Mother Love Bone

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 upon the group's breakup in 1988, the guitarist and bassist stuck together, looking to form a group more a kin 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, the group's sound was tougher and more rooted in classic rock than their soon-to-be disposable glam contemporaries.

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