Alternative Wednesday!
There's a part of me that will always feel sympathy for my father. Not having a lot of people to talk music with, he got stuck with hearing each new discovery of mine and trying his utmost not to be negative. Not only did he suffer through the intro to Nirvana's Territorial Pissings, but he was made to suffer the techno introduction to the classic Mudhoney album, Piece of Cake.
Formed by high school friends, Mudhoney ended up becoming one of SubPop Records' flagship bands and a favorite of Sonic Youth. Beloved of critics, ignored by the record buying public, yet they could pull in massive audiences when touring. Some bands that I like, I can understand why they didn't make it huge. Elastica got wiped out by drugs, They Might Be Giants are too quirky for the mainstream, Matthew Sweet can't manage to pry himself out of 1968, and the Reid brothers were drunks, but Mudhoney not making it I've never understood. The only theory that I have is that a sense of humor may have done them some damage. Maybe fart noises and bad beat boxing are turnoffs to some people. Philistines.
A rarity for me, was that a high school friend introduced me to Mudhoney. He even stated that they were his favorite band, which in 1993 speak was insanity given voice. "You like 'em better than Nirvana?" I asked. He fixed me with a beatific look and said, "You must listen to Piece of Cake. Trust me."
He was right. Piece of Cake, their third studio album and their first with Reprise, is absolutely solid. No End in Sight, the opener of Piece of Cake is one of my favorite track 1 side 1 songs. It's a strong, intense slice of punk rock grunge and gives you a taste of what the album will be like. Listening to the album now, it's as good as it was years ago and is as fast, loud, and fun as when it dropped. Unlike a lot of bands from this time period, Mudhoney is still touring, still together, and still releasing good albums. Because Mudhoney was one of those bands that never hit the big time, there aren't a lot of official videos. One of the few I could find on the YouTubes was for Blinding Sun which is a great song, but I'd have liked to have shown SOME of the band's variety. One interesting thing I did find though, seems some people have played along to a few tracks from Piece of Cake. So while it ain't official, it should still give you a pretty good idea of what a good album it is.
Formed by high school friends, Mudhoney ended up becoming one of SubPop Records' flagship bands and a favorite of Sonic Youth. Beloved of critics, ignored by the record buying public, yet they could pull in massive audiences when touring. Some bands that I like, I can understand why they didn't make it huge. Elastica got wiped out by drugs, They Might Be Giants are too quirky for the mainstream, Matthew Sweet can't manage to pry himself out of 1968, and the Reid brothers were drunks, but Mudhoney not making it I've never understood. The only theory that I have is that a sense of humor may have done them some damage. Maybe fart noises and bad beat boxing are turnoffs to some people. Philistines.
A rarity for me, was that a high school friend introduced me to Mudhoney. He even stated that they were his favorite band, which in 1993 speak was insanity given voice. "You like 'em better than Nirvana?" I asked. He fixed me with a beatific look and said, "You must listen to Piece of Cake. Trust me."
He was right. Piece of Cake, their third studio album and their first with Reprise, is absolutely solid. No End in Sight, the opener of Piece of Cake is one of my favorite track 1 side 1 songs. It's a strong, intense slice of punk rock grunge and gives you a taste of what the album will be like. Listening to the album now, it's as good as it was years ago and is as fast, loud, and fun as when it dropped. Unlike a lot of bands from this time period, Mudhoney is still touring, still together, and still releasing good albums. Because Mudhoney was one of those bands that never hit the big time, there aren't a lot of official videos. One of the few I could find on the YouTubes was for Blinding Sun which is a great song, but I'd have liked to have shown SOME of the band's variety. One interesting thing I did find though, seems some people have played along to a few tracks from Piece of Cake. So while it ain't official, it should still give you a pretty good idea of what a good album it is.
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