Feeling Nourished

The first 90 seconds of Temple of the Dog's hit, "Hunger Strike," are actually really great. The guitar line spins off the fingers nicely and twirls around itself over and over, with just enough echo, so that you get lost in it. Then Chris Cornell goes all Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, and singing in what's a relatively unadorned style for him. Eddie Vedder joins as Robin to Cornell's Batman, with the same amount of subtlety. Whenever I hear the song, as I did this morning, I'm transfixed in the moment. It has the same lovely hazy quality that slowcore does (though no one would ever include Temple of the Dog with the bands Wikipedia correctly identifies, in the link, as slowcore bands).

Unfortunately, Vedder then goes crazier with his chorus vocals, the bridge consists of a few minor chords that slam on the brakes in a jarring way and the guitar solo is too fearsome a blizzard. But for those 90 seconds, it's wonderful.

The above is a pretty funny parody of the "Hunger Strike" video, via YouTube. I would've included the original -- and complimented Vedder's vest and shirt -- but the only version I could find blocked embeds.