Photo by Michael Dobrinski on Unsplash
When starting any journey, we rarely consider that we might meet life-changing obstacles that might as well have us end our journey prematurely. The Mother Love Bone band can tell this better, having them relate heavily to the aforementioned context. Formed in Seattle in 1988, the Mother Love Bone band had slowly started to become a force to reckon, especially in grunge and alternative metal music genres. The band was not short of talent, having them do some hard rock, alternative rock, and glam punk music genres. Mother Love Bone band’s success would never be far from reach, with most of its founding members associated with quite a strong music background.
The founding members included ex-Malfunkshun frontman Andrew Wood, ex-Ten Minute Warning, and The Living drummer Greg Gilmore, and three ex-Green River members Bruce Fairweather, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament. While the band had initially started as a group out of cover band Lords of Wasteland, adding Fairweather and replacing Hagar with Greg would now have the group establish a solid band called Mother Love Bone. Thanks to Wood’s outstanding personality and lyrical prowess, the band catapulted to success and was among the most promising bands from Seattle. However, with Wood’s sudden demise over his drug issues (overdosed on heroin), the band would reach its sudden and unsolicited collapse just days before the album Apple release. Nevertheless, here are the top 10 Mother Love Bone songs that the band left us with as a souvenir of the great potential and success they would possibly attain.
# 10 – Heartshine
Ushering us to the top 10 Mother Love Bone songs is the song “Heartshine” from the band’s 1990’s album Apple. As one of the most powerful songs in the album, the song “Heartshine” features so much pain and anger, not only in the lyrics but also in the lead artist’s voice. The sad theme was also captured in the relentless drumming as well as the guitar duet break. “Heartshine” was a song majorly about Wood’s brother’s drug struggle and the people he cared for, his problems, and flaws. You can already feel the rock n roll vibe in this jam coming on so strong from the word go.
# 9 – Gentle Groove
Featured in the band’s 1992 album Mother Love Bone, the song “Gentle Groove” finds the songwriter and lead artist Andrew Wood expressing his obdurate love as he shuts out the outside world. You ought to love the vocals of Andrew Wood as brought out in this song. In some way, you can feel as if Wood was addressing the gentle groove of escapism that has him ask to be joined in his euphoric bliss, which he can barely move away from. Deep down, this feels like a heartbreaking honest confession only that was only seen better by those who knew his life deeper at the moment.
# 8 – Come Bite the Apple
Bringing on some true power in rock music is the jam “Come Bite the Apple” by the Mother Love Bone band. In some way, you can relate the song’s lyrics to heroin use, something that Wood was quite addicted to. Wood understands that heroin is killing him, but he also knows that he needs it so bad and depends on it! You cannot help but notice how the chorus proves too catchy, something that the Mother Love Bone band never failed in any of their songs. And credit to Stone Gossard for some sublime guitar skills, especially in this jam which stands to be unique.
# 7 – Captain Hi-Top
What better way can you use to assert your self-confidence as a musician that gets to the studio and make a release of a song that tells all about you and what you brag about. Well, we can agree that Andrew Wood had this song written and produced to boost his already bulging ego. He was a wise guy whose music skills everyone loved. Was it the drugs? No! The song amplifies what he feels in his heart about himself despite being like a show-off on who he is and how he gets girls he loves.
# 6 – Man of Golden Words
While there are tons of songs that celebrate music, very few can match the vibe “Man of Golden Words” had to bring to music fans, and Mother Love Bone band lovers. Andrew Wood positions himself as a reputable icon in the grunge music genre, thanks to his iconic voice and passion in the art, something that reflects what “Man of Golden Words” is all about. Listening to this song, you can already feel it is one underrated masterpiece, thanks to the deep lyrics that have quite a deep meaning.
# 5 – Bone China
There is something about this song, and you can bet it’s the great voice of a rock legend who took on the stage for just a short while. It is by no surprise that the song “Bone China” is a powerful jam having it also feature some of the unique lyrics. It’s hard to crack the lyrical code of the Mother Love Bone band, but you can get the metaphorical feel they offer. “Bone China” also features some great guitar skills from Stone Gossard that add to the song’s greatness.
# 4 – This Is Shangrila
Written primarily by Gossard, the song “This Is Shangrila” is featured in the band’s album Apple. The song makes the best crossover between glam eighties and the nineties grunge ushering in the birth of an era. Stone Gossard did great not only on the lyrics but also credit to his passionate guitar skills that make this song stand out amongst the few songs they did before the band got to a sad breakup due to Wood’s death.
# 3 – Stardog Champion
Listening to the song “Stardog Champion,” you already feel the true meaning of a champion. Thanks to the outstanding vocals by Andrew Wood that this song got quite a great reception. And if that’s not enough, you ought to love the instrumentals of this jam which by far prove that the band was a multi talented pack of friends. In some way, you can feel that the band was quite inspirational and a force behind great rock n roll by other bands that followed after their sudden end.
# 2 – Stargazer
Without a doubt, songs like “Stargazer” from the Mother Love Bone band were the real driving force towards the commercial success of the album Mother Love Bone. With over 410,000 album copies sold for a band that spent less than three years in the industry, this is quite an achievement. The album also debuted at number 77 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the song “Stargazer” received as proving that the Mother Love Bone is the missing link separating rock music in the 80s and 90s.
# 1 – Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns
Listening to this song, you can tell that the Mother Love Bone band had no better choice than to end the band since there would be no better man to fit in the shoes of Andrew Wood. The song “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” is the fourth track on Shine’s debut album. The ballad consists of two songs sequenced together to bring out one of the best performances in the rock music world. “Chloe Dancer” is about Wood’s fiancé, who had planned on being a stripper to support the pair only to leave the club within an hour. “Crown of Thorns” was about the nasty breakup between Wood and the fiancé over his on-and-off indulgence in heroin.
Mother Love Bone Songs Ranked article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021
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