Their career ending prematurely with singer Andrew Wood's overdose prior to the album's release in 1990, Seattle rockers Mother Love Bone are nowadays better known as the band who gave us Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament. Evolving from the ashes of local legends Green River (whose ranks also included Mudhoney's Mark Arm and Steve Turner), Mother Love Bone's debut revealed roots in anthemic '70s rock à la Led Zep rather than the Stooges'n'Sabbath worship of their north-western peers. Post-Nirvana, MLB might sound less than earth-wobbling but as a pre-Cobain antidote to hair metal and AOR dominance this band's impact upon the course of grunge's early development is not to be underestimated.

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