I’ve seen the Puppets at least ten times, prob a lot more. Seen them in Burlington VT, Boston, Tucson, Cambridge. Even caught Curt solo for Snow tour. Surreal meeting him and buying a CD out of his backpack.

Any chance these guys will come to the Northeast? I’d settle for CT or RI. I live in the Boston area.

Just heard about this. How do i listen to this? I cant find anything. Its the drummers project

What do you see? I always saw a bull running or vaulting in the grass under a starry sky. But today I saw a green monster with it's mouth open and fire or lava in it's mouth...under a starry sky. It's such a cool cover whatever it is.

Who else has love for this album? I think it's just fucking great. I think it's one of their trippiest. And I don't consider any one song filler. And the album runs more than an hour.

The Meat Puppets, for me, are one of the great under-appreciated and under-rated rock bands. But one small justice is the 400-page tome, Too High to Die: Meet the Meat Puppets, which was released in 2012 and presents a narrative history of the Southwest-fried cult legends.

Author Greg Prato digs in deep and also gets takes on the Puppets from famous “Meat Heads” including Lou Barlow and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Peter Buck of R.E.M., Ian MacKaye of Fugazi, Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Brian Ritchie of Violent Femmes, Jim Walters of Das Damien, Mike Watt of the Minutemen, and many more.

Even though I’ve been following the band since the 1985 release of Up on the Sun (still my favorite MP album), there is still lots I’m learning from the book, including:

After Curt and Cris Kirkwood’s step-father burned their house down, they lived in a hotel with their mother. Watching the movie Deliverance in that hotel inspired Cris to take up the banjo.

The Kirkwoods loved Hee Haw (and MAD Magazine) as children, and they also listened to the Beatles non-stop, which probably explains their skewed-country-nut-while-always-melodic musical template.

Singer/guitarist Curt took a job after high school as a river runner and fisherman in the Arctic, and once endured a serious plane crash that the five people in the aircraft somehow survived. The close call inspired him to do something he wanted to do, and despite his friends telling him he was a sucky guitarist, he became determined to be a musician. He went to various colleges over a year-and-half and acquired zero credits, but it did allow him the time and funding to get his feet wet in several bands.

Cris said Curt went off to college and “definitely didn’t become collegiate” but he did become a much better guitar player.

The brothers met Derrick Bostrom in 1979. The drummer’s mom was getting divorced from his step-dad and she got to remain in their nice house on a mountain. This became their practice and hanging-out space because Derrick’s mom didn’t care what happened to the house. Curt slept on the trampoline outside for one month straight but finally was asked to leave for sneaking in and eating all the food.

The band name came from a song they wrote called, um, “Meat Puppets,” which appeared on their first album.

Barlow of Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. calls the song “H-Elenor” potentially his favorite song ever and “one of the most amazing pieces of recorded music.” I love his enthusiasm for the Puppets, but that one is frankly one of my least favorites. It’s a cacophony of noise. To each his own. That said, a lot of my favorite artists from that era talk in the book about how inspirational the Meat Puppets were to their own music, including Henry Rollins of Black Flag, Greg Norton of Husker Du, Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers, and many others.

Each of the three band members loved to sit around and doodle, so for their first release - the In a Car EP - they included a doodle in each of the first 1,000 or so pressings. When it came out, they took a trip to play some shows in California and ended up tripping on acid at the Charles Manson Family Spahn Ranch.

Leary of the Butthole Surfers thought it was so funny how much the Meat Puppet guys were into Neil Young. One time on the way to a show together, the Puppets arrived two hours later than the Surfers because they had “witnessed a Jeep overturned on the highway, and they went to render aid - particularly Cris, with his emergency medical training. They saved some guy’s life on the way to the show.”

Watt of the Minutemen saw them do a gig at the LA Press Club (really? Hard to believe they played in a journalist hang out, but I can’t find any references anywhere to a nightclub that might have had this name) that included Bostrom throwing an old drum set out a window and recommended them immediately to the guys forming the soon-to-be legendary SST Records.

Kim Thayil of Soundgarden said SST’s catalog “had a hippie thing to its punk rock - its post-hardcore vibe. It’s probably the stoner, tripped-out thing. But it was definitely more about action than flowers.”

SST was critical in the history of rock music. Greg Ginn was the chief and he was also in Minor Threat. He ended up releasing music for so many wide ranging bands that always had the common denominator of being exciting. SST is also where the get-in-the-van-and-tour culture began.

The first part of the book concludes with Meat Puppets prepared to release their first full length, simply called Meat Puppets I, on SST alongside records from the likes of the Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Das Damien, and Husker Du. It was going to be a long, successful-if-cultish ride.

https://popculturelunchbox.substack.com/p/meat-puppets-wowed-their-punk-peers

Anyone know the correct guitar chords to buckethead? Mainly during the chorus and the little refrain after that. Can’t find them anywhere and can’t figure them out. Thanks!

Does anyone have lyrics for this song?

In the closet there are skeletons lined up ready to talk

Lake of fire has many variants. But I will admit listening to it on “too high to die” is just perfection. Way better than the original on “MPII”

I want to become a member but there are 420 members as of now and I don’t want to fuck that up. Taking one for the team here.

And tour...?

Personally I love it! Definitely shows the Puppets' more country side, but also highlights his real gifts as a songwriter, singer, and player.

I'm always happy when a new Meat Puppets album comes out, but I really hope he puts out another solo album too.

I've seen them 3 times in mid-size venues around Boston over the last 20 years or so. Always an absolutely ripping show. Their albums are fantastic, don't get me wrong, but they really turn it on live and jam like nobody's business. Kinda like Phish and the Dead in that regard - the album version of any particular song is only a snapshot of the song's potential.

Just curious who else here has had the pleasure. Who's got the earliest show? I would've loved to have been able to see them in the 80s, but I was in elementary school, lol.

This is my favorite album of theirs. It's less about the songs, although I think they're amazing, and more just that magical time in my life when I first discovered them.

Anyway in the last couple years I've gotten into vinyl and it seems like lots of their other albums are readily available and still being pressed, and usually pretty cheap too. But not this one. It came out in '94, so this is the 30th anniversary. Sure would be great if they pressed a few thousand copies.

Additionally I've noticed on Discogs that nearly ALL the vinyl copies of this album that come up for sale are in the UK. I have no idea why that might be other than maybe they released a huge batch of these for the UK only figuring Americans were only interested in CDs? Who knows.

Anyway I absolutely LOVE this album. Who's with me? Favorite songs?

Why? Flaming Heart, Violet Eyes, and Roof with a Hole top my list. But of course Lake of Fire is a classic too.

What’s everyone’s favourite songs and albums? At the moment my favourite songs are •In Love • Things •why? •hot pink •aurora borealis

did y’all hear the new release? what’s y’all’s favorite!??!! mine is either i saw the light or big iron. i believe MP are at their best when playing old country tunes like these.