Mudhoney Articles
Reflex
November '91
Proud To Be Loud
My friend Matt says Mudhoney are "pure kineti fun." My mom thinks they're
"too noisy and way too loud." Fans the world over think they're Total
Fucking Godhead (a motto appropriated from fellow Seattleites Soundgarden).
Fun? Hell, yeah. Too loud? If it's too loud, then you're too old, baby.
TFGodhead? No question.
Live, they're electric psycho-rock, bodies jumping and sweating,
distortion-drenched power chords ripping the very atmosphere - a great
show even after your ears have stopped ringing. Pure kinetic fun, indeed.
People have gone so far as to say they're a cross between the Pagans and
Screaming Trees, Jimi Hendrix and Husker Du, Sex Pistols and every '60s
garage band. It'll probably never stop.
Mudhoney sounds like the name of a female wrestler. A new breakfast cereal.
Or yet another Baskin-Robbins flavor of the month. In reality, Mudhoney
(the name is actually a tribute to a legendary Russ Meyer softcore epic)
are Mark Arm (superfuzz / vocals), Matt Lukin (bass), Dan Peters (drums),
and Steve Turner (bigmuff / vocals) - four guys from Seattle. For all
intents and purposes, you can blame them for the dense guitar/bass/drums
sonic buzz and flaming fuzz known as "the Seattle sound," or even (in a
nod to the city's seminal record label, home to Mudhoney from the
beginning) "the Sub Pop sound." It's the music that caused the mothers
of the Pacific Northwest to lock up their daughters and ground their
sons indefinitely. Don't know what I'm talking about? Pick up Sub Pop
200, a compilation that includes all these (for the most part) mean
and nasty bands with the thick, thick sound. Mudhoney's cover of Bette
Midler's "The Rose" is both irriverent and classic, with Mark Arm whispering
"attack" right before the guitars cut through the sentimentality.
Mark clears the air on this issue of "the Seattle sound." "The truth is,"
he admits, "we are the Seattle sound, but no one else sounds like
us [laughs]. We're the only band that sounds like we're from
Seattle. You close your eyes and you can see the Space Needle, the
Kingdome, the mountains in the distance, Rebellious Jukebox records..."
Steve elaborates, laughing, "Our next record is going to be a travelogue
of Seattle. Young Fresh Fellows tried to do that with their Sounds of
the Pacific Northwest album, but it was just too broad." Then, as an
afterthought, he adds: "If more people thought about Seattle, there
wouldn't be any wars."
"Uh, good point, Steve." says Mark incredulously.
"We could've stopped the war in Iraq," he continues with conviction.
"All we had to do was send Bush a shitload of Sub Pop records... get him
thinking about Seattle... Crime would stop totally if more people thought
about Seattle!"
Uh, good point, Steve.
"We're nice people," says Matt.
"But we're boring!" interrupts Dan, "You should write an article about
our tour manager [Bob Whitaker] instead - his dad was the first man to
climb Mount Everest. Make sure you mention him."
Matt gets personal: "We like to drink beer. We smoke pot and cigarettes."
"Oh, and we're sensitive too," notes Dan. "We're taking our girlfriends to
the Space Needle. It's a rotating restaurant, very posh and expensive."
The first Mudhoney release was a three-minute slice of abrasive guitar
chaos pressed on shit-brown vinyl, with a porcelain goddess gracing the
sleeve. It was called "Touch Me I'm Sick," and it made heads spin all
over the world, literally. So when the follow-up EP
Superfuzzbigmuff came out in 1988, the band already had a sizeable
following in Europe and rabid fans scattered across the US. Songs like
"Need," "If I Think," and "In'n'Out of Grace," grabbed the ears of college
radio and wouldn't let go for months.
Tours followed, and every now and again they belched up a few tracks for
compilations, like the aforementioned Sub Pop 200, or Dope
Guns'N'Fuciking in the Streets. Their most unusual endavor was a
split 7-inch with Sonic Youth (each covered a fave of the other band's
songs: Sonic Youth chose "Touch Me;" Mudhoney tackled "Halloween"). In
mid-1989 they released the amazing single "You Got It (Keep It Outta My
Face)," an acidic guitar spew that was so catchy it could've been a rock
station staple - if those wascally boys hadn't stuck a nice, big "Fuck
you!" in between the verses.
But still the fans cried for more, so the band cut a full album,
Mudhoney, released in November of '89. It contained a rerecorded
version of "You Got It," and spawned a "hit" single and video, "This
Gift." A cover of Spacemen 3's "Revolution" adorned the 12-inch b-side,
and Sonic Boom and Co. were either so impressed or utterly incensed by
this tribute, they recorded a version of Mudhoney's "When Tomorrow Hits"
for their latest LP. How's that for appeal?
More recently, there were ugly rumors flying about indie-land that
Mudhoney were breaking up. And for a while it seemed like they were,
with no tours and no records for almost a year. Finally, they released
another 7-inch, "You're Gone," and did a brief tour of Europe, Australia,
New Zealand, and select American cities. Shortly afterwards, they cut
their formerly long locks, inducing a lot of anger - especially among the
British press and fans, who had grown their hair long especially for them.
"It's rough being just an image," jokes Steve.
Fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when they heard the new single,
Mudhoney hand't lost their edge - or charm. But then Dan materialized on
a Nirvana 7-inch ("Sliver"), and became a touring member of the Screaming
Trees, replacing their old drummer (and Sub Pop employee) Mark Pickerel,
while Mark Arm released his own single (a cover of Dylan's "Masters Of
War"), putting everyone in a panic yet again.
"We were planning on breaking up," admits Mark, "'cause we're too old.
But we had these contractual obligations to fulfull, y'know? So we're
going to put out some product and then really work on our movie careers.
I think that's what we're learning toward."
Are Mudhoney going to be the next teen idols? "Well," says Steve, "I
think Mark is going to be the grizzled old man, the grandfather to the
teen idol. Yeah, that's it."
"That's the only role I'm suited for, considering my ancientness", adds
Mark.
It turns out that Mudhoney aren't cleaning up for good, merely slowing
down so Steve can go back to college for a while. "I'm in school right
now," he explains. "That's why we don't tour much."
Mark, Steve, Matt and Dan are poised to pillage the hearts and minds of
everyone they haven't already conquered. The new LP, Every Good Boy
Deserves Fudge, is somewhat of a departure for Mudhoney, but it's
their best album to date. You can tell they listened to a lot of Thee
Headcoats before recording this one. In places it sounds grungeless,
bluesy, twangy, and almost pop ("Broken Hands"), but songs like "Good
Enough" and "Shoot the Moon" prove they haven't ditched their distortion
boxes for good.
