Not many bands are able to survive for over thirty years without some sort of drama between members, drugs, or something else to break it up. Meat Puppets are still playing, but reaching the thirty year mark hasn’t been easy. “Brothers Meat” as Kurt Cobain called them in the MTV Unplugged Performance in 1993, had to break up twice in the early 2000s because of bassist Cris Kirkwood’s drug use and imprisonment. But in 2007 they got back to recording albums and now have their most recent work Lollipop.
Over the years, Meat Puppets’ sound has changed. When the band first began, they were a full-fledged punk band, but the band has broken away from just one genre. They have a raw and gritty sound, but they are relatively soft. Curt likes to restate his vocal melodies in his solos, which flows with the calm flow. Curt Kirkwood sings laid-back and almost monotone vocals, accompanying a straightforward acoustic guitar on some tracks, but a squirmy effect on the guitar for “Vile.” As brothers that lived next door to each other in Arizona, the chemistry between Curt and Cris is apparent when Curt plays chords and lets them ring out, while Cris carries out the backbone of the song on his bass.
The lyrics appear cryptic and metaphoric, and seem heavier than what some of the songs suggest. In “Shave It,” it seems like the song deals with feeling out of place, but the listener would never know from the melody alone. The intro gives the impression of a song someone would listen to at a sunny day at the beach. In a similar fashion, “Baby Don’t” has a playful country baseline to go with Curt singing a reassuring chorus “anything is alright with me.” In “Hour of the Idiot,” the song suggests that a situation is out of control and even someone who is not qualified will shine.
WPGU Music Staff Rating: W-P
Key tracks: “Shave It,” “Baby Don’t,” and “Damn thing”
Recommended if you like: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pavement.
W = Poor
W-P = Fair
W-P-G = Great
W-P-G-U = An instant classic!
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