Life on Planet Rock by Lonn Friend

Author:Lonn Friend [Friend, Lonn]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Music, Biography
ISBN: 9780307487490
Google: d3FTObdLDUoC
Amazon: 0767922085
Goodreads: 7008710
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2006-07-10T12:00:00+00:00

9

Band of Golden Words

I ASPIRE TO INSPIRE BEFORE I EXPIRE.

—Kinky Friedman

I’m goin’ hungry!

The duet cried, their voices united by song and the memory of a fallen friend. Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell traded vocals and marched across the Hollywood Palladium stage as four thousand fans from far and near stared at a jam for the ages. It was the encore of Soundgarden’s dazzling one-hour set, the grand finale to an evening that had also seen performances by their fellow northwest countrymen Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains.

I’m goin’ hungry!

They bellowed again, tossed their mikes to the floor, and took flight like a pair of flannel-clad pigeons over a sea of sweaty bodies moshing in the pit below. Into the crowd they soared as intoxicated, hypnotized fans reached for a touch of infamy. The song setting the house ablaze was “Hunger Strike” from Temple of the Dog, the one-off record produced by members of both bands as a tribute to Andy Wood—lead singer of Mother Love Bone—who had died of a heroin overdose the year before. Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron along with Pearl Jam guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament, the latter two remnants of Love Bone, were also on stage, strumming their heavenly riffs.

I was watching from the wings, stage left, as the magic unfolded. The date was October 17, 1991, and this was RIP’s fourth-anniversary party, what urban legend would someday crown the “Seattle party.” The previous year, we’d made history with a soiree highlighted by Motörhead and the last Guns N’ Roses club performance the world ever saw. But Planet Rock had changed drastically in the span of twelve months.

There was a seductive new sound emerging from the rainy streets of Seattle, a town better known for its Boeing aircrafts than for its badass beats. Though the bands that would be kings were still yet to be crowned on a global scale, it was obvious to all in attendance that the shift was on.

My relationship with the extraordinary individuals that would fuel the movement that the mainstream media would lamely label grunge rock began with an overnight road trip to Seattle in August 1990. Just a few weeks prior to my departure, the RIP advertising department had negotiated what would have been our first promoted concert tour. The bill featured Mother Love Bone and Kill for Thrills, a local outfit featuring guitarist Gilby Clarke, who would later go on to replace Izzy Stradlin in GN’R. Love Bone was the headliner. They were from Seattle, were local heroes, and had just been signed to PolyGram Records by A&R rep Michael “Goldie” Goldstone.

But the tour never played even one date because before it launched in the spring of 1990, Love Bone’s lead singer, the charismatic star child with a penchant for heroin, Andy Wood, passed away on March 19. His body was discovered by his fiancée, Xana La Fuente, on the couple’s bed. He’d been clean for 116 days but fell off the wagon one night, hard, when he scored some bad smack.

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