Mother Love Bone “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” released

Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns Mother Love Bone

Writer(s): -- (see lyrics here) Released: March 20, 1989 (album cut) First Charted: -- Peak: 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 9.8 video, 19.94 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” was grunge before grunge was a thing – or least before the term became widespread as shorthand for “rock bands from Seattle dressed in flannel.” In reality, grunge can be dated back to as early as 1984 and the birth of Green River, a band who was a predecessor to Mother Love Bone. When Green River disbanded in 1988, singer Mark Arm and guitarist Steve Turner went on to form Muhoney while bassist Jeff Ament, guitarist Stone Gossard, and guitarist Bruce Fairweather formed Mother Love Bone with singer Andrew Wood and drummer Greg Gilmore. In 1989, the group released the Shine EP which featured “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns.” The song is about Wood’s heroin addiction and Xana La Fuente, his fiancé. To support the pair while he tried to break into the music industry, she took a job at a strip club (hence the title “Chloe Dancer”) but only lasted an hour. She said the song “is about a relationship ruined by drugs. He wrote it about our near breakup and how I tried to control him and the drugs.” SF Wood seemingly got it under control for four months, but on March 19, 1990, he took heroin again and died from an overdose. His death meant the demise of Mother Love Bone right on the cusp of the release of their debut album, Apple. However, Ament and Gossard would go on to form Pearl Jam in 1991 and would also be part of Temple of the Dog, a tribute project for Wood. Mother Love Bone wouldn’t get much attention until the grunge movement had kicked into high gear in 1992 because of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and others. Because Temple of the Dog merged members of the latter two bands, it gained attention and that subsequently raised the profile of Andrew Wood and Mother Love Bone. “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” specifically emerged as the go-to song for the band when it was included on the 1992 soundtrack for Singles, a Cameron Crowe-directed film set to the backdrop of the then-emerging Seattle music scene. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Mother Love Bone SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/16/2023.