WI: Andrew Wood never died?

Andrew Wood was the lead singer of Mother Love Bone. A band posied for great success as the music world ticked over into the 90's. But, Andrew Wood's death from a drug's overdose put an end to that. Then ...Teen Spirit happened and the rest is history.

But.. what if Andrew Wood never had that drug's overdose? What if he managed to get clean and stick with Mother Love Bone?

Here's some points to consider:


  • No Pearl Jam - Yup.. Mookie Blaylock (AKA Pearl Jam) founders Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament had to seek new pastures only due to the death of Andrew Wood. What would happen to Eddie Vedder?
  • Grunge - Mother Love Bone are cited as being among the 'founding fathers' of Grunge yet they had a lot in common with Glam Metal and Classic Rock; just look at Andrew Wood's dress sense!
  • The other bands of the genre? Temple of the Dog wouldn't exist; Would? by Alice in Chains and Far Behind by Candlebox wouldn't exist either. Would any of the major Grunge bands be affected by MLB? Obviously Pearl Jam wouldn't exist.
  • Individuals in the band? Bruce Fairweather probably wouldn't join Love Battery etc.
Bonus points if you can butterfly the 90's into something different.
 
Grunge might be delayed, or not become as prominent as it did, but it would exist. Bands like Soundgarden, Tad, and Mudhoney had already been in existence, and had released albums, before Andrew Wood died. Grunge became big because of Nirvana - not Pearl Jam (who IMO were more of a hard rock/grunge hybrid sound-wise in their early days - not loud a gnarly enough, or raucous enough guitar sound).

While Mother Love Bone had elements of grunge in its sound, it was more akin to LA hard rock & metal IMO.
 
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maybe Maybe this would lead to a last minute reprieve for many of the harder hitting Glam/Sleaze bands? GN'R, Skid Row, Vain and Alleycat Scratch may stay relevant for a couple more years.

MLB had a pronounced Classic Rock influence; Queen, Aerosmith etc.

Grunge and Alt. Rock would still obviously exist but maybe if MLB exploded akin to Pearl Jam in OTL it would be a more diverse music scene?

Plus think... Mother Love Bone touring with Smashing Pumpkins/Nirvana and RHCP? :D
 
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