometimes
“the presence of one man can really change the energy of a show.”
The man was Chris Cornell, and the song was “Hunger Strike.”
Because Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron had been Pearl Jam’s full-time drummer since 1998, Cornell’s arrival meant every principal member of Temple of the Dog was suddenly on one stage: Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready and Matt Cameron. The last time that had happened was October 28, 2003, at a charity concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl, when the group played “Hunger Strike” and “Reach Down.”
SPIN’s write-up noted that the crowd went wild and that Cornell hit the high notes that made the record famous. Zack Newman, a writer for SPIN’s sister site who was following Pearl Jam on that tour, said the whole place lost it.
Why that song meant so much
Temple of the Dog was never a band in the usual sense. In March 1990, Andrew Wood, the singer of Mother Love Bone and Chris Cornell’s roommate, died of a heroin overdose at 24. Cornell wrote songs in his memory and recorded them with Wood’s bandmates Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, along with guitarist Mike McCready and Matt Cameron.
During those sessions, a young singer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder was in Seattle to try out for the new band Gossard and Ament were forming. He ended up trading lead vocals with Cornell on “Hunger Strike.” It was Vedder’s first featured vocal on a record. The new band he joined became Pearl Jam.
The album came out in 1991 and drew little attention at first. A year later, with Soundgarden and Pearl Jam both breaking big, A&M Records reissued it and pushed “Hunger Strike” as a single. It climbed to No. 4 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
Because the two bands were almost never free at the same time, Temple of the Dog never toured. Every live “Hunger Strike” with Cornell was a rare event, and October 6, 2009 was one of only a handful.
Jerry Cantrell takes the “Alive” solo
Pearl Jam had one more Seattle surprise. As the band closed the night with “Alive,” Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains walked out in the middle of the song’s famous guitar solo. Mike McCready, who normally owns that solo, stepped aside and let Cantrell take it.
The timing had its own meaning. Alice in Chains had just released Black Gives Way to Blue, its first album in 14 years, and was back on the road. SPIN wrote that Cantrell’s playing that night was tight and fierce.
Cantrell came back the very next night, October 7, to join Pearl Jam on a cover of the MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams.”
Who was watching from the crowd
The most important part of the night may have happened off the stage. Rolling Stone learned that Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd had come to the show with Chris Cornell to watch Matt Cameron play with Pearl Jam. That put all four members of Soundgarden in the same place, something fans had not seen in more than a decade.
Soundgarden had broken up in April 1997. Reunion rumors had grown through 2009, but Cornell had been touring a solo album and nothing was settled. Billboard later reported that all four men were present at the October 6 show and that reunion plans began to take shape shortly afterward. SPIN called the Los Angeles night the catalyst.
At midnight on New Year’s 2010, Cornell posted a message announcing that the 12-year break was over. In April 2010, Soundgarden played a surprise show at the Showbox in Seattle under the name Nudedragons, its first concert in 13 years, and that summer the band headlined Lollapalooza.
Looking back
Chris Cornell would sing “Hunger Strike” with Pearl Jam a few more times, including at the band’s 20th anniversary festival in 2011 and at the Bridge School Benefit in October 2014, the last time he and Eddie Vedder sang it together. Chris Cornell died in May 2017.
That makes the October 2009 night at the Gibson Amphitheatre feel bigger now than it did then. Temple of the Dog was back together for one song, Jerry Cantrell was taking over Mike McCready’s solo, and the four members of Soundgarden were in the room, a few months away from announcing they would play again.
Were you a fan of Temple of the Dog when “Hunger Strike” first hit the radio? Share where you were when you first heard it.