Today, March 19, marks the 23 anniversary of the death of Andrew Wood.
Andrew Wood was best known for being the flamboyant, lively, and lyrically brilliant frontman for the grunge band Mother Love Bone. Though a lot of the flair in his personality that shines through the killer sound of MLB may come from what he did before that band, as flamboyant frontman of the hair band Malfunkshun.
Although a native of Washington, Wood’s personality and voice seem to have some sort of Southern All-American quality that makes his music feel like comfort food.
March 19, 1990 Andy Wood lost his life to complications with heroin. The tragedy here isn’t the use of the drug; the tragedy is that the difficulty of acquiring pure illegal substances led to the loss of a beautiful life because the substance was impure.
Andy Wood had a heart of gold and a larger than life personality. His soul pierced his music and the hearts of the listeners. His death was a great tragedy least of all because he and Mother Love Bone had only produced one album before his passing, but more than that a brilliant star shot from the Heavens that night- the world suffered a deeper loss than may ever be known.
In a letter to Andy after his death, Chris Cornell wrote:
“2-the LoveMaster, Save my seat in the nether world. 4-I know it’s a sold out show”
Today it’s important to remember that his life should be celebrated and not mourned, because somewhere in the super unknown our “Man of Golden Words” is pouring his soul out on tracks that we’ll all get to hear some day.
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