My Gen X Playlist: Hunger Strike – Temple of the Dog

Words don’t bother me for the most part. If I had to choose a current overused word that I don’t care for, I might choose “gaslighting”. There is no specific reason. Maybe it’s the negative connotation. Then again, I only see or hear it when I’m reading or watching the news and it doesn’t invade normal everyday conversation, so I guess I can give it a pass.

I can only think of one word from the past that I found so overused that it bothered me – phenomenal. I worked with a lot of sales people and this word would pop up in every conversation. There must have been an unwritten rule that this could not be used just once in a conversation. From my count, the minimum was ten. Phenomenal weekend. Phenomenal weather. Phenomenal restaurant. Phenomenal wine. Back to back to back to back sentences. The other problem was it was multisyllabic; therefore, you can enunciate every syllable and really stretch it out for effect.

Phe. Nom. E. Nal

According to the official Phenomenal Handbook, there must be at least a two second pause between each syllable. And by the way, not everyone can pull this word off, yet there wasn’t a lack of trying. Now don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t about the people saying it. Most were friends, colleagues and business partners – loved them all. I think it was the sheer volume and repetition that this gets crowned as the sole word on my list. Fortunately, like all trends, it road into the sunset. Vaya con dios, my friend.

Today’s prompt made me think about songs with few words, but high in repetition. Temple of the Dog’s Hunger Strike is a collaboration between Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. It’s a four minute song that features only one verse and growls “going hungry” sixteen times. Despite the limited lyrics, the intertwining of Cornell and Vedder’s vocals is captivating. Hunger Strike is further proof that less can be more. It was one of my favorite songs of the grunge era and as my friend, Nancy, would say, it is simply phenomenal.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouths of decadence
But I can't feed on the powerless
When my cup's already overfilled
Yeah
But it's on the table
The fire's cooking
And they're farming babies
The slaves are all working
Blood is on the table
The mouths are all choking
But I'm goin' hungry, yeah

I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouths of decadence
But I can't feed on the powerless
When my cup's already overfilled, mmm mmm
But it's on the table
The fire is cooking
And they're farming babies
The slaves are all working
And it's on the table
Their mouths are all choking
But I'm going hungry (going hungry)

I'm going hungry (going hungry)
I'm going hungry (going hungry)
I'm going hungry (going hungry)

I'm going hungry (going hungry)
I'm going hungry (going hungry)

Yeah, I don't mind stealing bread
(Mmm, I don't mind)
No, I don't mind stealing bread

I'm going hungry (going hungry)
I'm going hungry (going hungry, yeah)