The album contains material from the EPShine and the albumApple. It was released by PolyGram subsidiary Stardog/Mercury Records after the band dissolved due to the death of vocalist Andrew Wood. The album charted at number 77 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1992. Ira Robbins of Entertainment Weekly said, "Mother Love Bone—the band's total output—suggests a young, hungry Aerosmith hooked on Led Zeppelin."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at No. 77 on the Billboard 200 for chart dated October 10, 1992, selling 14,000 copies in the first week. The album has sold 410,000 copies in the United States as of September 2016.
On Thursday, March 15, 1990, RIP writer Michael Browning and Andrew Wood conducted what might be his . Mother Love Bone were scheduled to be a part of a RIP magazine-sponsored three-band tour supporting Apple, which was ready to be released. He describes the many of the song meanings:
Andy Wood: "Stardog Champion" is a kinda...fake, kinda patriotic rock anthem of sorts. That's gonna be the first single and video. When I wrote "Holy Roller," I didn't even know what a holy roller was. I just thought it was a cool term. Actually, I was thinking of a Paul McCartney and Wings song "Let Me Roll It." I don't know why it made me think of holy rollers. "Captain High-Top" is just a total rock propaganda kinda thing. I kinda see "Heartshine" as our "Achilles' Last Stand" of the album. It's long and real powerful. I was kinda depressed about leaving Malfunkshun for a long time. Still am, kinda. I feel like, you know, I left them stranded. I've got a brother besides Kevin who, ah, is kinda insane in a way, and he makes the whole family worry about him, so "Heartshine" is a little about both of my brothers.
RIP: "Mr. Danny Boy" is obviously a slam on Danny Thomas.
A.W.: Yeah, I don't know why we decided to do such a mean thing to Danny.
RIP: But you did.
A.W.: That's right. No offense to Marlo. I still like her from ThatGirl.
RIP: "Come Bite the Apple," is there any significance to that?
A.W.: That's a meaningful song. It's a "Crown of Thorns" type of song. The lyrics are personal, whereas some of the songs have absolutely nothing to do with me. "Apple" and "Crown of Thorns" are probably mostly about me. It's kind of a synopsis of the whole past year. I'm lucky to be sitting here.
Andy Wood's former partner and muse Xana La Fuente, provides more clarity. Two songs are written about her:
When Andy wrote and sang Stargazer to me it was special because he also wrote Chloe for me but obviously having my real name in the song - not my stripper for a day name - was really flattering and made it extra special
''Crown of Thorns" was written about a nasty. breakup between Andy and Xana over his on and-off-again dabbling in heroin and alcohol. "This song is about a relationship ruined by drugs," she explains. "He wrote it about our near breakup, and how I tried to control him and the drugs-hence his allusion to being tied to the ceiling." According to Xana, "Andy was always ashamed of his addictions, choosing to lose himself in his music and poetry, bathing himself in concepts of real love and acceptance. `Stardog Champion‘ was one of his `anthem for survival’ songs. It was an up time, and he really felt he was beating it. He had a choir, children from the San Francisco area, come in and sing backing vocals on this song.
