10 Musical Artists Who Never Got To Become Superstars
2. Andy Wood - Mother Love Bone
If there were any justice in the world, Andy Wood would have been the spokesman for grunge instead of Kurt Cobain. Though Cobain himself embodied the disaffected youth of the rock world so perfectly, Wood was the real entertainer that reached for the back of the audience just like the classic frontmen. Just like all rough and tumble frontmen though, it all became their downfall when drugs became a part of the picture.
After picking up a nasty addiction to heroin while performing with Mother Love Bone, Wood powered through the recording of the band's self titled debut Apple before dying of an overdose shortly thereafter. Even before grunge really hit it big, this was a loss that was on par with the Day the Music Died in Seattle. Compared to the other reserved people onstage, Andy was a superstar before he was ready for primetime, playing every dive bar like it was a coliseum.
Even though Mother Love Bone would eventually rebuild their bridges and blossom into Pearl Jam afterwards, the reverberations of Wood's death was still all over the Seattle scene, turning up in the Temple of the Dog supergroup and being the focus of Alice in Chains' biggest hit Would?. While the death of Cobain might be considered the true death knell for grunge, the loss of Andy Wood may as well have been the loss of grunge's innocence.