Me Time For The Mind
  • Home
  • The Ancient Astronaut Theory
    • The Women Abducted By The Aliens Who “Put The Pyramids” On Earth!
    • Zret And The Norcans – The Strange And Enthralling Tale Of Albert Coe
    • The CIA Remote Mission To Mars - Over One Million Years BC?
    • The Ancient Alien Body Discovered Near The Nazca Lines In Peru?
    • If Reincarnation Is Real, Is It Limited To Human Beings Here On Earth? Or Is It Universal?
    • Underground Cities! “Cluster” Disappearances! - The Reptilian Connection? The “Evidence” Is Stronger Than You Might Think!
    • Is America The New Atlantis? And If So, Has Its Development Been “Overseen?”
    • “Planet X” - Nibiru? Hoax? Or Something Completely Unknown?
    • From The Ant People And The Hopi Tribe to Admiral Richard Byrd – How Credible Is The Hollow Earth Theory?
    • William Robert Loosley, The Sky Battle Over Basel, Sister Mary Of Agreda – Recorded History Is Riddled With UFO Phenomena
    • Crop Circles, Ice Rings And The Roswell Rock – Hoaxes? Alien Art? Or Messages That We Are Yet To Understand?
    • The Moon – What Is On The Dark Side And Is It “Too Perfect” To Be “Real?”
    • Bigfoot –The Missing Link? The Real Indigenous Earthling? An Alien “Worker”? Just What Is It?
    • The Ancient Astronaut Theory - An Introduction In A Nut Shell
  • Mysteries From Antiquity
    • The Rex Deus Conspiracy – The Kings Of God!
    • The Many Theories And Conspiracies Of Jesus Christ And Mary Magdalene
    • Sodom and Gomorrah, Mohenjo-Daro – Do The Ancient Texts Describe Nuclear Explosions And Weapons?
    • Forbidden Knowledge? Is There Really A “Cover-Up” Regarding Human Origins On Earth?
    • The Pyramids Of Giza – They Are Not Tombs, So Could They Really Be An Ancient Power Plant?
    • Edgar Cayce, The Atlanteans, Lost Technology, And The Hall Of Records Under The Sphinx’s Paw?
  • UFOs, Aliens, And Outer Space
    • Warp Drives, Space Manipulation, And The Pentagon’s UFO Program
    • The “Lost” Soviet UFO Files Of The Cold War
    • The Aztec Incident, “Alfred”, And The Reasons For UFO Secrecy?
    • The “Lead Masks” Case – Two Strange And Mysterious Deaths On Vintem Hill
    • Reagan, The “Star Wars” Project, Black Budgets And Project SERPO – Do Secret Space Programs Exist?
    • The Hybridization Program, Star Children, And The Human-Alien Agenda – What Is The Unknown Species In Our DNA?
    • Strange Lights, Glowing Orbs and Triangular Crafts - Lesser Known UFO Sightings With Multiple Witnesses
    • Do Our Oceans Harbour Alien Crafts? What Are All The Strange Reported Sightings At Sea?
    • Goblins From Outer Space, Robot Doppelgängers And Alien Bases - The Strange Tales Of The World’s Mountains
    • Four Little Known British Alien Abduction Claims
    • The Mega Hex Of Saturn, Mercury’s Spider And Triton, The “Unnatural” Moon Of Neptune – Space Anomalies?
    • By Definition UFOs Are Real, But If They Are Not Aliens, What Might They Be?
    • John Day, The Mann Family And “Mrs. G” – Crazy Claims? Or A Genuine Alien Abduction Spree In England, 1978?
    • The “Airship” Sightings of 1897 – Alien UFOs? Secret Technology? Or Time Travellers?
    • Zigmund Adamski – Was He Really “Killed” By Aliens That “Frequent” The Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire?
    • Project Redsun, “Mona Lisa” The Alien Girl And Secret Missions To The Moon – Real Life Conspiracies Or Elaborate Hoaxes?
    • The Boshich Space Wreckage – A Floating Alien Tomb Or Purposeful Disinformation?
    • Can ALL those people REALLY be wrong? Here’s Just Ten Random Alien Abductions Claims!
    • The Black Knight Satellite – An Ancient 13,000-year Old Alien Built Monitoring System?
    • The Dyatlov Pass Incident – Just What Did Happen On Dead Mountain?
    • Aleshenka – Alien Baby Or A Tragic Victim Of The 1957 Kyshtym Disaster 40 Years Later?
    • Die Glocke, The Kecksburg Incident And Nazi UFO Technology?
    • History Repeating? When Humans Go To Mars
  • Ghosts, The Paranormal And Anything Strange
    • Are Portals All Around Us? Strange Tales Of Apparent Inter-Dimensional Encounters
    • Gnome-Like Mischievous Entities Wreaking Havoc! Just What Was Inside Those Planes?
    • Teleportation, Abduction Or Something Even Stranger? The Bizarre Mist Vanishings!
    • The Chilling And Bizarre Images Captured By Stella Lansing
    • When Art And Sorcery Combine? Very Haunted Paintings That Really Exist!
    • California Screaming? Dark Tales And Legends From Otherwise Sunny California
    • A Gift, A Curse, Or A Con? Do Psychics Really Solve Murders?
    • The Akashic Records And Claims Of Astral Projection
    • Monsters, Witches, Voodoo And Aliens – Legends And Folklore Of The American South
    • Disappearing Planes, Bases In The Mountains And The Black Pyramid –Is There Any Truth In The Alaskan Triangle?
    • Crazy Internet Rituals, Dares And Games That You Really SHOULDN’T Try!
    • Alien Communication? Clever Hoaxes? Top Secret Intelligence? – Unexplained Broadcast Interruptions!
    • From Pripyat To Point Pleasant – Birdman Creature A Harbinger Of Disaster?
    • The Ghosts Of Eastern Airlines Flight 401? – Second Officer Don Repo And Captain Bob Loft
    • Voices, Ghosts And Room 502 – The Far Reaching Misery And Mystery Of Waverley Hills Sanatorium
    • Spring Heeled Jack – The Devil? A Clever Hoax? Or A Lone Alien In 19th Century England?
    • Halloween – It’s All Fun And Games – Most Of The Time……..
    • The Big Grey Man Of Ben Macdui – A Scottish “Big-Foot” Or A Supernatural, Paranormal Energy?
    • The St. Valentines Slaying – Witchcraft? Sacrifice? Or Cold Blooded Murder Wrapped In Legend?
    • Glastenbury Mountain And The Bennington Triangle – Where Did All Those People Vanish To?
    • Stull, Kansas – Just One Of The Many Doors, Portals And Gateways To Hell?
    • The Black Monk Of Pontefract And The Very Real Haunting Of 30 East Drive!
    • The Black Eyed Children – Urban Legend or Something Real And Sinister?
    • The Philadelphia Experiment, Time Travel And The Book Of The Future?
    • “The Most Haunted Road In Britain” - The Stocksbridge Bypass
    • The Scole Experiments, Quantum Reincarnation And The Search For Immortality
  • Conspiracies And Unsolved Mysteries
    • Symbols, Secrets, And Predictions – Evidence Of The Hollywood Fairy Tale Theory?
    • Chilling Facts And Claims About The Body In The Bag Case
    • Are The Outlandish Claims Of Ritual Abuse And Sacrifice Proving To Be True?
    • The Bizarre Predictions And Apparent Influence Of Time-Travelling Soldier, John Titor
    • The “Black Goo” Conspiracy And The Falklands Cover-Up?
    • Very British Unsolved Murders From The 1930s
    • Can’t C Me? Did Tupac Shakur Really Fake His Own Death?
    • Paranormal Or Premeditated? The Hinterkaifeck Murders Of 1922
    • If The Chemtrail Conspiracy Is Real, Are “They” Really Trying To Kill Us Off?
    • The Crazy Pig Lady, The Reverend And The Mistress – The Still Unsolved Hall-Mills Murder of 1922
    • Killer Horses, Swastika Runways and Children-Eating Aliens – Welcome To Denver International Airport?
    • Mr. Icke, MAYBE We Owe You A Bit Of An Apology….
    • The Satanic Panic – A Modern Day Scientific Witch Hunt?
    • How Real Are The Legends And Realities Of Skinwalker Ranch?
    • David Kelly – Suicide? Or Suicided?
    • Gary McKinnon – Project Camelot Interview – Did He Really Have Anything To Gain By Lying About These Claims?
    • The Torso Slayings, Lipstick Murders, The Black Dahlia Killing – The Work Of The “Most Prolific Mass Murderer” In American History?
    • The “27 Club” – Cobain! Winehouse! Morrison! Joplin!.... Time To Come Good On A Deal With The Devil?
    • Al Bielek - The Montauk Project And “Memories” Of The Twenty-Eighth Century?
    • Mind Control, Brainwashing And The Assassination Of Robert Kennedy?
    • So Who Is This Tesla Chap Anyway?
    • Tragic, Fascinating and Unsettling – The Story Of Elisa Lam
    • Kurt Cobain - Smells Like Who Dunnit?
  • Anything Else
    • Intriguing Facts About The Multi-Layered Life Of, “Mr. Nice”, Howard Marks!
    • Ten Reasons You Either Love Or Hate Ozzy Osbourne!
    • Obscure, Weird, And At Times, Unsettling Facts About Las Vegas
    • The Many Ways Modern Life And Technology Can Disconnect Us
    • Ten Random Bands That Released One Great Album, Then Called It A Day!
    • Well Known Movies With Strange And Chilling Backstories
    • Cold Blooded Murder, Crushes, And Out Of Control Fires - Rock Shows That Went Tragically Wrong
    • Ten Times Deaths And Murders Were Blamed On Metal Music.
    • 13 “Frightening” Flicks For A Horrifyingly Happy Halloween!
    • Possibly The Best Band And Frontman You Have Never Heard Of: Andrew Wood And Mother Love Bone!
    • 7 Simple Things That Are Not Going To Change The World But We Recommend You Do
  • Data For The Mind
  • Videos And Media
  • Contact Us
Tweet

Possibly The Best Band And Frontman You Have Never Heard Of: Andrew Wood And Mother Love Bone!

Before Nirvana came as they were, smelling teen spirit, before the world knew the term “Grunge”, in fact before the term was even “coined”, a band existed that many feel not only were responsible for first bringing a little bit of nationwide media attention to the Seattle area in the north west of the United States, but were also poised for big things and dizzy heights world-wide.

Unfortunately, their flamboyant but charismatic lead singer, Andrew Patrick Wood, was dead at twenty-four years old of a heroin overdose, just days before the release of their first album.

It would be a real shame if the world forgot about him, or the music he left behind – so with that in mind, here is a little bit about Andrew Wood and the “love-rock” band (as Wood described them), Mother Love Bone.

Mother Love Bone came together in 1987 essentially from two well established bands in the Seattle music scene, Green River (who featured eventual guitarist and bass player Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament respectively) and Malfunkhon – with Malfunkshon (Wood’s band) being labelled by some as “kick-starting” the new Seattle music scene that bubbled away for a decade in the 1980s before the grunge explosion of the early nineties.


Picture
Mother Love Bone in their early days - L-R, Andrew Wood, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament.

By 1988 they had quickly established themselves as one of the area’s premier live draws and when they signed with Polygram they were regarded as the first of the “new” Seattle based bands to sign with a major label.

An EP followed (Shine) and as the band toured to promote the initial release they set about recording their first full length album – which would eventually be titled “Apple.”

The band’s sound was fuller than typical bands of that scene at that time, with less of a punk or metal feel, and more blues and funk rock, combined with Wood’s piano playing and thought provoking lyrics, they were much more “real” than your typical “hair rock band” of the day but still had a “star” quality to them – there was something different about them, and in particular, Wood.

Wood’s influences came straight out of the glam rock scene of the 1970s – Queen (and in particular Freddie Mercury), Elton John, Marc Bolan and Kiss were generally Wood’s response when asked about influences. He spoke on numerous occasions of eventually making solo piano recordings, very much influenced by Mercury’s piano playing.

Picture
Who knows how big Mother Love Bone would have been had Wood not died?

Late in 1989 however, with the album recorded, it was obvious that the heroin issues that had plagued Wood for years were beginning to get out of control, and Wood volunteered himself into rehab so he “could be clean when the record comes out!”

To his credit, he managed it and left rehab clean, ready and excited to tour the release of the band’s debut album, which was scheduled for release in March 1990.

On 16th March, Wood was discovered in a comatose state – which was quickly realised to be a heroin overdose. For all the “experience” Wood had with heroin and drugs in general, he had fallen victim to the oldest trick in the book – having been clean for some time, when he did relapse, he injected the same amount of heroin that he had when he had been using every day and his tolerance for the drug was much higher. Had he lessened the dose to one more in line with a “beginner” in all likelihood, he has a momentary relapse and puts it behind him with no-one ever knowing about it. Unfortunately he didn’t and three days later on 19th March 1990 his life-support machine was turned off.


Picture
Andrew Patrick Wood 1966-1990

Even after his death Wood inspired people who had known and been around him.

Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden – who lived with Wood for a time) and Wood’s bandmate’s Gossard and Ament formed Temple Of The Dog – a project that started to record two of Wood’s unfinished songs that turned into a full album. The phrase Temple Of The Dog is a line taken from one of the Mother Love Bone’s songs “Man Of Golden Words!”

Incidentally, Cornell went on to describe Wood in the documentary “Malfunkshon – The Andrew Wood Story” as “the only “real” rock star I ever met!”

The song “Would?” by fellow Seattle band Alice In Chains was, to a certain level inspired by Wood’s death. Guitarist and songwriter for the band stated “I was thinking a lot about Andrew Wood at the time. We always had a great time when we did hang out, much like Chris Cornell and I do. There was never really a serious moment or conversation, it was all fun. Andy was a hilarious guy, full of life and it was really sad to lose him. But I always hate people who judge the decisions others make. So it was also directed towards people who pass judgments!”

Picture
APPLE - Mother Love Bone - Recommended Listening!

The film "Singles", at least the general theme was also inspired by the singer’s death when director Cameron Crowe stated that the feeling was largely based on how Wood’s friends and family “needed each other” and had to pull together at the time of his death, something Crowe witnessed first-hand.

At the time of the film’s release Crowe wrote an article for “Rolling Stone” in which he said “I was thirty-two at the time and felt a part of something. Somewhere around midnight, warming over a barbeque pit, I felt rocked by the whole experience. I’d been working pretty steadily since I was fifteen, and looking back, most of my friends were made through work. They were acquaintances more than friends. And here were these disconnected people, many from broken homes, many meeting each other for the first time, forming their own family. In the coming years, many of the musicians in the room would see success far beyond their early dreams, beyond even the arena dreams of Andy Wood. But that night it was mostly about staying warm, pulling together.”

The song “Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns” is one of the lead songs in the film, and one of the famous shots, not only of the film but of Seattle’s profile as a city is the wall that features “Mother Love Bone” sprayed across it for all to see.

Picture
The famous wall in Seattle with Mother Love Bone painted on.

Perhaps though it was the words of his father that were most prophetic as he spoke at Wood’s funeral when he said to his son’s bandmates, “I want you guys to go on and be the biggest stars you can be! I want to see you guys on TV!”

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament went on to form Pearl Jam who throughout a huge chunk of the 1990s were without doubt one of the biggest bands on the planet – one does at times wonder, had Andrew Wood not died, instead of Pearl Jam, would it have been Mother Love Bone?

Recommended listening is the EP “Shine” and the album “Apple” – check out the videos below. The first is a Mother Love Bone show from 1988 at the Skate King, Kent, Washington – while the quality is not great it gives a good idea to the band’s presence and a nice "peek" into the Seattle area music scene of the late 1980s – of which most people outside of the region were complete unaware of, myself included. The second a few months later in 1989 in Seattle, Washington and is a good indicator on how much the band had grown. It is also worth doing a search for the band on You Tube. You can also read a little more in depth about the band here.

[Marcus Lowth September 2015]
Picture
Me Time For The Mind
Tweet
Follow @MeTime4TheMind
top of page
next article: Tupac Amura Shakur....
home
Picture


Tupac Amaru Shakur – An Artist, Not Just Some Rapper!

Tupac Shakur was a true creative force - here we look at the films where he showcased his acting prowess in a life all too short

Picture

​
​







​
Seven Bands That MOST Of Us Got Into Because Of Listening to Nirvana!

We fast-paced look at seven bands and artists that the vast majority of us only found out about through the grunge band Nirvana!

​From ANYTHING ELSE

Picture


​Killer Horses, Swastika Runways and Children-Eating Aliens – Welcome To Denver International Airport?
Almost as soon as it opened in 1995 there were questions as to what was really going on at Denver's new airport....

From GENERAL CONSPIRACIES


Picture

​The Ghosts Of Eastern Airlines Flight 401? – Second Officer Don Repo And Captain Bob Loft

The sightings of the two airlines pilots are some of the most documented in history....

From GHOSTS, THE PARANORMAL AND ANYTHING STRANGE


​​All pictures are for illustration purposes unless indicated otherwise and are not the property of Me Time For The Mind
​Copyright © 2019 Me Time For The Mind. All Rights Reserved.
home
the ancient astronaut theory
mysteries from antiquity
ufos, aliens, and outer space
ghosts, the paranormal and anything strange
conspiracies and unsolved mysteries
anything else
data for the mind
videos and media
Contact Us