Fame (fame) makes a man take things over
Fame (fame) lets him loose hard to swallow
Fame (fame) puts you there where things are hollow
Fame not your brain it's just the flame
That puts your change to keep you sane (sane)
Fame (fame) what you like is in the limo
Fame (fame) what you get is no tomorrow
Fame (fame) what you need you have to borrow
Fame (nein) it's mine is just his line
To bind our time it drives you to crime (crime)
Fame (fame)
Could it be the best could it be?
Really be really babe
Could it be my babe could it babe?
Could it babe could it babe?
Is it any wonder I reject you first
Fame (fame) fame fame
Is it any wonder you are too cool to fool
Fame (fame)
Fame bully for you chilly for me
Got to get a rain check on pain
(Pain)
What's your name?...
Feeling so gay
- David Bowie, "Fame"
I don't recall the name David Bowie coming up during Andrew Wood's interviews, but I have no doubt he was a fan. Bowie was the type of performer Andrew seemed inspired to emulate, especially given his known reverence for Elton John, Marc Bolan, and Freddy Mercury.
The song "Fame" appears on the 1975 album, "Young Americans" - which John Lennon actually participated in the recording of. It's interesting when we consider the cynical/dark tone of the "Fame" lyrics in light of Lennon's involvement. Lennon was perhaps the first modern pop icon that went out of his way to subvert people's idea of what a "famous person" is and how they aught to be regarded. The commentary within the tune has the feel of Lennon's views (at the time) of the "industry," if not his direct hand/voice.
Fame (fame) what you get is no tomorrow
Fame (fame) what you need you have to borrow
I suppose Bowie is saying that Fame can be fleeting, although this is ironic coming from a guy who enjoyed pop-star status for generations! But "no tomorrow" can also refer to death. How many pop icons and rock stars were exalted far above their status as "living beings" post-mortem? Jim Morrison, Elvis, Kurt Cobain, and probably Bowie as well - all likely have more fans today than they ever had living. The same could most certainly be said of Andrew Wood. What is this dark connection between fame and death?
PART 1: THEY DIE YOUNG
If we look at "the big 4" of early 90s Seattle Grunge Rock, all 4 bands involve singers that are now deceased! I'm talking about Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam. But wait, nobody in Pearl Jam died, so what am I talking about?
According to Jeff Ament, it was his sending out of demos to various individuals that lead to Mother Love Bone's 1990 major label deal. Andrew Wood died on March 19th of 1990 and their album was released exactly 4 months later on July 19th. Within a year, Ament and Gossard had already formed 2 bands - Pearl Jam and Temple of the Dog - both of whom released albums in 1991. While the latter seemed to be largely driven by Wood's friend and former roomate Chris Cornell, Pearl Jam was obviously built upon the momentum created by Mother Love Bone - even utilizing the same management. So in a sense, to put it rather grimmly, his death created Pearl Jam.
Andrew Wood has the unfortunate distinction of being the first high profile casualty of the 90s Seattle Grunge movement. I say this with appreciation of the fact that Andrew probably didn't identify with the "grunge" tag very much, but took it with a healthy sense of humor like many of his peers did. It's mostly out of convenience that I use the term here, whether it accurately describes the music or not.
Although I've been a casual Mother Love Bone fan since the early 90s, it wasn't until the past few years that I grew to appreciate their music and their enigmatic singer more fully. Probably like most of you reading this, I always assumed Andrew's tragic death was just another case of a talented young musician who couldn't tame his demons. But during the process of re-discovering his music, my curiosity grew regarding the details surrounding his death. Especially given how many of his peers have dropped dead since, and the murky details that usually went along with them.
Although I'd like to use official documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests as source materials here, the process to obtain such materials has proven more challenging than in other cases [such as the Dimebag Darrell or Chris Cornell blogs I have done]. I will get into the mundane details regarding that later, but for now let me just say that the 2005 documentary "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story" is probably the best resource the general public has [a book by Scot Barbour seems to be in the works as I type this]. As far as I know it is the only official documentary on the topic, written or otherwise, which was produced in cooperation with the Wood family and former friends/bandmates.
PART 2: DYSFUNKSHUN
"We did alot of drinking. Dave and I. Alot of drinking and fighting and screaming…both physically and emotionally. And that’s what they saw. So that was love…Andy thought love had to hurt…I’m just now learning that it doesn’t have to hurt, it’s not supposed to hurt at all!" - Toni Wood [Mother]
The first striking thing I noticed about Andrew's mother Toni, is that she seems to have his same animated, somewhat child-like sort of demeanor. She also tends to play to the camera to the point you may start to wonder how much of it is authentic and how much is acting.
[Toni and Dave Wood]
“My dad was fucked up [laughs] laying on the ground or something!” - Brian Wood
In the film, Andrew's brother Brian tells a disturbing story about how the Wood family went out on a boat ride once when the 3 brothers were kids. It ended with them getting all tangled up in other boat's lines and with Dad [Dave] passed out drunk on the floor of the boat. Although Brian laughs and makes humor out of it, it's really not too funny. Laughter is obviously Brian's coping mechanism, as it is for many of us who live through traumatic experiences as children. Better to laugh than cry after all! Brian then gets into brief heartbreaking details of being homeless for a few years later in life.
According to Toni, young Andrew sort of instinctually became the cheerer-upper in this dysfunctional family. His entertaining persona was probably built there initially. And while it's endearing to picture little Andrew bringing smiles and joy to his "screwed up" family, it's also very sad. It seemed to become his "responsibility" to make everyone in the room feel good, and probably robbed him of a normal nurturing childhood - which his mother clearly laments in the film. It's easy to see how Andrew latched onto drugs so early in life, especially with the accessability on the streets.
"People seemed to think it meant all sorts of things from penis to female clitorises. Your mother loves your bone and all this incest…"
I never gave the band name "Mother Love Bone" much thought before researching for this blog, it just seemed like an appropriately humorous/ambiguous stream-of-consciousness sort of title to me. Much like Ultramega Ok or Badmotorfinger or Down on the Upside [Soundgarden titles]. Even the name "Pearl Jam" has that slightly goofy, abstract wink that sorta says "we know what it means and you don't!"
Clearly Andrew was bothered by some people's choice to associate incest with the name Mother Love Bone ["bone" being likened metaphorically to "penis"]. But would Andrew have been as bothered if there wasn't a plausable logic to this interpretation? I'm not saying he intended to suggest incest with the title, but I AM saying that its' ambiguous nature allows for that possible translation, whether intended or not. I mean, if they stuck with the name "Lords of the Wasteland" would anyone be drawing incest from that? Obviously not. And if they did, it'd be much easier to shrug off without a 2nd thought.
Andrew's rehab therapist concluded that he often used humor to avoid addressing his insecurities, but that his knowledge of these insecurities was apparent in the lyrics he wrote. Great lyrics are really no different than great poetry. The words are often up to interpretation, and can even contain meanings the author him/herself did not necessarily intend. Could it be that incest was perhaps a "freudian slip" contained in the name Mother Love Bone? Believe me, it's not an interpretation I LIKE to entertain, but Andrew brought it up in the interview and now it's got me wondering.
"He would wear his mom's panties and he would fuckin tell you about that!" - Friend of Andrew
I believe Andrew's flamboyant/exhibitionist personality was largely influenced by some sort of abuse he suffered, which I will not elaborate upon because I can only conjecture as to what it was. But with parents getting black out drunk and violent around the kids regularly, one can imagine any number of scenarios in which young Andrew and his brothers suffered all types of abuse and probably irreparable damage.
PART 3: MR FADED GLORY
Xana LaFuente was apparently "picked out" by Andrew's friend and drummer from Malfunkshun, Regan Hagar. The story is quite endearing, and has a sort of magical fairy tale quality to it. Andrew gets out of rehab, and he is brought to a thrift store where he is to court an employee there who was picked out for him. They follow her as she leaves the store and at some point Andrew approaches her as if it was destiny. They immediately become a couple and are both living with Chris Cornell shortly thereafter.
There are a couple of things that I find a little strange about the above. First off, no other women are mentioned anywhere in Andrew's life outside of his mother. I would think he had lots of them around and maybe he did, but only 1 made the history books? Also, the manner in which Andrew met Xana was essentially "arranged." Obviously they were both into it, but odd nonetheless. Why did a guy as popular, magnetic, and exotically attractive as Andrew need to be charitably "hooked up" by a friend?
Xana [Xena?] was "a head taller than him" and apparently beat him up regularly. They are both said to have sported bruises in public, presumably from their "rough love." This makes me think of Toni's comment that "Andy thought love had to hurt." Did he simply replace that same "love" [abuse] with his potential love interest(s)?
All parties interviewed seem to agree that nobody was aware of the severity of Andrew's drug problem, except Xana - whom Andrew painfully confided in [according to her]. The picture we get is of a bawling, self loathing Andrew begging Xana to help him kick his habit, and others ignoring her plea to pay attention and take note. Everyone else was most concerned about keeping the Mother Love Bone ship moving and following through on this major label rock star path set before them. And I think the guilt carried by his former band mates is palpable in their vacant stares. I'm not judging them, just putting this down for the big picture view here.
According to Xana, she came home late one night and found Andrew unconscious in their apartment, apparently having overdosed.
"He was fine, he was breathing heavy. He was just in a heavy unconscious sleep…What’s weird is that by the time the paramedics came, they like did all of this stuff to him and then all of a sudden it was like well we’re gonna have to pronounce him dead. And I signed the papers where they pronounced him dead...And [later] I went to Harborview [hospital] and he was alive again…" - Xana
I've heard of people who were revived after being "dead" for a few minutes. In fact, I think Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue has such a story in his book. But it doesn't sound like Xana observed him "dying" even temporarily, it sounds like he was in a heavily doped up slumber. Seems like we are missing something here.
Let's look at the timeline of events as presented in the film...
Friday 3.16.90:
10:10pm: Xana calls 911
10:34pm: Patient REVIVED and placed on respirator
To "revive" means to "restore to life or consciousness." Where are these documents Xana signed pronouncing Andrew "dead" less than half an hour before this?
Sat 3.17.90
12:40am: patient admitted to trauma intensive care
8:00am: Patient improving, CT scan shows brain swelling
8:00pm: Patient’s breathing improves, condition hopeful.
It doesn't sound like Andrew is conscious at this point, but hard to tell conclusively from these notes.
Sunday 3.18.90
8:00am Blood pressure stabilized, pupils reactive.
2:00pm Removed from paralysis medications, patient restless.
I'm not sure why paralysis medication was needed, but it would be good to have more information on everything administered to him and how much, for the obvious reason that these could have potentially contributed to his death - and the hospital would of course want to cover their own asses if that was the case. I'm not sure how to translate "patient restless" if he was unconscious still. I assume he was moving around a lot or twitching?
More than 10 hours of nurses notes missing from hospital records.
Now what is this all about? This was the detail that caused me to realize I would need to obtain some official documents. But hospital records are generally reserved ONLY for immediately family or those authorized by them. However, sometimes these become part of the investigative report - which is generally public record at some point. But was an investigation even conducted here? I don't think so.
Monday 3.19.90
11:20am: Patient unresponsive, no reflex, no signs of brain function
3:15pm: Removed from life support.
I don't doubt that a legitamate overdose death may have occured here, but there is just not enough information to rule out the possibility that other factors may have been at play, especially during those 10 hours of "missing hospital records!"
PART 4: MUNDANE DETAILS
[You must tap/click on images in order to view/enlarge them at the proper resolution]
And now we come to the mundane details regarding my search for documents. In episode 8 of my "Off the Cuff" video series [found HERE] I briefly documented my attempt to get information through the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] request system. I got nothing from the King County Sheriff's department, but I was provided with a link to https://digitalarchives.wa.gov, which is where I found the above death certificate - so there is no reason to think it is not official.
Seattle Sheriff's Dept also suggested I contact the Seattle Police Department, which I did and found that I had already done so in 2021! Here is the message I got from them:
Our Records Management System Analyst was able to locate the incident described in your request, 1990-106895. However, this case file is past retention, and was not retained, and is therefore no longer available. As a courtesy, we have provided the Records Management System summary of the incident. It is available for you to download.
Our Analyst was also able to determine from the summary that it appears SPD sent Mr. Wood to detox. We suggest that you file a request with the Medical Examiner's Office for more information/details.
The requested record 02-549050 meets the statutory definition of public records, and as such, they are required to be maintained and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of 40.14 RCW. The record was destroyed prior to receipt of your request pursuant to the Secretary of State approved Record Retention Schedule, RCW 40.14.060.
Explanation: Agencies may destroy records in compliance with appropriate records retention requirements. See, BIAW v. McCarthy, 152 Wn. App. 720, 218 P. 3d 196 (2009); see also, Daines v. Spokane Co., 111 Wn. App. 342, 44 P.3d 909 (2002) (holding that there is no private right of action under RCW 40.14).
As you can see, the records I was seeking were either destroyed or are otherwise not available to the general public. That is the reason I initally back-burnered this blog because I was hoping to eventually obtain information elsewhere. But what you see on this page is all I could dig up so far. From what I can tell, a proper police investigation was never conducted because, I assume, it was never questioned whether Andrew Wood died as a result of overdosing himself.
Andrew had a substance abuse problem, without doubt! And he may very well have overdosed in a tragic moment of self-sabotage. But perhaps if a proper investigation was conducted, we'd have a different view of this event. Was Xana and Andrew's apartment ever examined for signs of foul play? Did anyone bother to confirm whether Xana was actually working that night and whether she really did drive some people 20 miles out of her way, causing her to arrive home too late? Has anyone tried to find out what occured during those 10 hours of missing hospital notes? Has anyone checked to see who all visited Andrew there and how long he may have been left unattended? Were all procedures carried out properly and ethically by the hospital? I don't claim that there aren't good answers to all of these questions consistent with the current narrative, and maybe some of you know something I don't. But until I get those answers I don't see how one can be sure there was no foul play involved here because I see plenty of opportunities for it and a potential motive, which I will get into at the end of this.
While the Death Certificate indicates "Acute Opiate Intoxication" as the secondary cause of death, the primary cause of death was "Hypoxic Encephalothopy." I don't know anything about the latter, except that it seems to occur in infants at birth sometimes. Has anyone looked into the frequency of a heroin overdose leading to such a condition? Has it occured to anyone to explore whether "Hypoxic Encephalothopy" could have been caused by improper use of a respirator or other measures taken while Wood was in the hospital?
Let's not forget that he was presumed dead by paramedics, according to Xana, before being revived at the hospital. And let's also not forget that his condition appeared to only improve up until just after that 10 hour "black out" in the hospital's records. There is good reason to investigate this death further, and I don't believe it was ever done at all as I stated earlier. Not all investigations yield information we expect, but the purpose of them is to arrive at the truth of what occured, not to confirm or deny details me or you PREFER. But not performing an investigation at all when certain key details are murky certainly isn't going to tell the whole story, and may even allow flasehoods to be accepted as truth.
If we view MLB from the perspective of someone like Michael Goldstone, who signed the band and who now works for Q-Prime, Andrew's drug issues would be regarded as a potential liability for the newly annointed group. These industry types do not invest money into a band just out of good will or to "support the arts." They expect a return, and when we consider how quickly and efficiently Andrew left this world and how Pearl Jam seemed to rocket to fame in their place, I just wonder if a certain "business decision" may have played a part in Andrew's death. A decision the band members themselves may or may not necesarilly have been aware of.
SOURCES:
Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story
Seattle Police Records Department
Seattle Sheriff Records Department
digitalarchives.wa.gov
Wikipedia
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