Mother Love Bone

Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone in 1989, clockwise from left: Bruce Fairweather, Stone Gossard, Greg Gilmore, Jeff Ament and Andrew Wood
Background information
Also known as	Lords Of The Wasteland
Origin	Seattle, Washington, USA
Genres	Alternative rock, grunge,heavy metal,hard rock, alternative metal, glam metal
Years active	1988–1990
Labels	Stardog, Mercury
Associated acts	Malfunkshun, Ten Minute Warning, Green River, Skin Yard, Love Battery, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Pearl Jam, Brad, Three Fish
Past members	Jeff Ament Bruce Fairweather Greg Gilmore Stone Gossard Andrew Wood

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.

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.

This new line-up quickly set about recording and playing area shows and by late 1988 had become one of Seattle's more promising bands. Wood's exuberant on-stage personality, outlandish clothes and dreamy lyrics helped bring attention to the band. In the 1996 grunge documentary, 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.

In November 1988, the band signed to PolyGram subsidiary Polydor/Stardog and recorded their debut EP. As part of their contract, PolyGram also created the Stardog Records imprint exclusively for the band. In March 1989, the group issued its debut EP, Shine, becoming the first of the new crop of Seattle bands to have a release on a major label. The record sold well and rapidly increased the hype surrounding the band. John Book of AllMusic said the "record contributed to the buzz about the Seattle music scene."