Mudhoney

Mudhoney is a grunge band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1988. They have been an inspiration and influence on many grunge and alternative rock musicians, most notably Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. Mudhoney's career is chronicled in Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad, a study of several important American underground rock groups.

Band history

Mr. Epp and the Calculations

The very beginnings of Mudhoney start out in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. While at Bellevue Christian High School, Mark McLaughlin (later known as Mark Arm) and some friends started Mr. Epp and the Calculations, a band named after a math teacher of his. Initially the band was more a joke band than a real band; their first "show" was in class singing Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" and using rolled up maps as guitars because they couldn't play real instruments. "Mr. Epp" finally played their first show in 1981, three years after they formed. Around this time Mark Arm and friend Steve Turner formed a more serious yet still humorous band, Limp Richerds. Mr. Epp appeared on KZAM-AM radio and were introduced as "the worst band in the world". They played their last show on February 3, 1984 with Malfunkshun at Seattle's Metropolis.

Green River

Green River was formed in 1984 when Mark Arm and Steve Turner recruited Alex Vincent as drummer, who had previously played with Turner in the short-lived Spluii Numa. Bassist Jeff Ament joined the band after arriving in Seattle with his band Deranged Diction. Stone Gossard, another of Turner's former bandmates, was recruited as second guitarist. Green River recorded their debut EP, Come on Down, in 1985, and it is often regarded as the first true "grunge" record. Steve Turner left the band after its release, due to his distaste of the band's heavy metal leanings. He was replaced by another Derranged Diction member, Bruce Fairweather. After recording another EP (Dry As a Bone) and a full-length album (Rehab Doll), the band decided to call it quits in late 1987. Gossard, Ament, and Fairweather went on to join Mother Love Bone. Following lead singer, Andrew Wood's death, Gossard and Ament went on to form Pearl Jam, and Fairweather joined Love Battery. In January 1988, Arm reunited with Turner to form Mudhoney.

Sub Pop (1988–1991)

Steve Turner wanted to start a band that actually rehearsed before they played. He and Mark Arm began working on some music along with Bundle of Hiss drummer Dan Peters. The trio decided that Matt Lukin, who had recently left The Melvins, should join them as bassist. They named themselves after the Russ Meyer movie Mudhoney, which none of the band members had actually seen.

In 1988, the band recorded and released their debut EP, Superfuzz Bigmuff, and their first single, "Touch Me I'm Sick", on the Sub Pop label. The single attracted a great deal of attention and the band enjoyed moderate success in the United States. Mudhoney quickly became Sub Pop's flagship band before Nirvana hit huge with Nevermind. Sonic Youth, who were fans of the band, had invited Mudhoney to join them for a tour in England in 1989. After this tour Superfuzz Bigmuff landed on the British indie charts and they received a fair amount of press coverage. Following this success the band released their first full length album, Mudhoney, in 1989.

Mudhoney's partial success led to a number of other Seattle bands, such as Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Tad, gaining some recognition. In the early '90s, Sub Pop was not making very much money. As a result, many of its bands left the label to seek backing from major labels. However, Mudhoney decided to stay with Sub Pop and they released their second album, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, in 1991. After the album's release they were offered a deal with Reprise Records, and they joined the label in 1992.

Reprise (1992–1999)

As grunge entered the mainstream, Mudhoney shifted away from their early grunge sound. Many of the band's contemporaries were having huge success and gaining popularity worldwide. Mudhoney's first album with Reprise was Piece of Cake, which leaned more towards garage rock than grunge. Despite the fact that the band had signed to a major label, they retained their "quirkiness" and non-careerist attitudes.They also contributed a track "Overblown" at this time to the soundtrack to the "Generation X" film Singles.

In 1995, as grunge was fading from the mainstream, Mudhoney decided to return to their earlier sound. With their album My Brother the Cow they mixed their earlier and more recent sound, producing a fan favorite and arguably one of their finest albums. In 1996, Mudhoney appeared in the comedy movie Black Sheep, starring Chris Farley and David Spade. The band was shown performing at an MTV concert and then speaking with Farley backstage.

Mudhoney's melding of styles would become more pronounced on their following album, Tomorrow Hit Today, recorded and released in 1998. The album continued their garage and grunge sound but demonstrated a strong blues-rock influence.

After a few years of touring, Reprise decided to release Mudhoney from their label. One of the reasons was that the band's record sales had reached a career low, despite the fact their concerts were drawing larger audiences than before. Subsequently, bassist Matt Lukin called it quits, due primarily to his dislike of touring. The band released March to Fuzz, a retrospective compilation of songs from throughout their career. Many fans speculated that the band was on the verge of breakup.

After Matt Lukin (1999— )

However, Mudhoney continued to play a handful of concerts in the Pacific Northwest, and these concerts were doing so well that the band decided to resurrect their careers. They recruited permanent bassist Guy Maddison (of Monroe's Fur and Lubricated Goat) who had played with Mark Arm in one of his many side projects, Bloodloss. In 2002 the band recorded and released Since We've Become Translucent. This was followed by a major South American tour including Chile, Argentina & Brazil. The band returned to the studio and recorded Under a Billion Suns. The album was released in 2006 and received favorable reviews. During 2007 they played in Brazil once again for just two dates and went on a brief European Tour. [1] On November 5th, a live LP of songs recorded on Mexico in 2005 was released, titled "Live Mud" and also a new album due on spring of 2008.

Band members

Current members

Former members

Matt Lukin - bass (1988–1999, 2000–2001)

Touring members

Wayne Kramer - bass (2000)
Steve Dukich - bass (2001)
Garrett Shavlik - drums (2006)

Discography

This is a list of studio albums only:

Title	Year	Label
Mudhoney	1989	Sub Pop
Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles	1990	Sub Pop
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge	1991	Sub Pop
Piece of Cake	1992	Reprise Records
My Brother the Cow	1995	Reprise Records
Tomorrow Hit Today	1998	Reprise Records
Since We've Become Translucent	2002	Sub Pop
Under a Billion Suns	2006	Sub Pop

References

Deming, Mark. "Mudhoney". All Music Guide. Retrieved May 14, 2005.
Vinylnet Record Label Discographies. link. - Sub Pop Catalogue Numbers.

External links