No amount of songwriting should be seen as a competition. It’s always about the freedom of expression rather than the trophies, and usually, the best writers of all time aren’t the ways parading themselves around saying that they are one of the greatest to ever do it. Any competition can be healthy in the right context, though, and Chris Cornell practically had a fire lit under him when he heard Andy Wood write songs.
Looking at how each Seattle band talked about each other, it was never about trying to outdo everyone else. It was about supporting the local scene, and bands were just as likely to promote each other or jump onstage with their buddies rather than try to sabotage anyone else in their way.
Since no one had any aspirations to become a rock and roll god, Cornell was more than happy to just flex his muscles as a songwriter in Soundgarden. Once Wood came along with his first band, Malfunkshun, though, it looked like one person from Seattle might be able to compete with the likes of Guns N’ Roses.
Even though the music of Malfunkshun ranged from hardcore to stadium rock, Wood was alt-rock’s answer to Freddie Mercury, eating up every bit of attention that he could from the crowd. While most of the greatest frontmen in the world usually have the rest of the band write a lot of the music, Cornell was blown away by what Wood could do.
After living with Wood for a while, Cornell admired just how little Wood cared about whether a song was good or not, telling Howard Stern, “I envied him in terms of his ability to do anything, [whether] it was songwriting or performing. It seemed like he didn’t have the voice in the back of his head telling him, ‘This probably sucks’. He didn’t pause to see if anything was any good or not, and I think that’s why everyone was so drawn to him”.
When he wasn’t making the kind of stadium rock that lit up Seattle, Wood’s stint in Mother Love Bone was the epitome of ‘anything goes’. While their music wasn’t that far off from hair metal, the band felt like a more self-aware version of that style of music, given that Wood actually had the ability to know when he looked ridiculous.
He may have looked more than a little bit silly half the time, but Wood was going down a much darker path when he eventually passed away from a drug overdose. Even though the rest of the Seattle scene had to continue on without him, his passing ended up taking the scene in the exact opposite direction that he intended.
Since Mother Love Bone had always been defined by the care-free fun of playing rock and roll, the later material from artists like Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam would be defined by pain, talking about either the struggles going on in the world or trying not to fall victim to your own demons. It may have still been great music, but all of the fun that came from Seattle probably died along with Wood.
