Mother Love Bone existed prior to Pearl Jam. Stone Gossard on guitar and Jeff Ament on bass, both future members of Pearl Jam, launched this Seattle glam and punk band that featured flamboyant frontman Andrew Wood. Although the press and fellow musicians showered the act with praise, tragedy halted its momentum before the group could reach full maturity.
Gossard and Ament had already played together in the Seattle garage rock band Green River alongside Mark Arm and Steve Turner, who later formed Mudhoney. After Green River dissolved in 1988, the pair sought to assemble a new outfit inspired by the arena rock acts of their youth such as Kiss, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and Queen. They recruited drummer Greg Gilmore, second guitarist Bruce Fairweather, and Wood on vocals. Previously known as Landrew the Love Child in the Seattle band Malfunkshun, Wood modeled his appearance and singing style after Freddie Mercury, Paul Stanley, and Marc Bolan, setting him apart from the typical Seattle frontman. Although Mother Love Bone shared some traits with the prevailing glam metal movement, its sound proved tougher and more grounded in classic rock than most contemporaries destined for quick obsolescence.
The quintet generated immediate interest, signing with Polygram soon after forming and receiving its own imprint, Stardog, which issued the six-track EP Shine in 1989. The band spent that year on the road while finishing its debut album, completing the record by year’s end for a planned spring 1990 release. Anticipation ran high, prompting Wood to enter rehab in an effort to overcome his heroin addiction. On March 16, 1990, his fiancée discovered him unconscious from an overdose; he was pronounced dead three days later. The devastated members disbanded, and the completed album Apple appeared several months afterward in fall 1990.
Gossard and Ament gradually returned to music by joining Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron and Chris Cornell, a close friend and former roommate of Wood’s, to record two songs Cornell had written in tribute to the late singer. The sessions expanded into a full album issued in 1991 as the self-titled Temple of the Dog release. Guitarist Mike McCready and singer Eddie Vedder, with whom Gossard and Ament had already been jamming, contributed to the project, paving the way for Pearl Jam’s formation. As Soundgarden and Pearl Jam achieved major commercial success in 1992, Temple of the Dog reentered the charts and became a notable hit, which in turn renewed interest in Mother Love Bone. Polygram responded by reissuing Shine and Apple together along with the home video Love Bone Earth Affair. The same year, the band’s epic track “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” appeared on the soundtrack to the film Singles. Beyond Gossard and Ament, the surviving members continued recording with other groups, including Fairweather in Love Battery and Gilmore with various projects such as Carrie Clark and Doghead.
In 2016 the triple-disc set On Earth as It Is: The Complete Works honored Mother Love Bone’s catalog.
