Mudhoney

Damn Seattle grunge Eddie Vedders!
*special introductory paragraph!
*Superfuzz Bigmuff EP
*Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles CD
*Mudhoney
*Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
*Piece Of Cake
*On Tour Now! EP
*Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew EP
*My Brother The Cow
*Tomorrow Hit Today
*March To Fuzz
*Since We've Become Translucent
*Under A Billion Suns
*The Lucky Ones
They were supposed to be the stars of Seattle - the great honky hope for bringing the underground over ground. But then those damn Nirvanas came along and ruined everything!!!! No big deal; Mudhoney never would have been able to win the hearts of mainstream youth the way Qirdt Kobane's angst-ridden lyrics did way back in late '91. See, the prob with the 'honey isn't that they are incapable of writing great songs; in fact, very few things could be further from the truth!!! The prob, bob, is that the 'honey are the '90s equivalent of reliable mid-'60s garage punk bands like The Seeds, The Standells, and The Count Five; you can count on 'em to come up with some catchy guitar riffs and infectious choruses, but not much else. They're extremely predictable, displaying a stylistic range of perhaps three different types of music (happy poppy riffage, darker driving ROCK AND ROLL!!!!, and slow "bluesy" dirges), and, no matter how much they try to sound like wildass guitar heroes in the Blue Cheer vein, the lead guitarwork is at best a soulless imitation of late-'60s hard rock. All complaints aside, though, Mudhoney have proven themselves to be fantastic providers of catchy fun guitar-heavy rock and roll for close to a decade now. They might only be on par with The Seeds, but since when is that a bad thing???

Have you ever even heard "Pushin' Too Hard?"


Superfuzz Bigmuff EP - Sub Pop 1988.
Rating = 8


In the beginning, Mudhoney were cranked-up, distorted, long-haired motorcycle rockers who helped give "grunge" its name. This six-song CD is built for rockin', with two wildass guitars blarin' outta the speakers, drums careenin' along like logs down mountains towards jeeps, and a sixties-soundin' nasally shouter of a vocalist giving you, the listener, an all-new reason to believe in the future of post-punk rock and roll.

Some folks feel that this is Mudhoney's only good record. I disagree and, in fact, don't even think it's their best record, quite frankly. I mean, "No One Has" and "In 'N' Out Of Grace" rock my mudpies all over the creekbank, and "Need" and "If I Think" are catchy and moving, respectively and respectably, but "Chain That Door" is kind of awkward, and the sludgy "Mudride" comes dangerously close to "duller than Bobby Fuller," not that I'm putting down Bobby Fuller, nor in contrast expressing some sort of solidarity with his memory, which is to say that I have no feelings towards or against the mafia, and I'm sure that they're very pleasant people once you get to know them. Essentially, I just needed something that rhymed with "duller."

Cool EP, and they wouldn't sound this fuzzy for much longer, so enjoy it while you're canned!

Reader Comments

corpsebag@hotmail.com (Michael Cory)
great album.

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
this was my first mud album and not only is it one of my favorite mud albums but its also one of my favorite albums period. if you dont own this then youre worse than slime buddy!

johncarson@ntlworld.com
Hey i'd just like to say--Motorcycle rockers?????????????????????????????? I don't think so !!!!! Maybe it means something else in America, but not here. Surely it's motorcycle rockers that bands like Mudhoney like to take the piss out of. Anyway, great album, but no point in buying it now when you can get the "Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles", unless you're a collector.

worldsgreatestsinner@gmail.com
Hey man, Bobby Fuller rocks. Oh well, this is a good EP, but the added tracks on the CD make it great.

Add your thoughts?

Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles CD - Sub Pop 1990.
Rating = 8


Doubles the length of the original EP with a couple of totally butt-movin' rock and roll originals ("Touch Me I'm Sick" and "Burn It Clean"), a couple o' terrific cover tunes (The Dicks' "Hate The Police" and Sonic Youth's "Halloween"), and a couple o' less memorable tracks that aren't bad, but also aren't anywhere near as deserving of praise as alternative rock and roll fans nationwide seemed to think they were back in the days of marijuana ("Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More" and "You Got It (Keep It Outta My Face)"). Obviously, this package gives you more for your money than the original vinyl version, so maybe that's reason enough to buy it on CD instead. Plus, "Touch Me I'm Sick"!!!! That, sir or ma'am, is a bonafide classical music!
Reader Comments

bb714@freenet.toronto.on.ca (Scott McDowall)
this is their best i think and it gets a nine.

corpsebag@hotmail.com (Michael Cory)
They actually forgot one of Mudhoney's greatest songs on this disc. It was off a various EP for Regal Select records they do a song called "Mark Pushermen" and it's one of the best and hilarious songs ever. There is also a very cool Night Kings song on there as well.

bhl@theonramp.net (The Levinsky's)
Well,it starts off with "Touch Me I'm Sick" ,THE grunge song. What a perfect way to start an album. The next songs is the slow,Stooges grinding "Sweet Young Thing Aint Sweet No More".The 2 covers on the singles side,The Dicks' "Hate The Police",and the greatest Sonic Youth cover ever,"Halloween",are septacular.The next side is their first ep,Superfuzz bigmuff,the best song on this side is "In n Out Of Grace".great fucking album,9 out of 10

newspub@molalla.net
this was my first Mudhoney CD and it is still my favorite, if you want to here some good ol' fashion rock and roll, pop this baby on in.

InMyEyes82@aol.com
I dig about half these songs, but what's with the crap-ass Sonic Youth cover? Blech! It would also help if these guys had a decent drummer. Oh yes, this news coming on 6/24/99-Mudhoney got dropped by Reprise; ergo, they have now broken up.

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayeb)
My first Mudhoney CD and a damn good one."Touch Me I'm Sick" is good but kind of overrated,not that I've ever thought of anything Mudhoney's done as incredible or something.Just a good rock band."Sweet Young Thing Aint Sweet No More" is probably the heaviest song I've heard in the three Mudhoney Cd's that I own.I really like "Hate The Police"(though it's a cover) and "Burn It Clean"(cool title too! and the hey jackass! part).From Superfuzz Bigmuff I dig "No One Has" a lot.Good raw and rockin' cd. I won't rate the whole thing but Superfuzz Bigmuff gets a 7.

qhkj@grove.iup.edu (Justin Dottor)
the Melvins did a great cover of Sweet Young Thing on a single on Boner Records, you can download the song off of stonerrock.com's mp3 jukebox under Melvins

Zophael979@aol.com
Gotta disagree with the one who knocked the drummer. I could give a fuck less about technicality, but the drumming on this rock kicked my ass in all it's primitive goodness. It even sounded sorta tribal at times (Mudride). Pretty much any drumming that I actually notice on the first listen is automatically listed on the err....list of greatness. Or something.

As for the album itself, it's straight up rock and roll in all it's primitive fury. Little bit of punk, a little bit of metal, a faint inkling of some country/blues, and, hell, even some good melodies thrown about (I'm thinking "Need" in particular or "You Got It"). Leaves anything Nirvana did in the dust.

Add your thoughts?

Mudhoney - Sub Pop 1989.
Rating = 9


Hi! I'm Mark Prindle! I'm probably the only person you will ever meet who feels that this debut full-length is the finest recording we've yet to hear from the Mudhoney band!!!! So what the hell's my problem??? Well, instead of being all-out balls-to-Bruce-Dickinson grunge roll, this music is real sixties-sounding, with some vibrato on the guitar every now and then, and some wicked cool garage riffs, and a neat purple album cover! Personally, I find these melodies to be more interesting than the ones on Superfuzz, often displaying a keen sense of rhythm/lead guitar interplay that was kinda non-existent in the full-force rockouts on that EP thing. It shakes and shimmies, and there are twelve songs so, even if one or two don't totally grab your attention, there are so many others, well, goddang, ya know?

I simply love "Get Into Yours," "Flat Out Fucked," "By Her Own Hand," "The Farther I Go" - actually, most of 'em!!! "Come To Mind" is another one o' them dagnabbed slow dirgey things, but the other eleven are delightful!!! What the hell else can I say? It's just rock and roll! No social message or artistic aspiration - just straight-up guitar rock for children to enjoy in the privacy of their own homes. No irritating bombast or pianos like on Who's Next, this stuff is rock and roll for the very sake of rock and roll, and for no other reason. Are they feeling existential pain? Probably not. Are they trying to win an award for "Most Innovative New Band?" I doubt it. Are they high on life and drunk on weed? Chances are good. The point is that most bands who just try to play "good ol'-fashioned rock and roll" end up playing the same old blues sequences we've been bored by for forty years, and (at least here), Mudhoney are smart enough not to do that. These are creative new melodies, and fun to dance to! The singer's voice might get on your nerves, though. He kinda sounds like he's making fun of you all the time. Asshole.

Reader Comments

burk4351@tao.sosc.osshe.edu
I've heard people including Mark and others in the band describe him as "the best songwriter in the world but with the worst voice," which is how i like it and wouldn,t want it any other way. "Punk is about playing as sloppily and singing as bad as you want as long as the spirit of rebellion is there." Don't know who said this but i love the quote.

Godranek@aol.com
Well I just got this one. I really love them dirty piledrivin riffs. I especially like their cover instrumental of Blue Cheer's "Mongolian Caboose Babyfinger".. or Babyshit, whichever, and "Flat Out Fucked". But the singer just has to GO! Someone like Chris Cornell from Soundgarden would've been perfect to sing for this band.

bhl@theonramp.net (The Levinsky's)
Their most concestint album.The roaring rockers,"This Gift","Flat Out Fucked","The Farther I Go",and "You Got It",well,ROCK!!!The great ballad "Here Comes Sickness" is a standout,and the chours to "Get Into Yours" shows Mudhoney has ways of making you sing along to anything.9 out of 10

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
I love mark arms voice and its awesome on this album.... no one could sing these songs like good ole mark.. the whole damn album rocks... everyone said it so ill just mention one thing i like in particular.. the awesome pacing of "this gift" its rocking, and he holds off on the shrieking until the second verse. i think they start singing a whole octave higher on that one.. anyways let this album rock your world and get into songs that have choruses like "FLAT OUT FUCKED!!" repeated over and over or aklhgakhgal;dkjf its just asskicking shit

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayeb)
Probably the best Mudhoney album I've heard so far.I love Mark Arm's vocals on this album..I like it when he makes those long goin' screams but I think he proved that he's not as sloppy of a singer as some might say on Alice In Chains' acoustic SAP EP.I like all songs but there are weak parts in them..as in "Here Comes Sickness",the verses are boring but it's cool when Mark screams and that part comes in that we can call chorus. 8/10

Jcjh20@aol.com
Very nice. I agree with ya here, its my favorite record by this here band. Awesome tunes like "Flat Out Fucked", "Get Into Yours", "The Farther I Go", just make this such a fun record to listen to. Great production too, i always liked Jack Endino's productions. 10/10.

Add your thoughts?

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge - Sub Pop 1991.
Rating = 8


Okay, these songs are almost as catchy as the ones on the last album, and (thanks to EIGHT-TRACK production!) even more sixties-sounding, but this record also makes it painfully clear that Mudhoney will never be anything more than a white POP band. The drums seem real stilted and forced and weird (expecially on "Something So Clear," which is otherwise a pretty great song), and all attempts to "dirge out" or "get bloozy" sound really corny and fake. Still, as Monkees-ish as the instrumentation may seem at times, there's still all kinds o' great pop stuff on here, including the punky "Thorn" and "Shoot The Moon," and the goosebumpingly melodic "Pokin' Around." Plus, you know, the grunge stuff....

See, I used to love this album, but recently it has started to seem more like a group of musically limited (though melodically creative) guys trying to sound "rootsy". Maybe it's just the production? Or the fact that it is much more blatantly a "pop" album than the last two? Or maybe it's just the stupid happy album cover that twists my sentiments? Either way, this stuff is real fun, but slightly unsatisfying in the long run.

But hey, at least it's fun, unlike The Long Run, or any other album by that gang of sleazy playboy billionaires.

Reader Comments

bhl@theonramp.net (The Levinsky's)
Their mellowest.Also the first one I bought by these guys.It is a fine introduction to."Let It Slide" and "Good Enough" are solid,"Something So Clear" is the best,"Thorn" rocks,and "Broken Hands" takes a riff from Neil Young's "Cinnemon Girl"!!!(sorry,I can't spell).7 out of 10

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
number one: its the cover.

number two: why hasnt anyone mentioned "into the drink", thats one of my favorite mud songs to cover in my band!

johncarson@ntlworld.com
Steve Turners "favourite album as a whole" he said. Not sure i agree with him on that one. Superfuzz Bigmuff still does it for me! EGBDF is a great Mudhoney album though....best songs being in my opinion "Good enough" "Thorn" "Into the drink" "Broken hands" "Who you driving now" "Shoot the moon" "Pokin around" and i quite like "Dont fade IV". "Something so clear" just doesnt do it for me nor does "Move out". Not bad...only 2 songs on this Mud album that im not fond of. 12 good songs out of 14, hmmmm i think i agree with an 8 out of 10 for this...a high 8 though.

Add your thoughts?

Piece Of Cake - Reprise 1992.
Rating = 7


Had you asked me my opinion of this record the year it came out, I probably would have given it a three and flipped you a bird for bringing it up in my presence. I tell ye, I HATED IT!!!! It was just a bunch of stupid jokes!! Fart noises, fake techno, stupid bluesy riffs with cutesy titles like "Let Me Let You Down" and "Youth Body Expression Explosion." Bleah!!!! But now, of course, the years have passed, I've learned to relax a bit more, and I can wipe my tears to the side and recognize that, between all the silly foolin' around horsetongue lie quite a few terrific little Mudhoney songs. In fact, I'd happily give the time of day or a bite of my crime to "Make It Now," "Blinding Sun," "Suck You Dry," or "I'm Spun." So that's something.

Unfortunately, the album as a whole suffers from the inclusion of too much silliness backed up by hackneyed chord sequences. Who pays twelve bucks to hear jokes??? I mean, besides the billions and billions of justifiably devoted "Weird Al" Yankovic fanatics? If you listen to it in a good or pot-smokin' mood, you'll get a good feel from it and have a swell afternoon. If you wanna hear real music, though, look the frig elsewhere.

Reader Comments

burk4351@tao.sosc.osshe.edu
For the longest time, Mudhoney said they would never sign to a major label. When they finally realized how corporate the owners of Sub Pop were, they decided to do with the lowest bidder which was Reprise (DGC offered half a mil and was rejected so David Geffen is a tad bitter - poor rich bastard). I felt that the jokes and stuff were the band saying, "Look - we're fucking around with a major label's money and they don't give a shit," but that's just me.

bhl@theonramp.net (The Levinsky's)
Starts off with a blast of disco music,then comes in a blasting drum beat and Mark Arm singing more pissed off then ever.Oh but the fun dosent stop there,nope,next you get "Make It Now","When In Rome","Suck You Dry",and the excelent "Blinding Sun".After that you later get "Im Spun","Acetone",and "Ritzvile". 9 out of 10

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
Piece of cake...

i used to hate the hell out of this album.. its the most unmudhoney mudhoney record i can think of. but like was above, some of these songs rock your world... oh yeah my friends nicknamed this record "piece of shit"

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayeb)
I have to say that this album is shit.I gave it a few extra shots just because I knew that Mudhoney can do better than that.If someone would have given this album to be wihtout me knowing about the band I don't think I would have listened to it much.It would have worked as a 6 track EP but there are some lame songs here."Suck You Dry" is the good one.Then there are a few others that work,"No End In Sight","Take Me There","Blinding Sun","Ritzville" and the beginning of "Acetone".The rest is medicore and some of it is really BAD."Youth Body Expression Explosion" is crap.I'll give it 4 out of 10.

johncarson@ntlworld.com
Okay the last reader comment here takes the piss a bit. There are more than only six good songs on here. It's essentialy a 13 track CD if you minus the 4 mess about songs and if theres only 6 good songs on this album then that would mean 7 of them are shit. Well thats bollocks in my opinion and most other peoples who have half a brain, (or like Mudhoney). Good songs on this album are "No end in sight" "Make it now" "Suck you dry" "Blinding sun" "Youth body statement explosion" "Im spun" "Take me there" "Ritzville" and "Acetone". The other 4 admittaly are a bit on the poor side. But 9 out of 13 plus the other 4 mess about tracks makes for 13 good damn enjoyable songs to listen to. And dont forget "Suck you dry" is one of most fantastic grunge songs ever made. 8 out of 10 for me.

Jcjh20@aol.com
Has some great songs ("Acetone", "Suck You Dry", "Blinding Sun"..) but i agree, too much sillyness! Just makes it a drag to sit threw for me usually, but it could of been a perfectly great album with just a bit of editing. The stupid fake techno song was at least parodied hilariously at one of Nirvana's shows in late 1992 though! I agree with the 7.

chrisjsutton@gmail.com
This was the first Mudhoney album I heard. So to be honest I was a bit disappointed to discover their previous albums weren't garage rock like this. Always good to be different, aye!

Add your thoughts?

On Tour Now! EP - Reprise 1993
Rating = 8


In late August 1991, I descended upon the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to begin my 3.5-year college education. I had long hair at the time - shaved on the sides like Mike Patton - and wanted very badly to be considered 'WeIrD' and 'CoOl' and 'PoPuLaR,' so I wore super-bright and colorful Jams shorts that my mother made for me, with patterns of fruit and cartoon cats and whatnot all over them. I also didn't use soap, wore several cheap neon Swatch watches up my arm, and kept my hair out of my face by wearing a bright pink painters cap. This may shock you, but I didn't have sex for the next three years!

The pink watches and cap didn't stick around for the long term, THANK GOD. But what did I replace them with? Surely I couldn't let the wind blow my long flowing locks all over my face like the wind all day?! Nope - so I "CoOlLy" bought black baseball caps featuring the logos of Black Flag, CRASS and.... MUDHONEY!

Yes, I firmly remember that first mythical (pathetic) day on campus, when I went down to Schoolkids' Records to look at the hot new albums that all the kids were talking about. And what did I buy? The brand new cassette tape Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge by MUDHONEY!

Then a month or two later, who came to town for me to go see at the Cat's Cradle Club (KKK)? THE COWS! But also, later, Mudhoney. And, in the words of George Harrison, "My Sweet Lord" did they kick some ass. The crowd was full of both young rockers and (strangely) outlaw motorcycle gang members. I positioned myself sort of in the middle of the club, but then the band came onstage, started playing (I think) "In 'N' Out Of Grace," and the crowd went NUTSO. I've NEVER experienced such a violent stageward crowd surge as this one. And this is no exaggeration -- by the time the song was over, I was sitting ON THE STAGE at the feet of Mark Arm. This is where I sat for the entire rest of the concert. It was fuckin' awesome, with a capital 'fuckin''.

I saw them again on the Piece Of Cake tour and it wasn't anywhere near as interesting, for some reason. Also, just because I don't think I mentioned it elsewhere, I saw Nirvana in a small club less than two weeks after Nevermind came out, and was actually kinda disappointed. I'm not saying that to be cool - I'm sure they were fine, it's just that they played a lot of covers and b-sides I hadn't heard at the time, so I kept getting bored and antsy to hear the songs I knew. I'd probably appreciate it more now. Maybe I'll see them the next time they come around.

Say, you know what would be fun? Me listing all the rock'n'roll shows I attended in my youth. Let's do that, you and I!

- Ween on the Pod and Pure Guava tours, back when Dean and Gene performed all by themselves with a DAT machine while standing on a carpet they'd brought, wearing socks but no shoes. HILARIOUS!

- Pink Floyd on the Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour. Pretty exciting stuff. Look at that bed crash into the stage.

- Pavement when Gary was still drumming for them. He was wearing a The Who shirt! This must have been shortly after Slanted & Enchanted came out. I also saw them on the Crooked Rain and Wowee Zowee tours.

- Polvo and Superchunk 18-20 times each. When I first saw Superchunk, Chuck Garrison was still their drummer. When I first saw Polvo, their only release was the debut double-single.

- Pixies on the Trompe Le Monde tour. Might as well have stayed home and just listened to the record, especially with boringass Pere Ubu opening.

- Sebadoh right after III came out, when they were playing everything as noisily and hilariously as they could. I actually performed "Land Of The Lords" with them at this show, because I used to really like being the center of attention. Now I can't even stand when people look at me, so don't. Saw Sebadoh a few other times, but they grew progressively less interesting over the years.

- Yes on the Big Generator tour. Many are jealous. Later saw a completely different line-up on the "Masterworks" tour.

- Aerosmith on the Permanent Vacation tour -- their last good album! Lots of scantily clad teenaged girls at this show. I was Nerd McJenkinsJohnson at the time though, so I didn't look at any of them. The horrible White Lion opened (remember their hit "Wait"?).

- AC/DC on the Blow Up Your Video tour -- I didn't find out until over a decade later that Malcolm Young wasn't even on that tour! It was some cousin who looked just like him.

- Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 when their newest record was Lovelyville, with opening band Sun City Girls confusing the hell out of everybody. I saw TFUL a few other times over the years, and they blew me away every time. Not literally though.

- Ramones when Dee Dee was still in the band (with 'Dead Elvis' opening). Also several times with C. Jay, but whoop-de-goddamned-do.

- Cows on the Peacetika tour (as well as every successive tour).

- Melvins on the Stoner Witch tour -- I HATED IT, and walked out after maybe three songs. Years later, I saw them playing with Tomahawk and Melt-Banana and enjoyed it much, much more. Walked out during Tomahawk though.

- Indigo Girls. Seriously! I'd just broken up with my insane girlfriend and was trying to keep as busy as I could. They sucked, obviously. But the lesbian haircuts were hilarious.

- Flaming Lips three times on the Transmissions From The Satellite Heart tour. They were owrsome! (hence my triple-attendance)

- Butthole Surfers on the Pioughd tour. Right at their creative PEAK!!!! At least opening act Bad Livers were entertaining. I later saw the Butthole Surfers again on Independent Worm Saloon and they were much better.

- Yo La Tengo. I nearly fell asleep. That band sure has a lot of slow songs.

- Dead Milkmen on the Beelzebubba tour, with Mystical Shit-era King Missile opening, then on the Metaphysical Graffiti tour with Mojo Nixon opening (along with the awful, boring Cavedogs). Saw the Dead Milkmen several times afterwards as well, and they were always great silly fun. Also saw King Missile III years later, but John S. Hall hates my fucking guts now (don't ask) so let's not talk too much about that.

- Dwarves on the Thank Heaven For Little Girls and Sugarfix tours. Short! Fun! Violent! Later saw them on the Young And Good-Looking tour too, with the Action Swingers supporting. Long! Good! Not Violent!

- Helmet on the Strap It On tour. They ruled so much unbelievably heavy ass, I couldn't wait to see them again. I did so right before Meantime came out -- and HATED IT!

- The AmRep 'Clusterfuck' show, featuring Today Is The Day, Guzzard and Chokebore.

- Negativland. I probably laughed, knowing me. I saw Mark Hosler solo once too, and remember that being pretty funny.

- Nomeansno on the Worldhood Of The World (As Such) tour. Awesome! Kicked some serious ass!

- God Bullies on the Dog Show tour. The guitarist was wearing an AmRep cap and AmRep t-shirt. Looked pretty goofy.

- Bad Religion on the Against The Grain tour. That post-Descendents band 'All' opened, and sucked every piece of shit in the state.

- Fugazi on the Repeater tour, then again years later.

- The Ramainz, featuring Dee Dee Ramone, his wife, C. Jay Ramone, and Marky Ramone

- 7 Seconds, Exploited, Circle Jerks, Weirdos and Flipper, all on reunion tours of some sort. I enjoyed all of them anyway, particularly the song "Helium Bar".

- Sonic Youth on the Dirty tour -- the direct cause of my 'I hate Sonic Youth' period, which persists to this day.

- Leonard Cohen. All due respect to the guy, but by the time I saw him, he was a shriveled-up 5,000-year-old surrounded by kissasses. I left after three songs.

- Dinosaur Jr. on the Green Mind tour, supported by My Bloody Valentine on the Loveless tour.

- The Fall on the Infotainment Scan, Middle Class Revolt, Levitate and Real New Fall Album tours.

- Lots of indie bands and opening acts I could give two shits about, including Codeine, Supersuckers, Candy Snatchers, Nasty Savage, Clawhammer, Elvis Hitler, Madder Rose, Blast Off Country Style, Das Damen, Bettie Serveert, Ed Hall, Tsunami, Holy Rollers, Branch Manager, the Grifters, Sister Double Happiness, the Dentists, Half Japanese, Dust Devils, Luscious Jackson and Poster Children (though I do like several songs on the first couple Poster Children albums).

- Shellac on the At Action Park tour. Steve Albini makes crazy faces with his eyes!

- Zip Code Rapists on the 94124 tour, with U.S. Saucer opening.

- Tesco Vee's Hate Police! They were awful.

- D.R.I. on the Thrash Zone tour, and a couple other times afterwards.

- Helios Creed on what I guess was the Lactating Purple tour, though I'm not positive about that. I think I saw him again on the Kiss To The Brain tour too. God, who can remember when you were as stoned as he was?

- Killdozer on the Uncompromising War On The Proletariat tour - hilarious!

- New Bomb Turks on the Information Highway Revisited tour. Wish it had been the Destroy-Oh-Boy!! tour.

- Trans Am before they had an album out. They were already great!

- Anal Cunt! Supporting Top 40 Hits! In a little tiny coffeehouse!

- Greg Ginn on the tour for his first solo record. LOUD!

- Corrosion Of Conformity after they'd ceased being a great band, but before they'd put out any stoner metal records to alert me to the fact that they'd ceased being a great band. WORST SHOW EVER. First time I ever 'moshed' though. Ran around in a circle like an intelligent librarian.

- GWAR on the Scumdogs Of The Universe tour (and again years later). Oh, we had such wonderful fun! Seafood cocktail, crabs, crayfish.

- The Ventures. Don Wilson handed me one of his picks! I can't find it now though.

- Unrest before Imperial came out, as well as a few other times.

- Air Miami before their album came out.

- The Jesus Lizard on the Goat tour, and several times afterwards. The last time I saw them, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion blew them off the stage. And I don't even like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion!

- Didjits. Not sure when, don't much care. The singer tried to sell me pot.

- Alice Donut on the Revenge Fantasies of the Impotent tour, and again later on the Pure Acid Park tour.

- Nick Cave on the No More Shall We Part tour. Okay, that wasn't that long ago.

- Cramps on the Look Mom No Head tour. On Valentine's Day!

- Drunken Boat before their lousy third album came out.

- Lemonheads on the It's A Shame About Ray tour, with Juliana Hatfield opening

- Meat Beat Manifesto on the Actual Sounds And Voices tour. Drum-heavy!

- Moody Blues on the Sur La Mer tour. HOTTT!

- Hammerhead, twice. And Vertigo. Probably Tar too, though I can't remember for sure.

- Public Image Ltd. on the 9 tour. Johnny Rotten showed us his bleedin' arse! Flesh For Lulu opened, and were poor.

- Steel Pole Bathtub at some point. They even played all the movie samples on stage.

- Stereolab on the Transient Random Noise-Bursts tour.

- Guided By Voices on the Bee Thousand tour. I wasn't a fan at the time, but it was still fun to see the old men acting like the Rolling Stones on this little tiny stage.

- Ride on the Going Blank Again tour -- I wish it had been the Nowhere tour. :7( Pale Saints opened, and certainly weren't the slightest bit interesting.

- Don Caballero touring for their first album.

- Royal Trux. HEROIN.

- The Reivers. Some jerk spread a rumor that it was REM under a fake name, next thing you know it's sold out and everyone's a dumbass.

- Strutter, a Kiss tribute band.

- Medeski, Martin And Wood. Made me feel cultured til I got bored as hell about 10 minutes in.

- Labradford. Funny how it's not as exciting to watch a guy dick around on a computer as it is to sit at home and listen to his CD.

- Crash Worship, who knocked over all the tables in the club, shot bottle rockets at the crowd's feet, threw flour all over everything, and played not a single interesting song.

- Janitor Joe when Kristen Pfaff was debating whether or not to join Hole. She did - and subsequently died of a heroin overdose!

- "Weird Al" Yankovic on the Off The Deep End tour -- with my MOM!

- Dos and firehose in 1993. I love Mike Watt, but firehose stunk stunk, GOD how they stunk.

- Six Finger Satellite at some point. Really made an impression.

- Basehead. Or some rap band. I think it was Basehead.

- Shrimp Boat on the Duende tour, or whatever that album was called.

- Tons of local-ish Atlanta and North Carolina bands, including Archers of Loaf before they had an album out, the second-ever Squirrel Nut Zippers show, Orifice, Breadwinner, Dillon Fence (BLARGH), Erectus Monotone, Pipe, Geezer Lake, Picasso Trigger, Joby's Opinion, Mr. Meredies, FUxperience, Krapper Keeper, Zen Frisbee, Pine State, Flat Duo Jets, Psycho-Acoustics Research & Development, Small (later Small-23), Blue Green Gods, Shiny Beast, Bicycle Face, Queen Sarah Saturday (BLARGH), Family Dollar Pharoahs, Capsize 7 (BLARGH), Metal Flake Mother, the Raymond Brake, Evil Weiner, Bicentennial Quarters, June, Minerva Street, Spatula, Tractor Hips, Vanilla Trainwreck, Bitter Sons, Mishki Sanfords, Whiskeytown, Portastatic, Seam, Wiggle, Dirt, Flap, UltraBabyFat, Impotent Sea Snakes, Mad Hatter, Love Me Avenue, Jack-O-Nuts, King-Kill/33 and Engine.

That's all I can think of right now, though I'm certain there were many more. I'm an old man. Look at my life! I'm a lot like you were. I fuckin' DESPISE going to shows now though (and have since like 1995) so don't count on me seeing any hip newer bands.

And that's my review of the Mudhoney promo-only On Tour Now! live EP.

Oh, one other quick thing: it's really good. They play three Piece Of Cake songs, two from Mudhoney, and covers of Angry Samoans' "You Stupid Asshole" and Fang's "The Money Will Roll Right In." Remember Fang? With their singer who murdered his girlfriend while high on drugs? That's good stuff. Also, don't be tricked by Reprise's claim that there is a rare track on here called "Fashion Forecast." It's not a song! It's just a piece of stage patter that they for some reason put a title on. Thank God Reprise never put out a live KISS album! There'd be like 45,000 tracks on it. The sound on his live Mudhoney thing is fantastic, with the guitars separated in each speaker - one thick and crunchy, the other wah-wahed. Mark is in fine voice and, although "No End In Sight" is a little boring in the live context (the guitars don't do a thing during the verses, and the bass is too distorted to make out what he's playing), this is definitely worth seeking out for those Mudhoney fanatics who can't figure out why the pricks still haven't put out a live album after all these years. Of particular interest is a 10-minute breakdown of "Dead Love" that includes some beautifully soaring slide guitar before turning into a Doors medley at the end (well, sort of. Basically Mark sings bits of "The End," "L.A. Woman" and "Roadhouse Blues" as the rest of the band churns along on one note). So you see, you don't have to see a band live in concert to hear them live in concert! Catch Mudhoney - On Tour Now!

Well, not NOW; they suck NOW. But if you see this record anywhere, catch Mudhoney - On Golden Pond!

Reader Comments

dwagner@fpi.flexibleplan.com
"I wore super-bright and colorful Jams shorts that my mother made for me, with patterns of fruit and cartoon cats and whatnot all over them. I also didn't use soap, wore several cheap neon Swatch watches up my arm, and kept my hair out of my face by wearing a bright pink painters cap. "

Oh dear god.

john@ulstertech.com
Actually they sort of do have a live album. "Here Comes Sickness-The best of the BBC recordings" released in 2000. It's a mixture of their BBC sessions & live on stage at places like Reading festival etc.. It's a really good album that.

thepublicimage79@hotmail.com
"In late August 1991, I descended upon the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to begin my 3.5-year college education. I had long hair at the time - shaved on the sides like Mike Patton - and wanted very badly to be considered 'WeIrD' and 'CoOl' and 'PoPuLaR,' so I wore super-bright and colorful Jams shorts that my mother made for me, with patterns of fruit and cartoon cats and whatnot all over them. I also didn't use soap, wore several cheap neon Swatch watches up my arm, and kept my hair out of my face by wearing a bright pink painters cap. This may shock you, but I didn't have sex for the next three years!"

Umm...

Oh dear Lord. Mark...you've got to be exaggerating...right?

Oh man.

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Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew EP - Reprise 1993.
Rating = 7


Probably the least popular record in the band's catalog, this little seven-song baby still manages to bring a vertical smile to my face every time I toss it in the ol' Walkman cassette player. The songs may not be the most innovative ever, but they're lively without being stupid, and the sixties vibe is, like, all over the joint, with Animals-esque organs purtyin' up "In The Blood," country-western honkytonk livelyin' up "Between Me And You Kid," aaaaah sassafreass. words words worsdlwaekanrk;ewaljas.d.l. "Underide" makes me bang my head!!!! Too predictable, though.... And too short. Like your fully erect throbbing penis.
Reader Comments

1strenel@worldnet.att.net (David Bettino)
It was probably the least selling, but I think it was the best.

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
well lets see... i love to play between you and me kid on my guitar... this ep is kinda great now in hindsight. im not a fan of the production but it is just so much damn FUN! my friend chris listened to it once he told me and then threw it in the bottom of his pile of tapes, then listened to it again a year later and thought it was one of muds best records!

johncarson@ntlworld.com
I love this little ep. Theres 7 great swinging funky grungy li'l tunes here. Even a couple of mates of mine who hate Mudhoney were bobbing their wee heads to this!

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My Brother The Cow - Reprise 1995.
Rating = 8


Screw happy music! Here, they sound really bitter about something! Kurt's suicide? Their own lack of success? The loss of a local underground scene? All of the above? Whatever it is, it has resulted in some of the most "serious" rock music these thugs have offered up... umm... ever! The melodies are a bit too ugly to be called "catchy," but they still work, especially with lyrics as sarcastic as those of "Generation Spokesmodel" and "Into Yer Shtik." And finally, Mark Arm's voice actually sounds appropriate for his subject matter!!! Even though it starts to get a little weaker near the end, I definitely give the Honeys credit for trying something new, and for finally admitting that all is not peachy happy keen in the wild world of underappreciated rock and roll. They're singing about disgruntlement! You know, like The Stooges!!!! It's 1995, okay?

Reader Comments

bhl@theonramp.net (The Levinsky's)
Hi,where Mudhoney,and were pissed.That could of been a better name for this album.The band has never sounded darker,tighter,or more pissed off then this."Judgment,Rage,Repitation,and Thyme",and "Generation Spokes Model" rock as hard as anything theyve ever done."What Moves The Heart",and "Today Was A Good Day" show them going to there limits on there musical talents. 10 out of 10

gabriel@frodo.com
Hmmmm....I don't know. My Brother the Cow didn't come off as bitter to me. It's perhaps more serious than previous works. My favorite is probably "In My Finest Suit." Really beautiful song, but I also sensed that omnipresent Mudhoney sarcasm that is inherent to a lot of their music alive and well in this album. You said earlier Mark Arm's vocals sound like he's making fun of you the whole time. I think that's because he is.

aipenner@oberon.ark.com
wwho are you to judge mudhoney's creativity. they're just having fun and doing what they want.

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
prolly my second favorite mudhoney album..... who knew they would still rock after all those years, (cuz you cant really say piece of shit or five dick bobs rocked). Kick ASS tunes... i like this album more every time i hear it. SLudge, screaming, melody, happiness, sadness, angry and alot of goddamn wit come together VERY nicely on this one! And FDK fucking rules!!!!!!!

johncarson@ntlworld.com
Brilliant Mudhoney album. Theres about two weak songs on here but apart from that this album rocks! If you're a Mudhoney fan you HAVE to have this! It's one of their best.

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Tomorrow Hit Today - Reprise 1998.
Rating = 8


With their latest release, Mudhoney gave me personally EXACTLY what I expected from them. And at first, I found that incredibly disappointing. There are no surprises on here at all! It's the same old mixture of angry sludgers, happy garage rockers and lightly oiled faux-swamp rock that they've been slopping out since record one. However, after a couple of listens, I came around for a couple of reasons. Here they come.

Reason number one in my short list of reasons that I am now going to relate to you assuming that you continue reading the sentence that I am currently typing onto the computer screen at this moment, be that 6:58 PM on August 19, 1998, just over a week since I began taking Prozac, although that's certainly nobody's business but my own, is that the songs themselves are catchy as crap garage rockers. Generic, yes, but no more or less predictable than a million other great rockers you may have heard back in the 1960's had you been alive back then ("Satisfaction," "Dirty Water," "Over Under Sideways Down"), but unfortunately music performances only happen once and we've yet to perfect a way of somehow capturing that performance so that it may be enjoyed at a later time. Reason number three in my list of reasons for liking this record is because of it's neat how Mudhoney are on a major label but they're still putting out crappily-recorded slop rock & using the same exact guitar tones and nasally yell voices they've always used; in different ways of saying it, they're pretty much stating to their record label, "Pardon us while we still don't have a hit or sell any records!"

So you decide for yourself what you want. If you want art, or even creative alternative music, don't buy Mudhoney records. If you want to remember why you love your Dad's old collection of early Kinks '45s si nycg pardon me, i meant "so much," buy this new Mudhoney album! It's rock! It's real! It's wimpy! It's garagey! It's fun! It's not going to make them a cent! And if I'm wrong, then America's radio nation is finally getting somewhere it should have gone a long time ago.

Did I mention that "Ghost" sounds a hell of a lot like "Cat Scratch Fever"? But with a Patrick Swayze feel to it, of course.

Reader Comments

InMyEyes82@aol.com
"Ghost" is a old sixties cover ( band name i forget), so if it sounds like a "cat scratch" ripoff it's not mudhoney's fault. besides, the album kicks ass.

dmr@interx.net (Dennis M. Rawlins)
awesome album, i had to laugh! it felt good. step aside you devils!

matt.hit@virginnet.co.uk
I pretty much kind of agree with what Prindle says that this album is predictable and dissapointing when you first get it...but it grows on you with more listens, well a few songs do. Still I don't think it's their best album and there are still quite a few tracks like Poisoned Water and Move With The Wind I find pretty boring and just pass over my head everytime I listen to them, actually alot of this album does that. Thousand Forms Of Mind is of course a late Mudhoney 'classic' though.

By the Way the band who originally did Ghost: Cheater Slicks are not a sixties band as far as I know they area 90's garage rock band...

johncarson@ntlworld.com
When i first listened to this album a few years ago i thought it was the crappest thing i had ever heard. It all felt so slow,dull really really boring...i couldn't wait to get it over with so i could go back to the good ol' days of "Touch me im Sick" and "Suck you dry".Ahhhhhh. A while later though, i realised i hadn't given it a chance and it usually takes me a few listens of a new album to get my ears tuned into it. So i stuck it on the Hi-Fi and started to actually LISTEN to it. Yes i said listen, cos i hadn't really done that before. To cut a shit story short this is now one of my favourite Mudhoney albums. It feels a lot more complete than the likes of "Piece of cake" or even "My brother the cow". "A Thousands forms of mind" has to be a M'honey classic along with "Beneath the valley of the underdog".......i often turn these two little babies up full volume to feel the bassy vibrations rattle through my loins. Ahhhh nice. Your Mudhoney collection won't be complete without this so buy it today & if you've already bought it and aren't so keen then give it a few more listens.

8 outta 10.

Add your thoughts?

* March To Fuzz - Sub Pop 2000. *
Rating = 10


Boy oh boy - it's not til you sit down and listen to something like this that you realize exactly how great a rock band Mudhoney were. Not metal or grunge -- just straight-up garage rock right out of the 60s. This is a double-CD compilation with not a single weak track. Disc one is supposedly a "greatest hits," but since they never had any hits, I'm not clear on exactly how they decided which songs to include (for example, wasn't "Thorn" released as a single? It's not on here!). Disc two is a collection of 30 rarities -- lots of punk rock covers and terrific tunes from movie soundtracks, various artist compilations, singles and the vaults! And they're all SO DAMN GOOD!!!!

Okay, so most people liked the first Mudhoney single and EP and then said "Fuck 'em. They lost it." But that's bullshit. They enjoyed their particular dirty style, and they stuck with it, with great success, throughout their entire career. Disc one is not in chronological order - the songs are all mixed up from thoughout their entire career -- and you CANNOT TELL which came first. Because they all have the same sound, attitude and great hooks. Does Piece Of Cake's "Suck You Dry" sound good right after Superfuzz Big Muff's "In 'n' Out Of Grace"? Yes. It sounds perfect there. Does their final album's "A Thousand Forms Of Mind" flow effortlessly between two EGBDF songs? You bet your jalopy it does. I've described their sound already -- this is a collection of awesome tunes. I personally don't like "Good Enough" at this point (too poppy and dull - totally not their style), but find another bad track on here and I'll eat my hat.

My delightful chocolate hat, that is.

As for disc 2 -- okay, let's say you're me, right? And let's say you open up the disc and see that, all in a row, they do covers of songs by Spacemen 3, Angry Samoans, the Adolescents, the Damned, Elvis Costello, Fang, Black Flag, Void, Billy Childish, Suicide, Motorhead and the fucking CRUCIFUCKS?!?!?!?!?!?!?? You'd shit your pants, wouldn't you? WOULDN'T YOU?????

Of course you would. And it's not my fault I opened the disc during my wedding.

Reader Comments

johncarson@ntlworld.com
Very good, 10 out of 10 for this is so true. But Prindle will you stop writing about these guys in past tense. ("were a good band") They've not quit y'know!!? They're releasing their new album on Sub Pop this year and from what i've heard of it so far, it's looking to be one their best albums yet !!!

chris.clare@bt.com
The cover of Roxy Musics Editions Of You makes this whole affair a must buy

However the dissapontment is in this "complete" colection of rarities - the most fun Mudhoney track "Freak mama" with Sir Mix A Lot isnt here which is a shame....

Other than that - a great document of a great rockband whos 60 pastiched make the strokes look frankly - quite crap!

drazy@gatecity.com
Totally agree with Mark's rating and analysis of our generation's version of The Sonics. I'll even admit to becoming one of those high-brow fuckers that wrote the 'Honey off when they jumped to Reprise. And fuck my ass for doing so; the Reprise material stands tall besides the Sub Pop faves. March To Fuzz is a bargain and if you were anywhere near the underground during Mudhoney's moment(s) of glory, you'll find yourself singing along with half the ditties on this comp, slackjawed at how good they were and how quickly you forgot about them. I've said it before: there's nobody who can convince me that Nirvana's debut was better than Mudhoney's. So while you're waiting for Courtney to settle the (w)Hole legal bullshit so you can plop down the $50 bucks for a Nirvana hit/rarities box, do yourself a favor: shell out the mesley amount for this artyfact. Shame on me for forgetting.

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Since We've Become Translucent - Sub Pop 2002.
Rating = 6


It's nice to have them back and everything, but for a band I've often defended as catchy songwriters, Mudhoney have churned up a lot of derivative throwaways this time around. Things look bad even at the beginning, as the lead-off track is yet another one of their really long slow ones (like the one that closed their LAST album); strangely, however, it ends up being an awfully groovy 8-minute tune. Maybe it's the sax. Nothing spruces up a nice Dodgers game like Steve "The Sax" Sax.

But "The Straight Life"? Oh my dear LORD, what a piece of generic garage rock GARBAGE! Luckily, it's a great song and I love it (we're registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond). The same cannot be said for the slow crappy "In The Winner's Circle" (which is a COMPLETE ripoff of "Bored, Here Have A Jigsaw Puzzle," a song I wrote in high school, recorded with my former band the Low-Maintenance Perennials and ultimately sold to Mudhoney for 55 grand), the unforgivably unoriginal blues/rocker "Dyin' For It" (which wasn't exactly "innovative" when ZZ Top recorded it as "Waitin' For The Bus" 29 years ago) and "Sonic Infusion" (which begins with a riff NICKED from Suicidal Tendencies' "Subliminal" before switching into seven minutes of go-nowhere one-chord pounding crap).

If you're looking for generalizations rather than specifics, this disc sounds just like Mudhoney - the happy fun 60s punk Nugget songs, the bitter angry 60s punk Nugget rockers, the long psych jams - but some of the songs feature horns, to both good effect ("Take It Like A Man" swings like a New Orleans pendulum!) and bad ("Where The Flavor Is" is a simplified version of the "Get Into Yours" riff from the debut Mudhoney LP -- and the horns aren't the ONLY thing sleazy about it!!!! To give you a hint, the title refers to a certain part of the female anatomy that men have been known to eat pussy at

GODDAMN IT, I GAVE IT AWAY!!! I KNEW MY CLUE WAS TOO EASY, BUT OH NO, ALEX "ASSHOLE" TREBEK HAD TO INSIST THAT I ADD THE WORD "THE" AND GIVE THE WHOLE DAMN THING AWAY!!!! FUCK YOU, ALEX TREBEK!!!!! DON'T BOTHER GRABBING A RUBBER IF YOU FEEL SOMETHING WARM AND WET TOUCHING YOUR SKIN TONIGHT -- THAT''LL JUST BE ME PISSING ON YOUR ROTTING CORPSE!!!!!

So that's the deal with the Mudhoney reunion album. I'll let you know how the Nirvana reunion works out.

Reader Comments

seasonal_anxiety@yahoo.com (Bill Sky)
Do not believe the shit that was just typed there by Mark Prindle.

There is no weak tracks.

Believe what you've read everywhere else: One of Mudhoneys greatest albums.

Rock on guys. Pure Mudhoney.

talathomas@yahoo.co.uk
Bill Sky, you're right. The shit which Mark Prindle wrote is not to be read - Hell, we gave up when he strayed from the point in his doubtless hilarious and kooky, what-a-witty-guy-I-am style. Firstly, let's just point one thing out to him... it's not really a reunion album, as Mudhoney have a new line-up for Since We've Become Translucent, genial Aussie Guy Maddison stepping in to replace born-again carpenter Matt Lukin on the four-string.

Firstly again (or secondly, perhaps) derivativeness is not necessarily lameness. Just because Prindle can supposedly pinpoint the rip-off points (and "Dyin' for It" sounds as much like ZZ Top's "Waitin' for the Bus" as "Master of Puppets" sounds like "Away in a Manger") doesn't mean he's found some kind of flaw... let's face it, everything but everything is derivative, and Mudhoney can't help but sound like Mudhoney. Now Nirvana, on the other hand, are an example of when imitation becomes a form of sterility, because they could be anyone else when they rip-off; they don't make songs their own (thankfully, they don't make songs at all anymore).

"Sonic Infusion", the Prindlester suggests, is "one-chord pounding crap". Firstly (we're saying that too much), it has four chords. Count 'em, Mark. And if that's beyond you, a little help... Arm sings, "they think we [chord change] don't ex[chord change]ist since [chord change] we've become trans[chord change]lu[chord change]cent" and so on. And it's not crap. It's great. One of Mudhoney's (Hell, one of anybody's) best ever. It's a freakin' rock 'n' roll classic.

Finally, let's just point out how Prindle's seriously misguided (or perhaps just plain dumb) in claiming that the great Steve Turner is just playing late sixties rip-off solos. I mean, perhaps he could accuse Mike McCready of that (although we'd go round his house and duff him up if he did), but Steve? To quote Zack de la Rocha, "nah"! Turner's playing is grounded in the early sixties, and then again in the late seventies punk style of playing. Hell, he often complains that his tunes have "too much lead guitar for my tastes"... wonder who makes him play it, then? Whoever, we're glad he does.

Now Mr. Prindle also doesn't appear to have managed to catch the drift of "Where the Flavor is" either... Mudhoney, who are possibly the second most sleazy band of all time (with the first place going to The Rolling Stones), are just made for this kind of stuff, and while Mark (Arm, not Prindle, thankfully) has his tongue in the lady's pundendum in this tune, he also takes the time to put it in his cheek. The sleaze which Mudhoney do is well represented by Ed Fotheringham's artwork for them, such as the comical sleeve for March to Fuzz. Go have a look at it, we can't be bothered to describe it to y'all; treat yourself. Oh, and buy it, too. And this. Buy this on vinyl... it sounds amazing (it's translucent green, too... mmm...), and pick up the "Sonic Infusion" seven inch, too, for a great b-side, a cover of "Long Way to Go" by someone who isn't Mudhoney. So we can't be arsed to find out who they are: this is punk, dammit.

In conclusion, let us reiterate Bill Sky's cry of "do not believe the shit that was just typed there by Mark Prindle", and praise Mudhoney. Mark Arm: a tall, gravel-skinned, humble Godhead; Steve Turner: an equally lofty and polite fellow who somehow manages to be the Southern gentleman of Seattle (maybe it's coming from Texas that does it... duh!); Guy Maddison: "a dark, handsome Australian" according to Arm, knowledgable and accomodating... a superb bassist, too; Dan Peters: genuinely one of the two or three finest drummers of all time, even Nirvana had the sense to realise they were too poor for him and got Dave "Loser" Grohl as a replacement, a soft-spoken, incongruously short and wonderfully wonderful guy. Mudhoney: you gotta love 'em. No, really, you gotta. It's the law. And no-one is above the law. Go and buy their records. All of them. Now. And some Billy Childish. Happy listenin', punks!

das@dasmegabyte.org
Generic rock? Maybe, but I feel it's generic in the same way that Tabasco is generic. That Pearl Jam's "Yield" was generic. My wife hates it. Too generic. Her favorite cds are by They Might Be Giants, Louis Armstrong and System of a Down. We meet in the middle on Screaming Trees and the QotSA. I absoulely love this record and describe it thusly: First take the west coast rock sound from 1989, before Kurt Loder started doing little segments about how great it is to have in long hair and live in Seattle. Mix it with a liberal amount of "modern" plodding stoner metal (strain out the relentless "Sabbath by the numbers" thing the Atomic Bitchwax have going on. Add some furtive harmonies over softly mixed vocals which remind me of King Missile (one of the search keywords which brought me to this site). Oh, and add some horns. Nice, wheezing Rocket From the Crypt style rock horns.

The songwriting is goofy fun, which it might as well be because you'll listen to the album three times before you listen to the words. If you like instrumentation and vocals that are in sharp contrast to each other stay the hell away from this record. Everything kind of melds together like raisins in oatmeal -- it still tastes good, you know each ingredient is in there, but it's indistinct. I kind of like that.

After being let down by the Vines and Audioslave last year due to sterile production and too much editing, this kind of album is just what the doctor ordered. It means I can stop searching for "Buzz Factory" on vinyl -- rock is still around.

PS: I thought "Post Wave" meant that we all agreed to stop bitching about stolen riffs, since everything had already been recorded by rod stewart anyway. Everything I play is "Stairway to Heaven" or "Wipeout."

Add your thoughts?

Under A Billion Suns - Sub Pop 2006
Rating = 5


I'm not a bad guy, generally speaking. I recycle and try not to hurt anybody; I try to be honest and I'm not a bully or fake. I don't value money above all else, nor do I try to force my moral code on other people. But none of my arguably positive qualities can make up for the fact that Mudhoney just sucks dick now.

Okay, Under A Billion Suns is not a terrible record by my standards; it's just that this band used to be so GREAT! Their songs were catchy and driving and filled your brain with good ol' Nuggety garage rock riffs. Now it sounds like they're not even trying. Here's my Mark Arm guy: "Why bother writing our own riff when we can just use one that's been used dozens and dozens of times by throwaway shit bands since rock and roll began?" And here's my Steve Turner guy: "Yeah, and nobody will care, because we're a 'GARAGE ROCK' band! We're not supposed to be original!" Well, I don't believe that. Mudhoney used to be plenty creative, coming up with all kinds of killer guitar melodies that you'd never quite heard before. But there's a reason nobody gives a shit about them anymore and it has nothing to do with the death of grunge: if a band can't come up with more than three good songs every four years, word of mouth is going to go a little quiet.

Where earlier Mudhoney records sounded like treasure-filled Nuggets compilations, this one sounds like a late-period Standells cut-out. Too many ugly minor-key chord sequences, too many 'riffs' you've heard thousands of times before -- is this honestly the best music that they're capable of making these days? Three generic chords with half-assed lead dickery on top? What happened to the hooks? What happened to the POINT!? Is it possible that Matt Lukin wasn't the Peter Tork of the band at all, but in fact a true musical genius?

Some of the songs are happy and playful, others are slow and bluesy, and still others are semi-angry ranters, but almost all of them have one thing in common: they add absolutely nothing to the canon of rock music that wasn't there before. If you don't already have, say, 90% of this record's chord sequences elsewhere in your record collection, you need to stop buying so much hip hop. Here's a tip for aspiring rockers: try to venture beyond the basic chords that you learned when you were 14. Put your fingers in different positions on the neck of your guitar. Take a crazy chance and see what might happen. And if you happen to notice that you're playing the chord sequence of "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35," REWRITE THE GODDAMNED SONG.

On the positive side, some of the lyrics are really, really clever. The narrator of "Endless Yesterday" initially puts forth the idea of surrounding the Earth in suns so that it 'bathes the world in revealing light,' but by the third verse, he makes it clear that he's really talking about how he fucked up a perfectly good relationship. I love this - the idea of setting up a song as social commentary, then slowly revealing that you're really talking about a personal issue. Well done, chaps! You too, lads! "Blindspots" is another terrific one, using parallel verse structures to illustrate that the state of senselessness is the best way of surviving in a sick, corrupt world. There are also some seemingly less meaningful but equally entertaining phrases and images strewn throughout, including "We are so far outside, we're all the way inside!" and "I dropped the moon and it shattered at your feet/I lost my grip when my hands began to bleed/My gift the moon my gift to you/My gift just lays there like a pile of broken teeth." So there's something positive: a fine set of lyrics from the old Mudhoney band boys.

While we're being friendly, four of these songs incorporate a great, charismatic horn section and two feature beautiful wordless backup vocals by Christy McWilson and Amy Allison. Hmm... But on the unfriendly, But what does it say about Mudhoney when the best things about their new album are the musical and vocal input of non-band members? For that matter, what is their goal at this point in their career? Just to keep earning enough money to avoid having to get regular jobs? (Or do they already work regular jobs?) I'm sorry I keep reiterating the same points over and over, but I'm simply at a complete loss as to how they could record songs as unpleasant as "It Is Us," as cliched as "Empty Shells" and as stupid as "Hard-On For War" -- and not notice. Are their ears broken? Fix your fuckin' ears, assholes! Get all the wax and sperm out of there so you'll recognize your new CD for what it is: a stinking heap of ass dung! With SHIT all over it!

If you like the music on this record, please tell me why. Tell me what I'm supposed to get out of the weak Cows ripoff of "Let's Drop In," the descending basic throwaway non-hook of "In Search Of....," or the standard blues-rock blanderies of "I Saw The Light." More importantly, tell me this: if you had a record contract with Sub Pop, affording you the opportunity to have your own songs heard by thousands of people all over the world -- wouldn't you put forth the effort to come up with something better than this?

Hmm. That wasn't very positive. Say! Did I mention that the horn section and female backup vocals provide fantastic color to five of the songs and make them almost seem worthwhile? The horn section does a particularly smashing job on album-closer "Blindspots," turning a basic bluesy lick/garage punk hybrid into a harmonic rooty-toot fun time jubilee. In addition, opening track "Where Is The Future?" is another winner in the slow druggy blues anthem genre they tackle once per album, and "Endless Yesterday" against all odds actually has a compelling pair of upset/sad chord sequences and note runs. More songs like these and we might have had a winner on our hands, rather than a fetid pool of diarrhea.

Incidentally, Russ Meyer's Mudhoney is a fantastic movie: light on the nudity (is there any?), but a very compelling story that builds up to an explosive and dramatic finale. As such, I recommend that Mudhoney change their name to "The Seven Minutes" if they're going to continue issuing records as bland as Under A Billion Suns.

Not that I've ever seen The Seven Minutes, but I'm told it's his weakest movie. I guess I might still like it though. My point is that if you're looking for a good album about there being a bunch of suns, try Killing Joke's Brighter Than A Thousand Suns. It's a bit heavy on the keyboards, but it beats the tar out of this substandard doohickie.

Also, Rest In Peace, Don Knotts. Your dramatic work brought a nation to tears times too countless to... count. May your thespian skills continue to shine in Actor Heaven.

Reader Comments

mikechiltz@hotmail.com
All due respect, Mark, but while I usually am right on with your Mudhoney reviews, I gotta disagree with your review of this one.

I agree, it's ugly. I agree that there's really nothing new on it. But I've been listening to it for a few weeks, and it seems to me like it's a mood piece. Where their early records seem like singles comps, this one is more of a piece. An ugly piece, but I'm starting to think that's the point.

It's kinda like the vibe on "Funhouse". I like to listen to it all as a whole, as it slimes it's way down the wall. Less of a 'song' album than a 'mood' one.

Does it stand up to the self-titled album? Probably not. But I think you're being too harsh on it. Who knows? Maybe I'll hate it in a month.

charlie@thecharlah.com
I actually like this album quite a lot, more than the last one. It definitely took a few listens to get into it, but I’ve been listening to it all the time now.

ed@independentmind.com
Haven't heard this one yet, but I was fortunate enough to be in Seattle on unrelated business when they had the release party/show. The first set was the new record all the way through -- kinda so so, but they were having a good time and that's always fun to see. After 5-10 minute break, they came back out for a greatest hits set that really rocked...except when they slopped their way through "Straight Life" from the last album, but then they apoligized and we were all happy again. Point is, their songwriting may not be as great these days, but they can still bring the rock on the old tunes and they're still having fun. If you get a chance to see them live, I would. Especially if, like me, you never got a chance to see them back in "the day."

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The Lucky Ones - Sub Pop 2008
Rating = 4


This album stinks.

I know you're a pothead, but I try to avoid breaking the law (aside from the Judas Priest song) so I waited until last week's visit to Amsterdam to get STONED like a HIPPIE. Here's a MySpace Bulletin I posted after my third day of getting BAKED like a COOKIE:

"Subject: tonight's HIGH STONED bulletin

Body: well i'm here in Flamsterdam getting wasted on Space Cookies, Space Tea and Space Cakes everyday because I can't INHALE righT! DAMmit. but the eating is fine. 3 space cakes and i'm igh as a kdote!

But you want tIto know "Say Mark what is it to be like to be like high on Hash feels ike?"

It feels like you're even slower than you already are!

yOU forget what you were JUST talking about, and have to backtrack until you figure it out!

it takes you FOREVER AND A DAY to figure out what to order on a menu

It's hilariouis. And my feet feel fuzzy! But this is illegal in the United Snakes of Captivity. Peace, my brother!

Tomorrow's my last day in Cap'n Tripsville, then I gots to moven'on to less Pot-astic Places.... Stay cool Jerry Berry!

And stay DOPE-like the POPE.

Also, Dutch is a hilarouise language.

Thisis - HEY! GOLDEN EARRING!

And that's my opinion about how I'm probably better off DRIKIING!"

Yes, getting TOASTED like a BEATNIK sure is a lot of toots, but after four days of non-stop getting IGH like a KDOTE, it took me a full day and a half to return to normal brain functioning. I was so slow and stupid, people kept mistaking me for an illiterate turtle! And sure, I enjoyed the earthworms and carrion I mean who wouldn't but when th

So that's probably it for me and the Devil's Weed. Glad I tried it and had some fun, but now it's back to clean living (getting drunk as often as possible).

Amsterdam is teeny, by the way. Not so teeny that the wife and I didn't get lost constantly (because we were WASTED like a BOTTLE THAT YOU THREW IN THE TRASH INSTEAD OF A RECYCLING BIN), but certainly so teeny that we kept passing the same stores and landmarks over and over and over again. Here's a funny story at which it's possible you'll laugh: on our fourth and final day in the City Of Legal Marijuana, we began our trek home to the hotel ("The Flying Pancake") at 6:00 PM. Due to excessive pot intake, we arrived there... at ELEVEN. It took us five hours to find our way like half a mile home. But did we care? Shit no! We were Flyin' High like David Crosby! So keep up the good work, Drugs.

But you know what else is legal in Flamsterdam? Prostitution! So the wife and I visited the Red Light District to view the prostitutes up for sale. They all looked like generic plastic models! Skinny, fake breasts, non-descript faces and far too much make-up - come on whores, be naturally pretty for a change. We also went to a 'Live Sex Show' because we were DOPED UP like a CHAMPION RACEHORSE. At first, I was dismayed because it was so unsleazy -- seriously, it was like being in an Oprah audience for the first two acts (a woman using a magic marker in her vagina to write "Sexy Boy" on an audience member's bare abdomen; a woman inviting an audience member to pull about five hundred thousand miles of tape out of her vagina). Luckily, the next act was an obese couple fucking and doing a standing 69, so that took care of that. Then the evening slowly wore down with a dull, stupid "Banana Show" and a woman dressed like a bunny rabbit masturbating with a carrot (for the children in the audience). Was it worth the however many Euros we paid? You bet it was! Now I know what a penis looks like!

We also went through the Children's Science Museum while STONED like a MOSLEM WOMAN SEEN IN PUBLIC WITHOUT HER BROTHER, which would've made me feel a little guilty except that the Museum had an exhibit on human sexuality. What in Sam Hill is up with Flamsterdamians? I don't mean like "this is how babies are made" -- it was about orgasms and shit! Do we really want little girls learning about orgasms?! I hope not, because then they'll grow up expecting one.

The next stop on our whirlwind tour of two cities was Berlin, Germany. Granted it was hot and granted I was tired, but I'll go ahead and make this judgment based on a mere day and a half spent there: Berlin is the lamest fucken city on the entire planet. If you live there and know differently, please advise, but all I saw in 11 hours of walking was a great zoo (I saw Knut! Write for photos), a bunch of shitty women's stores and 8 billion museums. Well, and a hooker. She was on the street at like 5:45 PM! But you know what they say - the early bird (whore) gets the worm (tiny wiggly penis)!

At any rate, I think the problem is that, having lived in New York City for the past 12 years, I expect every other city I visit to feature a comparable mix of hipster outlets, bookstores, movie outlets, record exchanges, people selling crap on the street, and interesting cultural happenings. Berlin didn't seem to have DICK in the way of any of those! Lots of museums sure, but who wants to live in the past? Stop living in the past! Also that gay memorial is stupid. Either toss in some lesbos or get rid of that thing.

And dinner in Berlin took two and a half hours. SHAME ON YOU, BERLIN! What am I, a guy who wants to CONVERSE with my wife!? SHIT NO! You're lucky we didn't both fall asleep before I finally got her upstairs and BALLED HER BRAINS OUT ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!

(and by "balled her brains out," I of course mean "whined until she let me in")

(and by "all night long," I of course mean "real quick because she wanted to go to sleep")

On an unrelated topic, the old gray Mudhoney mare ain't what she used to be. At this point, I'm downright sorry that they reunited after the break-up because nothing they've done since has made me want to listen to them at all. The Lucky Ones isn't ugly like the last album, but it's even less compelling. You know what? This album doesn't even deserve correct sentence structure.

Generic non-riffs from Blues-And-Garage Cliché Town. Lazy playing and singing, with no fire or energy. Uncompelling tired old boring two-chord riffs, no vocal melodies, clunky drumbeats. Lots of cutesy wordplay sloganeering ("The past made no sense/The future looks tense"; "The open mind is an empty mind/So I keep mine closed"; "The lucky ones are lucky they're not around"). Steve Turner still using '60s distortion and bending his strings, but with no hooks at all. Mark Arm still having a stuffed nose. You know what? This album doesn't even deserve a general description.

"I'm Now" - Shitty attitude and a couple of generic funky garage chords. AWFUL.
"Inside Out Over You" - Bubbly-dubbly bass, fuzzy-wuzzy guitar and lopey-dopey drums. Warm, happy and one of the two songs on the album that I actually like.
"The Lucky Ones" - Shitty sluggish blues-grunge that drags on forever. GODAWFUL.
"Next Time" - Stupid two-chord riff. Why bother recording this shit? GODFUCKINGAWFUL.
"And The Shimmering Light" - Gentle clean guitar with shimmery tremelo-harmonics breaks (hence the title, I guess). Grows tiresome, but starts nice.
"The Open Mind" - Ugly tough thwack bendy brapp thwapping. Not hideous, and at least an honest attempt to create a different sort of riff.
"What's This Thing?" - Bendy-note blues and silly group vocals in 10/4 time. GODASSFUCKINGAWFUL.
"Running Out" - Tepid midtempo thing with choppy drumbeat. Not even noticeable enough to hate.
"Tales Of Terror" - Another shitty clunky song with two chords and a bluesy bend, which then breaks down into piano noise and clatter before coming back as a 3-chord rising part. I don't know. For some reason, I don't hate it. I really should though; it's terrible.
"We Are Rising" - Possibly the only actual song on the album (and the second of the two tracks that I actually like), this is a lovely two-chord ballad with phased guitar, a nice accompanying bass line, and for once an actual vocal melody! I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that this is the only song they bothered writing before the first day of the recording sessions. The rest just sound like Steve Turner went 'bleep bloop bwee,' Mark Arm went 'sounds good' and somebody pressed Record.
"New Meaning" - Finally a song with energy! Unfortunately it's generic blues-garage crap. GODASSFUCKINGJESUSAWFUL.

You know what? This album doesn't even deserve a conclusion.

But here are some hilarious jokes I made up using the song titles.

"I'm Now (Completely Out Of Ideas!)"
"The Lucky Ones (Had Their Ears Blown Off By A Land Mine The Day Before This Album Came Out!)"
"Next Time (We'll Try Harder To Think Up A Third Chord!)"
"What's This Thing? (A Shitty Song, Of Course!)"
"Running Out (Of Variations On The 'Two Chords And A Bent String' Formula!)"
"New Meaning" (To The Word 'Piss Boner'!)"

Okay that last one didn't really mean anything. But who's with me on the term 'Piss Boner'? Am I right!? And what a great band name! Think of how popular The Beatles would've been had they called themselves 'Piss Boner'! Hey don't get mad, Paul McCartney! You had your chance!

Reader Comments

fowler1968@yahoo.com
Berlin is one of the more affordable late night big cities in Europe. If you ever make it again check out the neighborhoods to the south and east, Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, for the small little clubs that will close and re-open with another name next month. Stay out of the west, where all your shops were, and keep to the south/east side where there is still a little of that post-wall anarchy. Nothing is funnier than seeing Germans earnestly dressed in rockabilly drag at the Wild at Heart (I was always tempted to join 'em dressed as Colonel Sanders) or playing with robots in some basement dive. The Berliners can be very weird and kinky but not on the well-trod tourist paths outside the museum island. Seriously, Mark it sounds like you never made it out of the well-monied and established Mitte or Zoo areas. That is like visiting Manhattan and staying at Times Square. Shame on ya!

ddickso2@uccs.edu
On the subject of Berlin, I can't say I've been there, but I'm suspecting its boringness has a heapingly huge load to do with World War II. Kind of like Warsaw, widely regarded as the boringest capital city in Europe. I blame war. It sucks.

St. Petersburg's pretty good, but only in the city center. Yeah, there's attractions in the surrouding country, but they're mostly limited to factories, abandoned nobility palaces, and Peterhof. I blame the siege.

lukemcdonald65@hotmail.com
I was just reading your mudhoney review , and I have to disagree about Berlin , I spent the last 6 months living in Prenzlauer berg and I have to say the variety of crazy squats completely random (and awsome) gallery shows and live bands were ridiculus. I can see how on a short visit it could be hard to soak up but in a place where the cost of living is so low the art/music/culture scene has been on a high for at least `10 years. The hard part is probably the Berliners own protectiveness of its scene, its common enough to end up walking around some scrap yard address to find out the club or bar I was going to didnt have signs or external lights and is actually just a warehouse

blais7436@rogers.com
I just returned from Amsterdam and also stayed at the Flying Pancake. My travelling companion got so messed up in Amsterdam (mushrooms, pot, hash, space cakes) that the next day when we flew to Prague he turns to me and says "I am having a fight with my sanity." the sanity lost and he is now in a jail somewhere in Prague (never scream I want to blow up a plane on a plane).

MeatPuppets
For some reason, all the reader comments under your review of Mudhoney's The Lucky Ones are defending Berlin, instead of discussing the album! This is a damning indictment of your readership. Anyway, i've just listened to this CD for the third time and i agree, it is uninspired. 5/10. Hopefully Mudhoney will deliberate long and hard before tarnishing their reputation with another sub-standard album.

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