Self-titled album released

Temple of the Dog , the band’s self-titled album, was released on April 16, 1991, through A&M Records and initially sold 70,000 copies in the United States . Ament recalled requesting that A&M include a Pearl Jam sticker on the cover—as they had just picked their new name—because “it’ll be a good thing for us”, but they refused. The album received favorable reviews, but failed to chart. Critic Steve Huey of AllMusic later gave the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, stating that the “record sounds like a bridge between Mother Love Bone’s theatrical ’70s-rock updates and Pearl Jam’s hard-rocking seriousness.” David Fricke of Rolling Stone wrote, in retrospect, that the album “deserves immortality.” The band members were pleased with the material, as it achieved its purpose; Cornell believed that “Andy really would have liked” the songs, and Gossard also asserted that he thought Wood would be “blown away by the whole thing”. Soon after the album’s release, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam embarked on recording their own albums, and the Temple of the Dog project was brought to a close, without a promotional tour for the album.