10 More Perfect Grunge Albums With No Bad Songs
8. Mother Love Bone: Apple (1990)
One of grunge's early casualties was one if its most promising figures. Mother Love Bone lead singer, Andrew Wood, was a larger than life character. He was part of a contingent of future grunge big hitters lighting a fire in the underground music circuit.
He certainly had the look of a star. Sporting a leather jacket and teased long hair, his style was more akin to the rockers of the LA scene. Indeed, his vocal delivery had qualities not unlike Axl Rose. Sadly he died from a heroin overdose in March 1990, shortly before the release of Mother Love Bone's only album.
It was clear these guys were students of hard rock. Their songs were driven by raucous but melodic guitar leads; Star Dog Champion had a riff to rival anything on the LA hard rock scene. Bone China contained haunting guitar melodies reminiscent of the Doors. And, Man of Golden Words, was a classic rock ballad that gave anything Axl ever wrote a run for its money.
Wood's untimely death signalled the end for one of the most exciting groups of the grunge era - but it also led to the formation of two of its most celebrated. Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and several members of Mother Love Bone went on to form Temple Of The Dog. This in turn led to the formation of Pearl Jam.