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Mother Love Bone

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Mother Love Bone

Mother Love Bone was a Seattle-based rock band active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood's personality and compositions helped to catapult the group to the top of the burgeoning late 1980s/early 1990s Seattle music scene. Tragically, Wood died only days before the release of their debut album Apple thus ending the group's hopes of success. Although Mother Love Bone is to this day remembered by many as a very talented band in its own right, its legacy, for some, is overshadowed by Wood's death and the bands that its former members would later form.

History

Mother Love Bone was established in 1988 by ex-Green River members Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Bruce Fairweather, ex-Malfunkshun frontman Andrew Wood and ex-Ten Minute Warning and Skin Yard drummer Greg Gilmore. Initially the group was formed in 1987 out of covers outfit Lords of the Wasteland which featured Wood, Gossard, Ament and Malfunkshun drummer Regan Hagar. By early 1988 the band had added Fairweather, replaced Hagar with drummer Greg Gilmore and changed their name to Mother Love Bone. This new lineup quickly set about recording and playing area shows and by late 1988 had become one of Seattle's more promising bands.

In early 1989 the band signed to Polygram subsidiary Mercury Records. As part of their contract Polygram also created the Stardog Records imprint exclusively for the band. In March of that year the group issued their debut EP Shine becoming the first of the new crop of Seattle bands to have a release on a major label. The record sold well and rapidly increased the hype surrounding the band.

In late 1989 the group returned to the studio (this time in San Francisco) to record their debut album Apple. Despite some initial difficulties, the record was on-time for its projected March 1990 release. By this point interest in the band had hit a fever pitch and it seemed destined that the band were going to make it big. Only days before the release of Apple, however, frontman Andrew Wood, who had a long history with drug problems, overdosed on heroin. After spending a few days in the hospital in a coma, Wood died, effectively bringing Mother Love Bone to an end.

In the months following Wood's death, Gossard and Ament would be approached by Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell (who was Andrew Wood's roommate), and asked if they would be interested in recording a single containing two songs he had written in tribute to Andrew Wood. The project turned into an entire album and the group took the name Temple of the Dog, a reference to a line in the lyrics of a song penned by Wood. Gossard and Ament would later form the band Pearl Jam.

Fairweather initially remained inactive but later surfaced in the Seattle based psychadelic rock band Love Battery before again dropping off radar. In 2006 he resurfaced in The Press Corps, with Garret Shavlik (The Fluid) and Dan Peters (Mudhoney).

Gilmore's profile also dropped significantly following Mother Love Bone's demise although he did participate in the reunion of his former band Ten Minute Warning in 1998, and was credited with providing 'inspiration' for the song "Never The Machine Forever" (credited as being written by Kim Thayil) on Soundgarden's final studio album, 1996's Down on the Upside.

Band members

Discography

Albums

Date of Release Title Label Type
1989 Shine Mercury Records EP
1990 Apple Mercury Records Studio Album
1992 Stardog Champion aka Mother Love Bone Mercury Records Compilation

Singles

Home Videos

  • The Love Bone Earth Affair (Polygram Video, 1993)

Compilation/Soundtrack contributions

References

External links

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