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Before
Pearl Jam, there was
Mother Love Bone. Future
Pearl Jam members
Stone Gossard (guitar) and
Jeff Ament (bass) were founders of this Seattle-based glam/punk outfit, which was fronted by flamboyant singer Andrew Wood. But despite countless accolades from the press and their peers, the group's career was cut short before it could truly blossom due to tragedy.
Both
Gossard and
Ament had previously been members of Seattle garage rockers
Green River (a group that also included future
Mudhoney members
Mark Arm and
Steve Turner), and after the group's breakup in 1988, the guitarist and bassist stuck together, looking to form a group more akin to the arena rockers of their youth (
Kiss,
Aerosmith,
Led Zeppelin,
Queen, etc.). Joining
Gossard and
Ament was drummer
Greg Gilmore, second guitarist
Bruce Fairweather, and the aforementioned Wood on vocals. Wood (who was previously known as Landrew the Love Child as a member of another Seattle outfit,
Malfunkshun) was the complete opposite of the prototypical Seattle frontman as he patterned his look and vocal style after such renowned frontmen as
Freddie Mercury,
Paul Stanley, and Marc Bolan. But although the group had a few similarities to the then-flourishing glam metal scene, their sound was tougher and more rooted in classic rock than their soon-to-be disposable glam contemporaries.
The group created a buzz from the get-go as the quintet inked a deal with Polygram shortly after forming and were given their own label, Stardog, resulting in the release of the six-track EP
Shine in 1989. The year was spent touring and plotting their full-length debut, which was eventually completed by the end of the year, with a projected release in spring of 1990. Expectations for the disc were high and sensing this, Wood wanted to be at his best, so the singer checked himself into a rehab center to try and conquer an addiction to heroin. But on March 16, 1990, Wood was found by his fiancée unconscious in his bed, having overdosed on the drug. Despite efforts to revive him, Wood was eventually pronounced dead three days later. Devastated, the group called it quits as the resulting album,
Apple, was issued several months later in the fall of 1990.
Gossard and
Ament slowly worked their way back into music, as they joined up with
Soundgarden members
Matt Cameron and
Chris Cornell (the latter a good friend and former roommate of Wood's) to record a pair of songs that
Cornell had penned for the late singer. But the sessions soon took on a life of their own and a full album's worth of tunes was recorded, issued as a self-titled release in 1991 under the name of
Temple of the Dog (a phrase from one of Wood's lyrics). The album also saw contributions from guitarist
Mike McCready and singer
Eddie Vedder, two musicians whom
Gossard and
Ament had been jamming with, soon resulting in the formation of
Pearl Jam. With both
Soundgarden and
Pearl Jam enjoying massive commercial success in 1992,
Temple of the Dog enjoyed a second wind on the charts and became a sizeable hit, as interest in
Mother Love Bone perked up as well. Sensing this, Polygram reissued both
Shine and
Apple together, as well as a home video Love Bone Earth Affair. In addition, the epic
Mother Love Bone song "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" was included on the hit soundtrack to the movie
Singles the same year. Besides
Gossard and
Ament, the other surviving members of
Mother Love Bone have subsequently issued recordings as part of other bands as well (
Fairweather with
Love Battery and
Gilmore with a host of others, including
Carrie Clark,
Doghead, etc.).
In 2016, the legacy of
Mother Love Bone was celebrated with the triple-disc set
On Earth as It Is: The Complete Works. ~ Greg Prato