Their formation was announced with suitably dramatic language, claiming to have "been born by accident and friendship – out of death, after a cross-country drive". Apparently, singer-guitarist John Petkovic went on a road trip after the death of his mother; he headed east from Cleveland, smoking cigarettes, not knowing where he was headed. Eventually, he met up with Mascis and Witch bassist Dave Sweetapple, both old friends. And Mascis told him to write some songs. "I tell people that I saved John’s life by starting this band," he said. "But they don’t believe me."

Petkovic enlisted guitarist Tim Parnin, his band-mate from Cobra Verde, and before long they were recording the album Love and Desperation in Cleveland and Massachusetts. "I hadn’t even played guitar for months," Petkovic explained, "and then, out of the blue, there were all these songs." The record was mixed by Don Depew and long-time Dinosaur Jr producer John Agnello.

While the band’s MySpace songs aren’t currently working, they describe their sound as "a wide net [of] … catchy power-pop, crushing rock and wounded ballads". According to a poster at the Sound Opinion message-board, Petkovic said in September that Sweet Apple have more of a "glam rock" vibe. However, we prefer the genre descriptions chosen by the from MySpace’s default tags: "Powerpop / New Wave / Healing and Easy Listening," they wrote. Just as long as they play it loud.