Mother Love Bone...Greatest grunge band?

Gern Blansten

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/why_mother_love_bone_could_have_been_the_greatest_grunge_band_ever-102641?fbclid=IwAR0KMTVZigCv6futIDt3k9Lgr2xHL_vifeGz7B_a5n3EaFkaTjlOwfFdqzk

Fast forward thirty years, and we know Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Nirvana as the bands that not only made grunge famous, but defined the whole Gen X musically, having sold over 150 million albums since. Very few people, however, know of Mother Love Bone and Andrew Wood despite their seminal role in the development of what is today known as grunge. In addition to being the first Seattle band meant to break into superstardom, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, both previously of Mother Love Bone, went on to found Pearl Jam, and, prior to Adam Wood’s death, he and Chris Cornell had been roommates and very close friends for quite some time, which left a profound impact on Cornell both personally as well as professionally.

mattcoz

Certainly interesting to think what could have been. Obviously, Pearl Jam wouldn't have existed, so would we be here on the Apple Club boards obsessing over how Andy's voice sounds on their new single? Would Ed and Mike have found this level of success in other bands?

aurelgugus

MLB sounds more Hair metal than 90s alternative rock IMO. Overrated.

jeffbr

MLB is one of my all-time favorite bands. Underrated. 
As far as Ed & Mike? Mike would likely still be playing clubs in Seattle with his buddies like Rick Friel, Chris Friel, Danny Newcomb, Tim DeJulio, etc... Ed would probably be singing with a local band in San Diego, and managing a coffee shop, or doing open mic in a coffee shop as a singer/songwriter.
That isn't to say that they aren't talented. The reality is that they both got lucky. So much of the success in this business can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time. Those players I listed as Mike's buddies are all amazing musicians who I support and see as often as I can to this day, and I'd be a McCready fan, too, even without PJ since I prefer small clubs and local musicians to national acts any day. Ed didn't have chops superior to some lesser known singers in Seattle, but happened to grab a gig with a couple of already successful musicians who were on the radar. So no knock on either Ed or Mike. They are both amazing. I'm just pointing out that there are thousands of other amazing musicians, at the same level as any popular musician, who just don't benefit from the time/place luck of the draw.

2-feign-reluctance

aurelgugus said:

MLB sounds more Hair metal than 90s alternative rock IMO. Overrated.

I disagree. I liked them before, but picking up their box set a few years ago really changed my mind about how they could hang well in the Jane's Addiction-esque alt camp.

Spiritual_Chaos

MLB sounds as grunge as GnR.

(from my ignorant pov)

mattcoz

jeffbr said:

MLB is one of my all-time favorite bands. Underrated. 
As far as Ed & Mike? Mike would likely still be playing clubs in Seattle with his buddies like Rick Friel, Chris Friel, Danny Newcomb, Tim DeJulio, etc... Ed would probably be singing with a local band in San Diego, and managing a coffee shop, or doing open mic in a coffee shop as a singer/songwriter.
That isn't to say that they aren't talented. The reality is that they both got lucky. So much of the success in this business can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time. Those players I listed as Mike's buddies are all amazing musicians who I support and see as often as I can to this day, and I'd be a McCready fan, too, even without PJ since I prefer small clubs and local musicians to national acts any day. Ed didn't have chops superior to some lesser known singers in Seattle, but happened to grab a gig with a couple of already successful musicians who were on the radar. So no knock on either Ed or Mike. They are both amazing. I'm just pointing out that there are thousands of other amazing musicians, at the same level as any popular musician, who just don't benefit from the time/place luck of the draw.

Yeah, totally, so much of it is luck. I just have to think Ed would have been a little more successful than just doing open mics though.

Gern Blansten

aurelgugus said:

MLB sounds more Hair metal than 90s alternative rock IMO. Overrated.

Chloe/Crown is hair metal?  No man...

BlackSmile

I wouldn't say that Chloe/Crown is hair metal sounding, but their sound definitely leans into that category of flashy hair metal.  Just look at "Holy Roller", "Captain Hi Top" or "Heartshine"...they could all fit a band playing a bar on the Sunset Strip.  This is not to say I don't like it, because I love me some hair metal from time to time.

Vedd Hedd

Who is Adam Wood?

mattcoz

Vedd Hedd said:

Who is Adam Wood?

Ha, I totally missed that.

brianwilson

(Hair) Metal, Grunge, Punk, Glam, etc. are first cousins, if not siblings.  Some in those genres (Punk mostly) just refuse to acknowledge that fact.  Look no further than the NY Dolls as evidence. 

LYacky

Andrew Wood was a legend in the making and he, along with MLB would've been huge. However Andy was also a junkie and unfortunately that lead to his early death. If you haven't seen it yet you should watch Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story. It's a fantastic documentary on Andy's life & death including his time in Malfunkshun and MLB. There's fantastic interviews with Andy's family, friends and bandmates. Highlights include Chris Cornell, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ahmet, Bruce Fairweather, Greg Gilmore, Xana La Fuente etc. One of the most heartbreaking parts is hearing part of Andy's Dad's eulogy at his memorial service...

"You guys in the band, I guess you're feeling like you were sold out. But Andy didn't do this to you. He had everything in the world to live for and he wanted to live for you. I want you guys to go on and be the biggest stars you can be. I wanna see you guys on tv. And if you gotta get another singer don't get a junkie."

Powerful stuff. The documentary should be required viewing for all MLB & PJ fans. 

hrd2imgn

Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mud Honey define the "Grunge" sound.  MLB not even close, hell Bush is more grunge than MLB

Zod

I really don't dig MLB all that much.  I really like Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns from the Singles soundtrack.  I love Chris Cornell/ToTD's cover of Stargazer.  Aside from that... I rarely put it on.

I've often though the opposite.  Would MLB have made it big when Nirvana absorbed the spotlight, or would they have been in the shadows (a la Mudhoney/Melvins/etc..).   I'm not really sure they'd of been big.

LYacky

hrd2imgn said:

Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mud Honey define the "Grunge" sound.  MLB not even close, hell Bush is more grunge than MLB

"Defined the grunge sound"? Curious to know what you mean by that because imo each of the 4 bands you listed have completely different sounds musically speaking. The only thing those bands really have in common is geography. Grunge as a sound is a total misnomer. If anything grunge was a scene, a musical snapshot of a very specific time & place that spanned multiple genres of music. As such, Mother Love Bone was absolutely at the forefront of that "grunge" music scene in Seattle during the late 80's. 

LYacky

Zod said:

Would MLB have made it big when Nirvana absorbed the spotlight, or would they have been in the shadows (a la Mudhoney/Melvins/etc..).   I'm not really sure they'd of been big.

If Andrew Wood hadn't died and Mother Love Bone had continued on, who's to say that things would have gone down the same way? Like 'em or not, MLB were hugely popular in and around the Seattle music scene at that time. They were the band that had the huge buzz around them and the band everybody was talking about. Their album Apple was set for an April 1990 release, a whole 18 months prior to Nirvana's Nevermind release in Sept 1991. That's a lot of time for MLB to establish themselves with Apple on a large, national scale before Nirvana enters the picture with Smells Like Teen Spirit. Who knows what would've happened. One thing's for sure, there definitely would've been room for both bands to succeed. 

silvo

I find it interesting how there is such a split in the fanbase on MLB, but I get it. I can see both sides. I agree that there is an element of 80's rock/hair metal to them.....but then there is a bit of that on AIC's Facelift. The one thing I do think that stood their sound above that 80's sound was the guitar riffs, I definitely think you can hear early templates of what became the guitar sound on Ten. The opening guitar on 'This Is Shangrila' is amazing, and it doesn't sound out of place when it comes on near the beginning of the PJ20 documentary.....if you didn't know it could easily be early PJ.

alexross42

silvo said:

I find it interesting how there is such a split in the fanbase on MLB, but I get it. I can see both sides. I agree that there is an element of 80's rock/hair metal to them.....but then there is a bit of that on AIC's Facelift. The one thing I do think that stood their sound above that 80's sound was the guitar riffs, I definitely think you can hear early templates of what became the guitar sound on Ten. The opening guitar on 'This Is Shangrila' is amazing, and it doesn't sound out of place when it comes on near the beginning of the PJ20 documentary.....if you didn't know it could easily be early PJ.

Absolutely,  you're totally on point here. 
Stone's playing technique (sliding octave riffs) on Shangrila was definitely used on some early PJ tracks such as 'Breath'.