More than any other act MOTHER LOVE BONE acted as the catalyst to the Grunge scene which would rapidly envelop the Rock world. MOTHER LOVE BONE's roots lay with early 80's Seattle outfit GREEN RIVER, with whom guitarists Stone Gossard and Bruce Fairweather along with bassist Jeff Ament. Both Ament and Fairweather had previous to GREEN RIVER been a member of Punk act DERANGED DICTION. Drummer Greg Gilmore had travelled through ETERNITY, THE LIVING, TEN MINUTE WARNING (alongside future GUNS N' ROSES bassist DUFF McKAGAN) and SKIN YARD. Gossard's roots lay in the Punk prototypes THE DUCKY BOYS and MARCH OF CRIMES.

GREEN RIVER broke up due to musical differences. Gossard had already been writing with MALFUNKSHUN vocalist Andrew Wood and LORDS OF THE WASTELAND rose from the duo jamming with Jeff Ament and drummer Greg Gilmore. This act soon adopted the new title of MOTHER LOVE BONE.

Despite having Geffen interested early on, PolyGram actually put a deal the band's way and, after releasing the 'Shine' EP in 1989, stuck out the Terry Date produced 'Apple' album the following year. Following the tragic death of Andrew Wood from a drug overdose and the inevitable break up of the band, Gossard and Ament formed the multi-platinum Grunge godfathers PEARL JAM.

Fairweather became bassist for LOVE BATTERY. Gilmore went to BLIND HORSE, ENDINO'S EARTHWORM and DOGHEAD.

With PEARL JAM mania in full flow during 1991 ('Ten' was still in the U.S. top ten eight months after its release and would go on to sell five million copies in America alone) Polydor saw fit to capitalize on the insatiable appetite of fans. MOTHER LOVE BONE's 'Shine' EP and 'Apple' album were repackaged and retitled 'Star Dog Champion'. The record hit the number 77 spot in the Billboard charts.