 The recorded material was slow and melodic , musically different from the aggressive rock music of Soundgarden . Cornell approached Wood 's former bandmates , Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament — who were still figuring out how to continue without Mother Love Bone — with the intention of releasing the songs as a single . Ament described the collaboration as " a really good thing at the time " for Gossard and him that put them into a " band situation where we could play and make music . " The band 's lineup was completed by the addition of Soundgarden ( and later Pearl Jam ) drummer Matt Cameron and future Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready . They named themselves Temple of the Dog , a reference to a line in the lyrics of the Mother Love Bone song " Man of Golden Words . " 
