I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 27, 2023] Mudhoney 

I have never really been much of a Mudhoney fan.  I like “Touch Me, I’m Sick” and I have a couple of their early records but I never really listen to them.  Their music was pretty abrasive and didn’t really have any joy for me.

And yet I acknowledge that they are the progenitors of the whole scene that I loved so much.

Nirvana may have been the band that put an entire generation in flannel, and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden both sold a lot more records, but Mudhoney were truly the band that made the ’90s grunge rock movement possible. Mudhoney were the first real success story for Sub Pop Records; their music laid the groundwork for the movement that would (briefly) make Seattle, Washington, the new capital of the rock & roll universe. They took the sweat-soaked and beer-fueled mixture of heavy metal muscle, punk attitude, and garage rock primitivism that would become known as “grunge” to the hipster audience for the first time with early releases like 1988’s Superfuzz Bigmuff and 1989’s Mudhoney, and those fans would in turn sell it to a mass audience ready for something new. Mudhoney never scored the big payday some of their old running buddies did, though they did land a major-label deal that produced several strong albums, especially 1995’s My Brother the Cow and 1998’s Tomorrow Hit Today. Their importance on the Seattle scene cannot be underestimated, and their body of work — big, loud, purposefully sloppy, a little bit menacing, and even more funny — has stood the test of time better than their well-known colleagues.

They are also one of the few bands from that scene (besides Melvins, who I also didn’t really like) who stayed around and kept making music.  So what do I know?

The crowd was rowdy but not very big.

When the band came out on stage, they shone the album cover of Superfuzz Big Muff on the screen behind them.  And I soon learned that they showed whatever album each song was from, which was kind of cool.

I was instantly impressed that Mark Arm’s screech yell was exactly as I remembered it. I’m not saying that his voice is good, necessarily, but he hasn’t lost anything of what he had.  And given how harshly he sings, he must do something very nice to his vocal chords to keep up that level of scream.

They moved through old songs and new songs.  I was vaguely aware of which album was their most recent–I had listened to it once.  I can’t say as the new songs sound all that much different, although I think they are a little less abrasive.  Certainly Arm acknowledged something to that effect when he said that there are actually love songs on this album.  Like “Little Dogs” (a song about his little dogs).

Most of the show Mark Arm reminded me of Iggy Pop, who I’ve never seen live, but whose live escapades are legendary.  Not that Arm was cutting himself or anything, but there was some kind of elder statesman vibe.  A few songs I felt like they seemed like they were trying too hard–which is absurd, Mudhoney doesn’t have to try to do anything.  But I wondered if they were songs from the last few albums.

I was kind of surprised that they played what I assume is their biggest hit “Touch Me I’m Sick” in the middle of the set (along with the other song from that early EP). But it speaks to the fact that they don’t need to play the hit as an encore.  Indeed, they weren’t really pandering to anyone, playing 7 songs off of their new album.

The other thing that really surprised me was how funny they were.  Well, not laugh out loud funny, but they were having a good time and clearly enjoying themselves.  And when a drunk fan shouted “we love you,” he said, in the same gruff drunken voice “we appreciate that.”  And guitarist Steve Turner joked “you sound like Kermit the Frog.”  Fortunately they ignored the guy who yelled, after every song, “Mark Arm for president.”

I had been annoyed by the ladies in front of me for the first half of the show–drunk and talking loudly–but the ringleader went away (for more beer it turns out), for the middle of the show and I started to enjoy the show and the band a lot more.

I really liked “Little Dogs” and “Flush the Fascists,” which I didn’t realize was a new song, but which is spot on.

I had a clear view of the setlist and was intrigued that every few songs had an underline.  This turned out o mean a guitar switch was coming for Arm. For the final grouping, he was guitar free, which allowed him to stomp around the stage and make fun hand and facial gestures.  I particularly enjoyed “Paranoid Core” and “21st Century Pharisees.”

And then they left for an encore.

They came back and played four more songs.   Mark mentioned how Tom Herman’s Hermits was another love song to the guy who founded Herman’s Hermits.

And they ended with “In n Out of Grace” which turned out to be my favorite song of the night.  It sounded great and reminded me of how much I liked that first EP before I stopped following them.  I probably wouldn’t see them again, but I’m glad I got to see them.

SETLIST

1. If I Think §
2. Move Under ∞
3. Get Into Yours ♦
4. Nerve Attack ⊗
5. Who You Drivin’ Now? €
6. Souvenir of My Trip ∞
7. Let It Slide €
8. Judgement, Rage, Retribution and Thyme ⇔
9. Good Enough €
10. Sweet Young Thing (Ain’t Sweet No More) Φ
11. Touch Me I’m Sick Φ
12. Little Dogs ∞
13. Inside Job Θ
14. Suck You Dry ¶
15. Almost Everything ∞
16. Flush the Fascists ∞
17. F.D.K. (Fearless Doctor Killers) ⇔
18. Oh Yeah ⊗
19. I’m Now £
20. Paranoid Core ⊗
21. Human Stock Capital ∞
22. 21st Century Pharisees ⊗
23. One Bad Actor ≡ 
    encore
24. You Got It ♦
25. Tom Herman’s Hermits ∞
26. When Tomorrow Hits ♦
27. In ‘n’ Out of Grace §