Remembering Andy (Andrew Wood)

Andrew Wood
Andrew Wood (January 8, 1966– March 19, 1990) was the lead singer of the band Mother Love Bone and earlier of Malfunkshun. He died of a heroin overdose coupled with a cerebral hemorrhage just before the release of Mother Love Bone's debut album Apple. He lived on Bainbridge Island in Washington State for the majority of his youth, forming Malfunkshun as a teenager. The only released material during Malfunkshun's existence was on the compilation, Deep Six (C/Z Records)

As a musician, his trademarks were his exuberant on-stage personality, glittery, outlandish clothes and whimsical, unabashedly dreamy lyrics which he sang in a tenor heavily reminiscent of Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant. In the 1996 movie Hype!, Seattle engineer Jack Endino called Wood "the only stand-up comedian frontman in Seattle", a reference to Wood's playful style of interacting with Mother Love Bone fans.

Temple of the Dog Tribute
Fellow band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament of Mother Love Bone went on to form Pearl Jam, and Malfunkshun drummer Regan Hagar later appeared in Satchel and Brad with Shawn Smith. Stone Gossard is also a concurrent member of Brad. Shawn Smith has a guest appearance on the album "Your Ice Cream's Dirty" by Devilhead, featuring Wood's brothers Brian and Kevin Wood.

In the year following Andrew Wood's death his former companions Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, together with Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron from Soundgarden formed the tribute-band Temple of the Dog. The name was taken from one of Wood's lyrics and the songs bore the street-rock flavor of Mother Love Bone's music. Ament and Gossard also included the other two members from their newly born band, Mookie Blaylock (to be Pearl Jam). These members were Mike McCready, who played solo guitar for Temple of the Dog, and Eddie Vedder who sang in the song "Hunger Strike" together with Cornell.

Several years after Wood's death, Gossard released Return to Olympus, a compilation of demos recorded by Wood and Malfunkshun.

~Wikipedia ® the free encyclopedia

Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1988. The band was 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. Wood died only days before the scheduled release of the band's debut album, Apple, thus ending the group's hopes of success. The album was finally released a few months later. 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.

Mother Love Bone was established in 1988 by ex-Green River members Jeff Ament, Bruce Fairweather and Stone Gossard, 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 the cover band 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 its name to Mother Love Bone.