If you haven't seen the "PJ20" documentary, the beginning of it has a nice little section about Mother Love Bone. Frontman Andrew Wood was the personality and forceful charisma of that band, and if it were not for his death, they may have become what Pearl Jam did. But alas, Mr. Wood chased the dragon, and the dragon got the better of him. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament were left with a band minus the heart, and quickly disbanded. As Stone wrote new material, he teamed up with another Seattle based guitarist, Mike McCready. McCready convinced Stone to reconnect with Jeff Ament, and they sent a couple demo's out. One found its way into the hands of a very young gas station attendent named Eddie Vedder (by way of Jack Irons, the Red Hot Chilli-Peppers drummer at the time). While in San Diego, Eddie recorded demo vocals to three songs, "Alive," "Once," and "Footsteps," and sent the demo back to the boys in Seattle. The rest as they say, is history.
It's a story that has a clear beginning, albeit a tragic one. Two bands fates completely dependent on one another. Had Andrew Wood not taken that extra dose lets say, we might be celebrating Mother Love Bone's twentieth anniversary. Then again, they could've disbanded after only one album anyway. But his death opened the door for one of the most iconic rock bands in history, to even exist. I don't know about you, but looking back two decades on a defining moment, and realizing that all the brilliant music that came after it was based on that one happenstance, gives me pause for thought.
Now this is hardly the only example of instances of this kind, it happens constantly. I'm a Jets fan, so I remember clearly in 2001 when LB Mo Lewis hit Patriots Quarterback Drew Bledsoe, shearing a blood vessel in his chest. At that time, QB Tom Brady was a sixth round compensatory pick, not expected to see any playing time. Not that season at least. And New England loved Drew Bledsoe. He had just signed a then record setting ten year, $103 million contract. But Mo Lewis got to him. In that one moment, when Lewis slammed into Bledsoe, he opened the door for arguably the best Quarterback of our generation to even get a shot. Had he not been injured, Brady may never have even played a day in the NFL, or if he did, it almost definitely wouldn't have been for the Patriots. And because of that one hit, Brady has gone on to win 3 Superbowls, 2 Superbowl MVP awards, and 2 NFL MVP awards. Ain't that a bitch?
Now I know this all has nothing to do with this Mother Love Bone, but hey, I get carried away sometimes. What I will say, is when I came to work today, I set my tens of thousands of songs library, on random. "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" was the first to come up. I don't know why, but it was. Could that have altered the course of my day, week, or life? Probably not.
It's a great song, and a clear example of Andrew Wood's emotive and powerful voice. There is no doubt in my mind that they could have been successful, but that's just not what the cards had in store. So we're left with one album from these guys, and a thousand scenarios of what may or may not have happened. Yea, that definitely gives me pause for thought.
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