Songfacts®:

• "Stardog Champion" is one of the most popular songs from Mother Love Bone, a Seatle band that was on the vanguard of the grunge scene but came to an abrupt end when their frontman Andrew Wood died from a heroin overdose on March 19, 1990, just days before the song was set for release on the band's debut album, Apple.
  
  Wood called the song a "fake, kinda patriotic rock anthem of sorts." In it, he takes a grandiose persona that seems to rise to stardom from humble beginnings. At the end of the song there's a children's chorus that seem to be his followers, singing as the song fades out.
• Two of the five members ot Mother Love Bone - guitarist Stone Gossard and bass player Jeff Ament - went on to form Pearl Jam. In a Songfacts interview with Ament, he explained how "Stardog Champion" was built: "That's another note-y Stone riff. It came together pretty quick. I remember being in the basement of Third and Washington, where we had a rehearsal place, playing that song for the first time. That open A and all the ringing high notes - it felt very Zeppelin-y to me at the time.
  
  I remember coming up with my part and thinking, 'Man, I wish I had a 12-string bass.' Because I was sort of obsessed with [Cheap Trick's] Tom Petersson. Well, I'm still sort of obsessed with Tom Petersson! We rented a 12-string bass when we recorded that song. That was the beginning of my journey with that instrument."
• There's a palpable glam rock influence in this song, with the "Stardog Champion" echoing character-driven songs like David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust." T. Rex is clearly an influence as well; in their song "Bang A Gong (Get It On)," lead singer Marc Bolan sings of a "hubcap diamond star halo."
  
  "He had a knack for coming up with those sort of T. Rex characters," Jeff Ament told Songfacts.
• The Apple album was released in July 1990, a few months after Andrew Wood's death. Two years later, that album was combined with other material from the band and released as a compilation called Mother Love Bone.