Meat Puppets II

You know... not a fan.

First 30 second I was out but I persevered and turn out it was good in parts.

Noisy & unpolished, surprisingly varied

## In-Depth Review: *Meat Puppets II* by Meat Puppets Released in 1984, *Meat Puppets II* stands as a landmark album in American underground rock, fusing punk, country, psychedelia, and folk into a singular, genre-defying statement. This review will examine the album’s lyrics, music, production, themes, and influence, concluding with a balanced assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. --- ## Lyrics **Surrealism, Existentialism, and American Oddity** Curt Kirkwood’s lyrics on *Meat Puppets II* are a marked departure from the band’s earlier, more abrasive punk output. Instead of nihilistic rants, the album offers a surreal, almost dreamlike journey through the American Southwest, with words that evoke both existential ponderings and whimsical absurdity. Tracks like “Plateau” and “Oh, Me” are filled with cryptic imagery—“There’s nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop / And an illustrated book about birds”—that suggest a search for meaning in a world of mundane details[1][3]. The lyrics frequently blur the line between the profound and the playful. “Lake of Fire,” for example, tackles themes of afterlife and damnation with a sardonic edge, while “Lost” and “We’re Here” capture a sense of wanderlust and cosmic uncertainty, often reflecting the band’s own desert origins[1][3]. Curt’s delivery, sometimes fragile and quavering, adds an earnestness that makes even the most bizarre lines feel deeply felt[1]. **Pros:** - Unique, surreal lyricism that stands apart from both punk and country traditions. - Emotional honesty and vulnerability, especially in tracks like “Oh, Me.” - Lyrics open to interpretation, encouraging repeated listening and personal connection. **Cons:** - Some listeners may find the lyrics too opaque or nonsensical. - Occasional lack of narrative cohesion can make the album feel disjointed. --- ## Music **Genre Fusion and Instrumental Experimentation** Musically, *Meat Puppets II* is a radical blend of styles. The band moves away from the hardcore punk of their debut, embracing country twang, psychedelic jams, and folk melodies. The opener, “Split Myself in Two,” is the closest the album comes to straight punk, but even here, the bluesy progression and loose, almost shambolic performance hint at the band’s restless creativity[4][5]. Instrumental tracks like “Magic Toy Missing” showcase Curt Kirkwood’s guitar prowess, with jangly, intricate lines that recall both Neil Young and the Grateful Dead[3][4]. The rhythm section, anchored by Cris Kirkwood’s buoyant bass and Derrick Bostrom’s unfussy drumming, provides a solid but playful foundation for these excursions[4]. The album’s most famous songs—“Plateau,” “Lake of Fire,” and “Oh, Me”—are mid-tempo, country-inflected rockers with psychedelic overtones. Their melodies are simple but haunting, and their structures loose enough to allow for improvisation and exploration[1][2]. The music often feels both organic and slightly unhinged, as if it could fall apart at any moment but never quite does. **Pros:** - Inventive fusion of punk, country, folk, and psychedelia. - Memorable melodies and distinctive guitar work. - Instrumental variety, from raucous rockers to contemplative jams. **Cons:** - Sloppy, unpolished musicianship may alienate those seeking technical precision[4]. - Some tracks feel underdeveloped or meandering. --- ## Production **Lo-Fi Authenticity and Raw Energy** Produced under the auspices of SST Records, *Meat Puppets II* has a distinctly lo-fi sound. The recording is raw and unvarnished, with minimal studio trickery. This approach suits the band’s aesthetic, emphasizing authenticity over perfection[1][5]. Vocals are often buried in the mix, guitars are fuzzy and sometimes out of tune, and the overall sound is warm but rough-edged. The production captures the band’s live energy and sense of spontaneity. There’s a sense that the songs were recorded quickly, with little concern for technical polish—a reflection of the band’s drug-fueled, improvisational approach during this period[1]. While this can make the album feel immediate and alive, it also means that some performances are ragged and uneven. **Pros:** - Raw, unfiltered sound enhances the album’s authenticity. - Captures the band’s chemistry and live energy. - Lo-fi warmth suits the album’s desert psychedelia. **Cons:** - Occasional muddiness and lack of clarity in the mix. - Some listeners may perceive the production as amateurish or sloppy. --- ## Themes **Desert Mysticism, Dislocation, and the Search for Meaning** Thematically, *Meat Puppets II* is rooted in the landscape and mythology of the American Southwest. The album’s songs evoke wide-open spaces, shimmering heat, and a sense of existential wandering[3]. Titles like “Plateau,” “Aurora Borealis,” and “Lake of Fire” conjure images of vast, mysterious terrain, both physical and metaphysical. Many tracks grapple with questions of identity, purpose, and belonging. “Oh, Me” is a philosophical meditation on selfhood and connection, while “Lost” and “We’re Here” explore themes of travel and uncertainty[1][3]. There’s also a thread of religious commentary running through the album, particularly in “Lake of Fire” and “Plateau,” which question received wisdom and poke fun at spiritual platitudes[1]. **Pros:** - Rich thematic content that rewards close listening. - Evocative sense of place and atmosphere. - Engages with existential and philosophical questions. **Cons:** - The abstract nature of the themes may be alienating for some. - The album’s mood can feel inconsistent, shifting from playful to profound. --- ## Influence **A Blueprint for Alternative Rock and “Cowpunk”** *Meat Puppets II* is widely regarded as a foundational album for both the alternative rock and “cowpunk” movements. Its blend of punk aggression with country and psychedelic influences was unprecedented at the time, paving the way for bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pavement, and Dinosaur Jr.[1][3]. The album’s influence was cemented when Nirvana covered “Plateau,” “Oh, Me,” and “Lake of Fire” during their iconic MTV Unplugged performance, introducing the Meat Puppets’ music to a new generation[1][2]. The album’s willingness to disregard genre boundaries and embrace experimentation has inspired countless artists. Its spirit of creative freedom, combined with its embrace of imperfection, helped define the ethos of American indie and alternative music for decades to come[1][5]. **Pros:** - Hugely influential on grunge, alternative, and indie rock. - Helped legitimize genre-blending in underground music. - Inspired artists to prioritize authenticity over technical perfection. **Cons:** - Initially underappreciated; its influence was recognized only in retrospect[1]. - Some elements (especially the country influence) may not appeal to all fans of alternative rock. --- ## Pros and Cons Summary | Pros | Cons | |----------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | Inventive, genre-defying fusion of punk, country, and psychedelia | Sloppy musicianship and lo-fi production may deter some listeners | | Surreal, thought-provoking lyrics | Lyrics can be opaque or nonsensical | | Authentic, emotionally honest performances | Some tracks feel underdeveloped or meandering | | Rich thematic content and strong sense of place | Mood and style can be inconsistent | | Raw production enhances immediacy and warmth | Lack of technical polish | | Groundbreaking influence on alternative and indie rock | Initial lack of commercial success | | Memorable songs later immortalized by Nirvana | Country elements may not appeal to all | --- ## Conclusion *Meat Puppets II* is a singular achievement in American music—a record that embraces contradiction, blending punk’s energy with country’s twang and psychedelia’s expansiveness. Its lyrics are both playful and profound, its music both sloppy and inspired, and its production both raw and inviting. While it may not be for everyone, the album’s influence on alternative rock is undeniable, and its best songs (“Plateau,” “Lake of Fire,” “Oh, Me”) remain timeless. For listeners willing to embrace its eccentricities, *Meat Puppets II* offers a journey as strange, beautiful, and unpredictable as the desert landscapes that inspired it.

Sloppy but fun songs and tunes, I dug it. Really refreshing after all these big, self-important albums to have something so small-scale and garage band-y, but still sounding great.

I only liked one song that had no vocals

It was ok, no stand out tracks for me I wouldn’t be in a rush to listen to it again, but if it was on I wouldn’t mind either

This would hit different if I didn't hear Kurt Cobain perform these songs better

This varies from bland to mildly annoying. The singer has a rather irritating voice. Musically, it has some decent parts, but as a whole, it didn’t work at all for me.

not bad

Tyckte jag kändes igen namnet. Trodde först vi redan lyssnat på bandet på denna resa. Men hittade inte i historien. Men när plateau kom kände jag igen Nirvana. De gjorde tre covers och gjorde det mycket bättre. Detta var inte en rolig upplevelse. Sången är fruktansvärd. Och musiken är oinspirerande. Ville mest att det skulle ta slut.

Får för mig att det skulle låta åt det här hållet (fast ännu sämre) om jag själv skulle ge mig på en sångkarriär. Usel sång som tyvärr förstör hela skivan, även fast det rent instrumentellt är hyfsat bra (blir väldigt tydligt på Aurora borealis).

3.5

-very interesting sound… not like anything I’ve heard before. the word “cowpunk”, the apparent genre name, describes it perfectly I guess -I really loved the instrumentation actually! some of my favorite tracks were the guitar-driven instrumentals. maybe not the most mind-blowing thing I’ve ever heard but very cool and fun nonetheless -Favorites are Magic Toy Missing and Aurora Borealis

The Good: An album named after the artist… The Bad: It’s not their freshmen attempt… The Ugly: Figuring out that Meat Puppets isn’t a reference to porn… Though I am not certain, it would not surprise me a bit if there are many people who are attempting this 1001 album listening journey, that they get to a point where “having to listen to a new album every day” stops being a fun endeavor, and instead becomes a chore… and we all hate chores! Due to the above, at times, I kind of skip a day, or two, and then try to catch up by listening to several album during one day… and today would be one of those days. Now, why am I bringing this up? Well, prior to listening to this album, I listened to Nirvana’s In Utero, and ranked that 3* as I could not find too much pleasure in listening to it.. The Meat Puppets, a band I’d heard off, however, I can’t recall having listened to any of there albums before today… and holy cow. These guys are the genesis of so many bands, from an influence standpoint, that it’s not even funny. It’s sad! Sad that it has taken me 40 years to start listening to them. Though not worth 5*, I am going to give them that score because of the albums I have been listening to, with great pleasure, might I add, over the past decades, which are clearly directly influenced by these gentlemen!

Yeah it tracks that Kurt Cobain liked these guys. I liked the instrumental songs enough but that’s pretty much it

Not good. There were a couple songs that were okay but apparently they’re bonus tracks. I’m all for bad singers but Curt and I seem to share a range. Also the guitarist seems to be trying to find the right note and tune mid recording.

Listening to this sent me down a Nirvana MTV Unplugged rabbit hole (“the brothers meat”). If nothing else, it deserves 3 stars for that. May come back to this one at some point

Ganska wack!

The last US punk i got generated was dreich so let's see how this goes. See now there's something to this. Not sold on his voice I'm probably gonna tire of it by the end of a full album but I like this sort of darker americanah guitar. That doesn't mean anything but I know what I'm trying to say. Punk is a strong word for this. Like i don't dislike it but it's not noisy. Shout please. ..hm nah i kinda get it it's subverting something or reinventing something or whatever. Like I'm not necessarily having the greatest time with this but i appreciate what it's doing. O shit a heavy guitar shouting song! Nah this is really growing on me it's a real Jarvis Cocker's Carrier Bag Of Influences. I do have to go to work though so I'm breaking off after The Whistling Song and will be back later Honestly this feels like a group of guys in their bedroom doing whatever the hell in whatever order and I think that's cool and artistically bold. They repeated a song???? Respect. Also a lot of instrumental so I'm not tired of his voice but it's grown on me a bit anyway. Hard to rate... probably a 3.5 tbh but I'll round up. See i would have Never listened to this without this website and that would have been a shame!!

I would probably have given this album five stars if the band had a singer who could sing. There is a lot of musical talent on display, but the vocals really hold it back in my opinion. Definitely a four-star album though, in my book.

The vocals are wavering and out of tune at times. It doesn't help that the bare-bones production often highlights the flaws and occasionally sloppy playing. The country-inflected numbers stick to predictable chords and are largely forgettable. On such a short album, the numerous instrumentals (such as "Aurora Borealis") seem like lost opportunities. The frenetic singing on faster-paced tracks like "Split Myself in Two" and "New Gods" unfortunately reduce the vocal melody to a blur. However, the perfectly-paced "Plateau" pulls everything together and is the highlight of the album; the fleshed-out arrangement really does the song justice.

I don’t like the mix on this the vocals were unintelligible

This actually sounded kind of fun at times. 2.5

Holy Kurt Cobain! First thing I thought was this band is a total rip off of Nirvana. Then I heard Plateau and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was Cobain/Nirvana that ripped off Meat Puppets, right down to the singing style. Now I'm sure my son has told me the story behind the Meat Puppets and Nirvana, especially the well known hit Lake of Fire. But as a person who isn't the biggest fan of Nirvana, Meat Puppets is Nirvana. Cobain just did it a little bit better. Not much, bit a little bit..... I thought the album was pretty good. Split Myself in Two was a great opener and my favorite song off the album. I think I was most surprised by the musical range, from the in your face punk to the mellower, dare I say, a little rock country kinda twang. Thought the album was solid. Kept my attention and I learned a few things today. Or maybe I should say I was reminded of a few things today. I can already hear Luke saying, "Dad, I already told you about this..... " I'll check out more of these guys . 3.5

3.5 I saw someone online describe this as sounding like “a half-drunk cover band playing the greatest album ever made, in a tiny, mostly vacant lounge at 1am,” and my God, is that accurate. It’s messy as hell and the singer can’t sing worth a damn, but man, does it have DIY, punk charm to it. THIS is how country and rock should be blended, Eagles, take note. Now, I feel like it’s impossible to talk about this album without mentioning Nirvana. Odds are, unless you’re truly an older indiehead, your first time hearing the Meat Puppets was via MTV Unplugged in New York, where Kurt and Co. covered three songs from this particular album - Plateau, Oh, Me, and Lake of Fire - alongside the actual band themselves (forever and always a bro move in my eyes). I’ve always thought Kurt had a knack for highlighting obscure bands with unconventional, raw talent (see: his Top 50 albums list), and these guys are no exception. Though, if I’m being honest… the Nirvana versions of these songs are better. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy them in their original form here - there’s admittedly a small sense of rudimentary quality to them, but for the most part, the energy and personality they carry sets them apart as works of their own. There’s certainly a place in my musical catalog for them, though Lake of Fire is one of those songs that always takes me back to a specific place and time - Walmart, 2020. As I was out grocery shopping for myself the first time during the pandemic, masked up, following the guiding arrows on the floor, trying to stay as far away from everyone as I possibly could, and without single cleaning supply or roll of toilet paper to be found, this song shuffled on in my earbuds, and I honestly don’t think there’s any other song that could have captured the moment better. For a sec there, I wondered if I was in Hell. Still, regardless of which version you’re listening to, Lake of Fire is a great song, as are Plateau and Oh, Me. As for the rest of this album… pretty decent. Kurt definitely went with the best three songs this has to offer, but there’s a degree of enjoyment to be had with most everything here. For the second review in a row, this was way more of a country album than I would have anticipated, though in this instance, I thought the fusion of it was really cool and well-done (I guess it’s called cowpunk?) While no track quite hit me like the big three did, I did think Aurora Borealis was a cool instrumental to come out of Plateau with, and there was something about Lost that reminded me of Another Travelin’ Song by Bright Eyes. If you make me think of Bright Eyes, you’re probably doing something right. Can’t say I quite fell in love with this, but as a Nirvana fan, I’m definitely happy to have explored the group’s catalog a little bit more.

The OGs paving the way for the future in this original work of art.

1.5. Vocals not my thing.

Noisy hardcore from Phoenix. Fast, punk rock. Some songs covered by Nirvana later. Super fast country influences, fun! Incredibly varied rock album with great instrumentals.

It's alright. Very rough

Well this one was a gem for sure. I've heard of the Meat Puppets, but never really listened to them. I was pleasantly surprised! I hadn't realized that Nirvana covered a few of these tracks. I also just genuinely liked the whole thing. Each track was something new and I never got bored. It's albums like this that make this project worth while.

A great surprise! Didnt know the band. The band is great!

Another discovery. Nirvana were right. Announces itself with Split Myself In Two, which just rolls along and then collapses at the end. Good fun here. Sounds 90s but isn't.

O indie antes de existir o termo!

Amazing album. I know Nirvana took inspiration from this band and I feel like I could get something out of listening to it as well. I really like the folk rock kind of sound, kinda grunge but not really. The instruments in this album arent held to a high level of musicianship, but that doesnt take away from them. The songs on this album seem really fun to play.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. This is far more sophisticated and complex. No wonder Cobain was a fan. I don’t love some of the whiny vocals, but they knew how to play. Enjoying the instrumentals very much.

I’m gonna be straight up. For the most part, I didn’t really like this album. It felt a little too janky and messy most of the time, and didn’t really bring joy to my ear flaps. There were definitely occasions where this changed, and it was generally when it started getting a little rockabilly. Overall, I’m honestly not sure why this is considered an essential listen. It certainly isn’t as far as I’m concerned, but if you disagree then I’d love to hear why.

tre canzoni presenti in nirvana unplugged, tra cui plateau. capisco perché abbiano ispirato Kurt, tra il 3 e 4 do 4

I was not expecting to like this at all. Strangely, a few albums back, I was served up the Nirvana Unplugged album and these guys appeared on a few tracks. Anyway, this was really good. Lots of different influences. I would quite happily listen to it again.

I thought this album had a great alt-country sound that is 10 years ahead of its time. However, except for a couple great songs the writing was mediocre.

I liked the songs covered in the live Nirvana album I liked them more when they covered them..

4 stars

For some reason I really strongly thought this album wasn’t on here. I think the songs nirvana covered are the best songs, but new gods is pretty great and so is the instrumental Aurora borealis. 4/5

1 por que no esta en Spotify.... :(((

They received the two because there were a couple of songs without them trying to sing. They can’t sing!!

Proto-Grunge. Versteh hz woher Nirvana seine Riffs klaut hat

Well that was different, and what an opening track! I mean, why did they bother? Thankfully after that they did actually make an attempt at playing music, and he proved he could sing if he wanted. Have never appreciated this type of guitar work, and only Velet Underground have ever made tracks where it sounded correct. It did improve massively after the opener (not difficult), but not enough for me. 2

What an absolute gem of an album. Just love the dweeby dorky vocals and the lo-fi production. There’s variety, great guitar work and greatbass, and some catchy melodies. “Oh, Me” is just sublime. Only 1 criticism, the drumming; so basic.

Lo-fi, as expected from the SST label in the 1980's. Meat Puppets were on my radar, but never in my collection. I was too busy listening to their label mates Screaming Trees. That said this wasn't too bad, but you can hear their influence in many bands that followed them. It's a 2.4, just not enough to get it to the other side for a 3 star.

A little groovy thing. Recognized a tune or two surprisingly. Didn't get me too excited but I enjoyed moments. 3.5

Surprised I enjoyed this more than I thought I would

like an angry sock monkey. catchy beats but nigh incomprehensible lyrics or vibes. Would not recommend. 2 stars at best.

Singing badly as a stylistic choice is bold, wrong, but bold. if it wasn't for that I may have liked it - it's a bit of a different sound and there's certainly something interesting about it. I just wish the singer wasn't in it

low 4, dark, psychedelic, hard

Needs to be heavier in the rotation

Excellent, first time I’ve listened to this group but think they could grow on me. Broad range of styles given a heavy guitar treatment. Really enjoyed this

I'm sorry but my stomach can't handle the band name

12 temas en menos de media hora, punk-rock y mucho más. La voz de Curt Kirkwood sin duda influyó en J Mascis. Su música y estilo no solo en este sino en toda una pléyade de bandas posteriores. Nirvana tocaron nada menos que 3 temas en su Unplugged: "Plateau", "Oh, Me", y "Lake of Fire". Split Myself in Two comienza a todo tren para luego derivar en un psicodélico de lo más estimulante. Línea que abrazarían en el siguiente disco, los excelentes Up on the Sun y Mirage. Lo mismo sucede con la instrumental y ¿country? Magic Toy Missing y ya sin tapujos en Lost. Plateau sigue sonando igual de fascinantes a pesar del tiempo. Aurora Borealis encajaría en cualquier disco de Neil Young, algo que sigue en la instrumental Aurora Borealis. En We´re Here ya se vislumbra el giro hacia The Byrds que emprenderían. Uno de sus mejores temas. Climbing, más country alternativo y New Gods acelera con ritmo hardcore. Oh, Me y Lake of fire ya son parte de la historia por formar parte del MTV Unplugged. I'm a Mindless Idiot conduce de forma brillante al coerre con The Whistling Song. Poco más se puede pedir en apenas 29 minutos. Ejemplares.

Short-ish, although it didn't feel that way. I really enjoyed the Stones cover, and think this summed up this album well. I was expecting something much more punk, but this was mostly slacker / stoner indie rock fare. Not one I am likely to revisit, save possibly the aforementioned cover.

I quite enjoyed the country twang meets hardcore here - not the usual bedfellows. Kurt Cobain was clearly a fan.

A mixed bag - some really nice songs (Aura Borealis), some fine songs, and some terrible.

I liked some parts of it, but there were moments i couldn't understand if they were making music or mocking people that make music.

Demasiado ecléctico, no llegas a saber que demonios estás escuchando.

I saw another punk album and cringed. But these guys were waaaay better than expected. Still not great - what's up with the deliberately shitty singing? - but rising far above my expectations. I hear Kurt Cobain in some of their songs... I even almost liked the guitar and bass interplay on the instrumental tracks. Rounding down to 2 stars.

Interesting album. Highlights are obviously the songs Nirvana covered in their Unplugged. These guys were probably about 10 years ahead of their time.

Heck yeah, proto grunge

An interesting soup of genre.

Meat Puppets! I only know one of the songs on this album, "Lake of Fire" which I love from the Nirvana unplugged concert. I'm looking forward to seeing how much I like the meat puppets, a band I have heard of a long time ago, but have never really listened to. The first few songs are good so far. "Lost" reminds me of Willie Nelson for some reason? Not what I expected but okay. Lots of upbeat, driving guitars and drums. I lied! I know two songs. "Plateau" which was also covered by Nirvana. I quite enjoy the more garage rock (?) vibe of this album. It's what good rock and roll was meant to be...simple, fun, guitars, bass and some drums.

The singer is the worst part of this band.

I was disappointed with this album, it felt disjointed throughout and never really caught a groove. Maybe that’s their goal being grungy punk vibes?

Best so far, off beat without being up its own backside.

Very solid album I can see myself returning too. It’s pretty unique

Прикольная музыка, но не особо зацепила

emo

This album has the classic jams on it, and has a fun grungy crunchy energy. Maybe my favorite Meat Puppets album. It’s probably properly a 3.5?

I don’t hear this style very much so this was cool

Good

This is my first time listening to Meat Puppets not in the form of a Nirvana cover. This was great fun, raw and folkier than I expected, with several roots/punk instrumental interludes that give the varied tracklist a more intentional and meditative quality as the album progresses. Gave me moments of Wilco, of Big Thief, and of course many hardcore moments for the grunge boyz.

Good Album, my entry point into this, for better or worse was Nirvana Unplugged. This album is quirky, but the songs are great, it's interesting to see how Nirvana made some of the material more accessible. But we need music like this to push us in new ways.

I did like a lot of the instrumental bits of this. Some of the straight instrumental tracks were a bit long and repetitive. The vocals were not my favorite but only really bothered me on a few songs. Overall, they have some tracks that have a good vibe but not a peak album.

Bruh

The Meat Puppets songs were my least favorite ones on the MTV Unplugged album. I liked Aurora Borealis though. Lake of Fire was not great. Overall not much going on on this album. High 2.

I feel like I enjoyed a good amount of this but for some reason it took me so long to get through. I like this in a similarish way to the way I enjoy the Juno soundtrack. I think the instrumentals r good too I just feel like if they decided to put lyrics to them id enjoy it more.

4/10 - idk I wasn’t paying that much attention. Also I listened to this album like a week ago and idk what I was writing. I think one of the songs was just yelling

Had some decent moments but generally pretty underwhelming

Elska kjötbrúðurnar. Þetta er vangefið hrátt. Illað dæmi.

Mjög fínt og hressandi amrískt pönk. Fer í alls konar áttir.

Really tempted to give it a 4 because there's some very pleasant songs but the voice itself is quite annoying and got tired by the of the album. I don't think I'll play them again except for some songs

I liked the music a decent amount, but found the vocals irritating and something I had to push through to enjoy the music underneath.

Eh, well, best song is the nirvana cover

Where do bad folks go when they die?

Muzycznie nie było najgorzej, ale ten wokal… Gość brzmiał, jak narąbany random pod koniec imprezy. Nie dało się tego słuchać. Instrumentalne kawałki dużo lepsze, ale ratują tego, co wyjec napsuł. 5/10 i niech się cieszą, że nie niżej.

Love, love the album art. I like the get up and go of the first few tracks. The occasional country inflection is fun. Where it reminds me of Violent Femmes or White Stripes I like it. Unfortunately there are some absolutely dreadful songs too. Ultimately it does matter some if the singer can sing. Even where it misses it is still creative and interesting and clearly influential.

RING OF FIRE

Surprisingly solid. I prefer the Nirvana MTV Unplugged covers of Plateau, Oh Me, and Lake of Fire though.

The best songs were the ones without vocals. The singing was horrendous. I had to go outside and listen there to make sure my neighbors did not think I was hurting my cat. It should be a 1 star, but the music itself wasn't too bad. It was pretty good, actually, just completely ruined by the singing.

Enjoy the psychedelic parts of this but way too up and down for me

Nothing memorable for me here although I appreciate it for what it is

Someone shoulda told him to stop singing.

Not a fan. It had its moments musically but this guy’s voice is too grating. I will not be returning to this.

I love this band for their sincere mishmash of hardcore and southwestern Americana, aggressive rhythm playing and surprisingly elegant harmonics…if you listen to Up on the Sun you also realize they are huge nerds, a fact that makes me love them even more. Maybe an acquired taste but endeared to me. “New Gods” slays.

I was trying to put my finger on where I’d heard of the Meat Puppets before and it all fell into place after hearing Lake Of Fire which Nirvana covered (I didn’t recognize Plateau or Oh, Me). They’re not really my cuppa tea. I’m giving them a 2, but it’s on the higher side because I quite enjoyed I’m A Mindless Idiot.

Going from punk to bluegrass in the opening of this album was certainly a choice. Kind of represented just how all over the place this album felt. Oh, Me felt like the best song on the album, but that was about it for me. Don't have it in me to give this a 3. 2 stars.

Nirvana cover was better

A few great tracks, more than a few not great tracks

nirvana covered a couple of their songs and tbh i liked nirvanas covers better.

the instrumentation on this album is so rad. aurora borealis is so fucking good. when I looked them up i read they were a big influence on dinosaur jr and you can really tell. vocals can be annoying as fuck

Really liked this. Can hear how it influenced so many other bands I love.. it’s almost like the original alt country at times.

From the name "Meat Puppets" I was expecting this to be a lot heavier than it was, there was a lot more sort of blues inspiration than I was expecting

OK.

First listen. Nah.

01) Split Myself in Two - 5,5 02) Magic Toy Missing - 6,5 03) Lost - 6,5 04) Plateau - 6,5 05) Aurora Borealis - 6,0 06) We're Here - 6,0 07) Climbing - 6,0 08) New Gods - 5,5 09) Oh, Me - 6,0 10) Lake of Fire - 6,0 11) I'm a Mindless Idiot - 6,5 12) The Whistling Song - 6,0 TOTAL: 6,08 (61/100) Current ranking:

"Meat Puppets II" is the second studio album by Phoenix, Arizona rock band the Meat Puppets. Wiki has an interesting list of genres that include cowpunk, psychedelic rock, bluegrass, folk and Americana and they all fit somewhere during the album. This second album was a change from their more hardcore punk debut. Bandmembers included Curt Kirkwood (guitar, vocals), Cris Kirkwood (bass, vocals) and Derrick Bostrom (drums). The album was met with favorable reviews. The Meat Puppets still hang on to their hardcore roots in the opener "Split Myself in Two." Fast drums and bass. Feedback and a dreamy guitar. I think Curt is singing about playing cards with a guy he hates. They slow it down on "Plateau." A melodic acoustic guitar. Curt strained vocals at the higher pitches as he's scaling a plateau. Kurt Cobain was a fan. There are three instrumentals on this album and "Aurora Borealis" showcases them at their jam band best. Speaking of showcasing, since reading about the cowpunk genre, I was waiting for it; along comes "New Gods" with feedback and a fast, country music-type beat. I guess the band needed a break since they slow it down on the next song "Oh, Me." It's slow, plodding but builds. Painting himself as indulgent. The bass drum pounds, in comes the screeching guitar and Curt's raw and ragged vocals in "Lake of Fire." Lots of talk of death and moaning. I read the lyrics were based on the Book of Revelation. Hmmm..... probably the Meat Puppet's signature song. This album is fast and slow. They do touch a number of musical styles...punk, psychedelic, jam band, country, dreamy and Americana. But, the sound is unique to them and you know when you're hearing a Meat Puppets' song. The band admittingly was doing a lot of drugs at the time so I'm not surprised I don't know what the lyrics mean half the time. The average song length is somewhere between one and a half and two and a half minutes....the Pixies were taking notes. I might like their next album "Under the Sun" slightly better but this is an excellent album.

I really liked Plateau and We're Here. I felt their vocalist didn't put in a lot of effort in on some of the other songs.

This is not a band I’ve listened to before but I was surprised at how much I liked them. Half the songs were really good and sounded like they could’ve been B sides to everything on WSP’s Space Wrangler. Very high 3.

This was a pretty fun listen! Folksy, spirited and a little twisted.

It's not really good, but I like it anyway. Instruments are OK. Singing is not very stable. Songs are good. Reminds me of the White Stripes, but this is much older. Favorite song: Teenager(s)

I understand why Kurt Cobain loved Meat Puppets so much after listening to this album. There is so much fun and interesting song writing, paired with off-kilter punk instrumentals. The vocals scratch an itch that I didn't even know I had. While I don't think there are a ton of standout songs on this project, It still borders on a 5, and I have to give it the benefit of the doubt. Best Songs: Plateau, Lake of Fire Worst Songs: NA

January 20, 2025 HL: “The Whistling Song”, “Lake of Fire”, “Aurora Borealis”, “New Gods”, “Lost” Neat (Puppets II)

3/5

Very short, very okay to listen to once and then never remember it again

Only liked Aurora Borealis and Aura Borealis

Ikke lige mig

Gear: Abyss DIANA MR Artwork: 🎨🖼️👂 Production: 🧏‍♂️📏💩 Music: 🌵🍷♥️ Rating: 👂👂👂👂(👂)/5

I had higher expectations for this, but I just didn't like it. Lot of Nirvana mentions, well no. Their demos even sound better

2/5. Not great. Too jarring and disjoint.

Oh yeah, it’s those songs I don’t really like from MTV unplugged. This has an interesting DIY, punk, garage-band feel to it, with the weird bluegrass and country influences. But it’s not that enjoyable for me to listen to.

Most appropriate title on the list?

OK rock with bad vocal and terrible mix.

Fun, sort of upbeat

Country, punk, psychedelia - what a ridiculous combo, in 1984! Generally loved this, especially when it leaned less into the punk side of things. You can hear the influence on Nirvana and Kurt Vile especially in my mind. Highlights Plateau, Aurora Borealis, I’m a Mindless Idiot - maybe I am, but this is good music 4.25/5

Felt like this was trying to do hundred things, most of them poorly. Didn’t enjoy the vocals, too chaotic

Cowpunk schijnt dit te heten. Country en punk, het klinkt niet als een gelukkige combinatie en dat is het dan ook niet. Er wordt af en toe nog wel aardig op de gitaar gepingeld, maar de lijzige zang en het afgeraffelde spel van de anderen vernaggelen de boel.

Weer een zanger die met verdraaiende of eigenlijk gewoon valse zang de muziek weet te verpesten. Voor de instrumenten zou ik een tweede sterretje kunnen geven. Maar als zure broeder word ik geregeld gecompenseerd bij alles wat maar lijkt op punk. Dus ik compenseer op voorhand die compensatie.

Zonder KC (Kurt Cobain) hadden we vermoedelijk nooit van CK (Curt Kirkwood) gehoord. En ook niet van zijn Meat Puppets. De muziek is toch bij het grote publiek bekend geworden dankzij de Nirvana MTV Unplugged sessie. Daar laat KC zien hoe goed de liedjes van CK kunnen zijn, als je de vocalen tenminste niet verkracht als een Joni in haar slechtste dagen. CK klinkt namelijk op dit origineel als een dronken KC, die teveel heroine heeft gespoten samen met Courtney en daarna nog verkouden is geworden. Zo tarten nummers als Climbing en Oh Me op dit album alle logica, wetten en met name trommelvliezen. Bizar zo vals, zelfs Joni heeft hier moeite mee. En ik dus ook. Terwijl de nummers an sich schitterend zijn. Mooie gitaarliedjes, die nergens te standaard zijn, maar ook iets schurends hebben (en dan niet door de stem). Proto-grunge, grunge avant la lettre. Cowpunk omschrijft wiki het. Weer een genre ontdekt. Check. Ik heb de versie van KC 5 sterren gegeven. En die ga ik nu even opzetten. Want de OG van CK is me maar 2 sterren waard, verdiend door de nummers waarop hij niet zingt.

De vleemarionetten. De oplettende luisteraar kwam ze eerder al tegen bij Nirvana Unplugged. Dat feitje ligt zo voor de hand dat ik vrees dat de jury me er geen bonuspunt voor zal toekennen. En die drie nummers, waarvan je nog nooit de originele versie hebt gehoord, zijn wel een fijne houvast bij dit toch wat gekkige album. De eerste paar tracks klinken een beetje als de South Park intro van Primus. De meeste nummers houden er een aardig tempo op na, de zanger kan amper zingen en doet eigenlijk schijtirritant, maar past vreemd genoeg wel bij het geheel en de gitaren mogen lekker aan de lange lijn rondsnuffelen. De zanger houdt af en toe gepast het snaveltje op elkaar en de band mag dan even het tilwerk verrichten: hulde. Dit album wordt er echt beter van. Af en toe gaat het wel heel erg richting het bijzondere, maar ik probeer er gewoon maar lekker de humor van in te zien. En ook bij de gekkere shit zijn de gitaren (inclusief basgitaar) aardig lekker bezig ('New Gods'). Ik luister hem via de headset en de gitaren hebben op dit album echt een lekkere textuur. Half uurtje, 12 tracks. Ik vermaak me er prima mee. Uiteindelijk haalt ook deze eenvoudig de 4 sterren en mogen we officieel spreken van een streak. Als je dit een 2 zou geven vanwege de zanger geef ik je echter ook gelijk.

I think other bands have done this sound better but the ones I'm thinking of came after this came out so got to give respect for that. Still though, only a couple songs I will probably come back to. I didn't really dislike the other tracks but didn't think they were special either. Also cool to hear a band from Arizona, I think that's the first one I know. Rating: 3.3

Whoah this album is great. How have I never listened to the Meat Puppets before?

I can safely say I didn't not expect Meat Puppets to sound quite so bluegrassy. Not mad about it, just surprised as my only direct reference point for them is Backwater, which is decidedly more straight-and-narrow 90s grunge-alternative in sound. Lost is a solid one that pulls harder than others on that bluegrass vibe. Messy composition, but I think that's sort of the point. Plateau is a standout jam. Thought it sounded familiar -- Nirvana covered this during their unplugged session. Aurora Borealis also sounds extremely familiar and is easy to vibe to with a simple 4/4 drum cadence and layered guitars at varying distortion levels noodling about. Its simple, but I absolutely love this song. We're Here drips in psychedelia spirit and reminds me vaguely of .moe. Oh, Me actually reminds me of It Ain't Easy by David Bowie. Very different songs, but there is something similar in the way it swells during the chorus. Original version of Lake of Fire is much crustier than Nirvana's rendition -- I could see it not being everybody's cup of tea, but I'm over here drinking. Always loved the writing (for some reason the lyrics nest in my head) and the brokenness of the vocals actually serves as a benefit IMO. Raw and wonderfully messy. I really enjoyed this one and could see myself coming back for repeated listens. Solid 4 / 5.

Had to listen to this one twice because I quite liked the beginning, there was some out of place punk in the middle, then it just fell flat at the end. I was intrigued by the really good songs kin Aurora Borealis and I'm a Mindless Idiot. Unfortunately the good didnt outweigh the bad here and it'll find itself in as a square 3.

Kind of a meh album. Instruments were pretty cool but not a fan of the singer. I knew I recognized Plateau and Lake of Fire but it turns out its because Nirvana made them popular

Only know of the Meat Puppets from Nirvana's Unplugged. Looks like a few of the songs they play there are on here so I'm interested to see how they translate. Aurora Borealis has some bomb guitar/bass work. We're Here has some spacey guitar work. Really digging Mindless Idiot too. His voice doesn't ruin songs for me but these just seem like some fun jam types. What a weird mix of punk, noise, folk. Looking at the genres I guess I like cowpunk lololol End this one with the original issue after Whistling Song. Teenagers is crazy.

Didn't care for this one.

It was better than I expected but the songs blended together at the end.

I fucking love the Meat Puppets so much. Their ability to create a album where every track stands out as distinct is really impressive. Even instrumentals are entertaining and engaging. Vocals are unique and, in my opinion, that’s all that really matters. I’d rather have this Kirkwood’s wandering voice than some plastic Michael Bublé. I can enjoy the Bub, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t see him on this list for a reason. Every song is great and they all fit together like a cohesive album should. The whole project has a sort of futuristic-skateboard-western feel to it that they pull off flawlessly. Instrumentation and production are incredible, especially when matched with the vocals. The melodies are so timelessly catchy. Everything works so well. The lyrics are memorable if you’re able to understand them and don’t fall asleep from the low energy vocals. “Lake of Fire”, for example has some pretty energetic singing. I just wish the rest could be a little more like that. No other complaints, though. Enjoyed the whole thing. 4/5

Yeah, great. Listening to a podcast about these cats recently, so somewhat serendipitous that they popped up on this app. Meat Puppets II: Money Never Sleeps

Solid

4.5

A great example of why I’m doing this. It’s an odd album, kind of all over the place, but I’ve found myself really enjoying it. I’m really glad to have heard it, and I would totally listen to it again. Is it a 5? Yeah, I think it is.

Some like beach grunge vibes. Also OG “Lake of Fire” just as good.

It may seem a bit obscure, but these guys were enormously influential to the bands that made it big in the radio a decade later.

Another dreadful waste of space on the list, with an extra star earned for a nice instrumental moment or two.

Quirky and rollicking, a delightful listen, and an indie classic.

excellent! A hidden gem of noise rock. I am probably influenced by hearing it by Nirvana first, but very good!

Hmm, fun energy but the vocals were lacking and music at times good, overall mid.

My expectations were low for a band called meat puppets. Their instrumentals were fun and unexpected. All was more country than expected. The singing was awful. 2* Highlights: magic toy missing (because it involved 0 singing)

II gets out to a rough start but quickly improves from there. Aurora Borealis is very cool. Was familiar with Meat Puppets from the Nirvana covers. (3.7*s)

All I can say is this sounded very Phoenix, AZ. It's like country rock, but then also psychedelic in ways, and somehow also grunge and punk-ish too. It's a Florida swamp man buying meth from a Mesa punk who wears cowboy boots everywhere so the fake leather is peeling. It was a little worn out, unformed, and off-putting but you just can't look away. There's some decent highs but the album is really all over the place, very rough. The best takes were later made famous by other musicians so there's some type of foundation to build upon but I'm not sure I like it in this form. I did enjoy the instrumental tracks but other ones cancel 'em out. Don't like the band name but 2.80 for the scuzziness.

This album covers a smattering (of music) and the album cover's a smattering (of paint). I liked the instrumental tracks most and some of the grunge. Could do without the ho downs and noise punk ones. I am most familiar with the Meat Puppets through Nirvana unplugged covers (which are better) and of course "Backwater." I can see the influence as well as a unique band for the early 80s. This got me craving meat pockets and for that 2.95 stars (mom I need the recipe).

This was a bit of a weird and unexpected listen. The songwriting and music is all over the place from Meat Puppets. From initial vibes it is a bit of a turnoff, but once the album gets going its clear there is something more to it. Meat Puppets are somehow able to blend a weird synergy of raucous noise and lyrics into something competent. The vocals are a mess both in terms of style and lyrics, but sometimes they work. Overall it kinda feels like the best version of when one of your wasted stoner friends starts messing around on a guitar and every now and then something decent comes out of it. I can understand how this wouldn't be someone's cup of tea, but for 29 minutes I was mildly intrigued. My only prior awareness of Meat Puppets was Kurt's reference on the Nirvana unplugged album. After now hearing the source material I have a new respect for those tracks both in the way of Nirvana's performance and the Meat Puppets originals. It's clearly highlights how Meat Puppets assembled some decent music that with a little fine tuning and a different approach could have been something really special. A little hard to put a rating to this one because I'm a little torn on how I feel about it. On the one hand its pretty annoying, but on the other hand its also kinda fun. 2.23 stars

OK, and reminded me of early Half Man Half Biscuit stuff which it’s contemporary with. I might occasionally listen again but there’s not a lot here to bring me back regularly.

Not bad

Man this album sucked. Terrible singing though the instrumentals were fine. 5/10.

..

Nothing stands out here other than Lake of Fire 1001 album worthy: No - 13/27

Interesting blend of noise and avant-country. Decent album but not surprised I never go into them the first time around. 3/5

Terrible band name. I enjoyed the album - although thought the lead vocals were awful. Highlights were instrumentals (which were more playful than the rest of the album) and three songs that Nirvana did on unplugged. Had not realised that the Meat Puppets played on the Nirvana versions - hence why they sound pretty similar - with the main (massive) difference being Kurt's vocals were so superior.

frickin sweet

Overall: 8/10 I mostly knew Meat Puppets from the Nirvana MTV Unplugged, but the songs from this album that were featured there sound way different than expected. It's a raw, punky album with the type of vocals that I feel I should hate but fits so well with their music. I also like the instrumental tracks. Really interesting album. Fav Song: Lake of Fire Least Fav Song: The Whistling Song

Very interesting. Just last week I had Nirvana’s MTV’s Unplugged album, which features three Meat Puppets’ songs. Without Nirvana, no one has even heard of these guys. There’s a reason for that. I’ll give them credit for some decent ideas that were executed poorly.

Fine, fun, trippy and hooky. What's not to like?

Fuck you

Rubbish

Mellow rock, nice variety of styles across songs. Nothing particularly stood out but I enjoyed it.

Nah fuck this, im turning it off, even though it is so short. The vocals are just too annoying and cringeworthy. Just listen to Nirvana’s unplugged instead. Don’t pretend that you like it, don’t be a pretentious asshole.

Try hard

I think this is one you have to be in the right mood for. Fortunately I am! I didn’t know country punk (now officially counk, pronounced cunk) existed, but here it is. And I like it. Also, they’ve been around *how* long?? Dammit, I’ve just found out it’s called cow punk. Keeping this album for a long drive in summer.

Now this is the kind of weird, quasi-punk, quasi-country, grungey weirdness that deserves to be on a list like this - it's definitely not something I would have picked out at the shops, but I'm kind of digging it! Also, getting this less than a week after the Nirvana live album gave me a real whiplash sense of "wait, why do I know this song - oh hang on!" (Plateau was one of my faves from the Nirvana album, and now I see it's because they didn't write it :P )

An unlikely combination of post punk angularity, country twang, and prog complexity with a vibe that presages much of the 90s slacker alt rock feel.

If you were around in 1994, you knew three of these songs, because Nirvana played them with some of the Meat Puppets on "Unplugged in NYC". The problem is, a number of the other songs sound like... they need more work (i.e. "Lost," "New Gods (too many words)" ) . Maybe it's the singer, I dunno. I get why Cobain was so attracted to the sound of the Meat Puppets. They sound similar in a lot of ways. I like the fact that it's just not punk screaming (not anything wrong with that, btw). They tried a bunch of new things, and I will give them credit. Just... it felt _TOO_ DIY. Top tracks: "Plateau," "Magic Toy Missing," "We're Here," "Oh, Me"

This album is like some sort of demented alt country rock. Arizona always had a different scene and generated some decent rock sounds. This isn't one that I'm familiar with, though I know who the Meat Puppets are given Kurt Cobain's love of them and a couple of their 90's tunes. It actually makes me think of Primus meets Dinosaur Jr between the sometimes frenetic pace & weird lyrics and the alt folk sound & vocals (when not straining). It's not amazing, but if you listen to it a couple times it's not bad. Lost, We're Here, and The Whistling Song are solid. Their instrumentals - Magic Toy Missing, Aurora Borealis, and I'm a Mindless Idiot - are also quite enjoyable. Nirvana covered all of Plateau, Oh Me, and Lake of Fire and the first and last are great tunes, but it's the sound in Split Myself in Two that I think their debut album Bleach really emulated. This album won't be for everyone but I can respect it.

If Neil Young is the Godfather of Grunge, these guys are the cool uncles. Like a lot of people, I knew them from Nirvana Unplugged and from Backwater, their hit during the grunge era, but had never listened to any of their albums. This is a very cool album. The singing leaves a little to be desired in spots, but the songwriting and lyrics are outstanding, and the singing fits the style (for example, the singing in Lake of Fire is borderline unhinged, but that works with the lyrics). This led me back to Nirvana Unplugged, which is an all-time great album so it's not fair to compare this album - but they deserve credit for being forebears of grunge nearly a decade early. Lots of great moments - my favorites are admittedly the tracks Nirvana played with them, possibly based on familiarity (Plateau and Lake of Fire). Of the other tracks, favorites were Split Myself in Two (which I originally found a little too unhinged, but grew on me, particularly on close listen), Aurora Borealis, and We're Here. Least favorite were Climbing (the slacker singing was a little too much) and New Gods (noisy sloppy guitar work, which was surprising given that Curt Kirkwood is a pretty good guitarist). Solid 4, maybe even a 5 over time but the sloppiness and slacker singing are keeping me from putting it over the top.

Awesome album. Really raw and unique.

Post-punk/post-rockabilly, proto-grunge - call it what you will, but this is fun. I’ve liked the Meat Puppets for a long time. Not my favorite album (that would be Too High to Die), but a good representation of their varied styles. 3⭐️

Album was annoying. Listened to it at work, and it made my day longer. I can see a lot of newer whiny stuff that may draw inspiration from this, but a lot of those newer bands can sing better.

Come for the songs they performed with Nirvana on Unplugged, but stay for the distorted guitars and signs of proto-grunge

Perfectly fine. Nothing beyond that. Completely perfectly average.

Kind of a strange mix between rock/punk/chill/experimental. Vocals are pretty good and there are interesting guitar parts. Climbing and The Whistling Song are good songs.

I faintly remembered the name "Meat Puppets" from researching "Nirvana" when their "MTV Unplugged" album came up on the list earlier. Other than that I don't think I'd ever heard about them before. The tracks that have vocals have pretty clear punk-vocals but the music is more rock/country so that's a bit interesting. All in all I liked it and may return to explore more in the future Standouts Plateau Lake of Fire 4/5

Ingen skönsång direkt men ändå hyggliga låtar.

Meat Puppets II Zippy Animal from the Muppets Orville Roland Rat Kim Jong Il from Team America Meat Puppets aren’t going to break into that list, even though I liked this. There’s a nice amount of charm to it, the alt/punk/indie/psychedelic country looseness and stoned slackery chaos really grew on me. Split Myself in Two feels like a bit of aimless thrash and doesn’t really indicate what the rest of the album is like. Magic shows the slightly wonky charm of things, a nice sped up bit of punky country, which continues with the slightly Byrdsian and edgy Lost. Plateau is great of course, and Cobain’s choice of this, So Me and Lake of Fire show what a good ear he had. Climbing is fine as a bit of woozy country and I really like Aurora Borealis’s little hook and spaced out feel, and We’re Here is a great bit of plaintive, careworn alt rock with a great bass line. Although I don’t mind the riff, New Gods has quite a similar aimless feel as the first track. I’m A Mindless Idiot is really nice, the guitar interplay is great, a lovely instrumental track. The Whistling Song has a similar feel to We’re Here, a nice bit of wonky stoned alt-rock. This got better and more interesting with each listen, it’s charm percolating to the surface, and despite a bit of unevenness with the more thrashy/punky tracks it’s a really interesting and idiosyncratic listen. It’s on the margins of 3 and 4, I’ll settle on a high 3. I’ll definitely come back to it outside Split Myself in Two and New Gods, and I think it will continue to grow on me 🍖🍖🍖 Playlist submission: I’m a Mindless Idiot

This album is a bit of a mess, but it was cool to hear the three songs from Nirvana's "Unplugged."

Pretty mixed bag, the vocals were a bit harsh and some of the songs were overly manic, but did enjoy the instrumental songs

Singular technical ability. Yes country goes well with punk and psychedelia. Their sound is visionary and at first they were the only ones who could see what was going on. But a few repeated listens and you're right there beside them. I would play this in the car with the kids--they loved it (or at least partly). Those trilling guitar runs, the off beat drums, the imitation of my singing style. Everything here is oddly beautiful or beautifully odd.

Fine but instantly forgettable! 2.5 again!

This is a 3.5 in my book. A little too weird and intentionally awful to earn a higher rating (in my estimation, anyway), but also better crafted and competent than it lets on. It's never going to be my kind of album, it's just too loose and carefree in its purpose and execution. I get what's appealing, but I ain't giving it a 4. Not hard to see why Nirvana covered three tunes from this in their "Unplugged" set.

it's funny how one singer can so distract me from being able to properly enjoy the music (Antony & the Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright), while another, objectively worse singer (this guy), won't bother me. I get why people hate this, but I dig it. I'm not sure I find his bad singing charming, but it's part of the whole aesthetic. (I will confess I wish he could hit at least *some* of the notes.) 3.5 Rounding up.

Another band I was interested in but couldn't really access back in 1984. I really enjoyed this. Did they inspire Jeff Tweedy?

2.75

Hmm. It’s not bad, but I didn’t really like it. It’s weird in a way that failed to win me over. A Nirvana-loving friend introduced me to “Plateau” and “Lake of Fire” in middle school; I had never known they were covers. In particular, I remember singing “there’s nothing at the top but a bucket and a mop, and an illustrated book about birds” all the time. I haven’t thought about either song in years, and that little burst of nostalgia prompts me to rate this higher than I might otherwise.

A fine album with real artistic approach. The instrumentals really bring a depth to the best songs Nirvana wrote

Pretty good

Meh

# 373 : An album which makes you reconsider whether there are as many as 1,001 albums you must listen to before you die.

I think I assumed a band named Meat Puppets would sound different? Not sure good or bad different, just different. This was a little uneven, but overall I enjoyed it. I don’t think I’d heard the original versions of “Plateau” and “Lake of Fire” before, but they were really good. I think I should have just listened to the original release tracks and not the extra tracks that were added later. They made the album drag near the end. Still, I liked this and understand why it’s on the list.

Ooh. That was good. This is an interesting little album right here. Meat Puppets aren't a super influential band or anything, but I think there's enough popularity to warrant this album being included. There's also enough quality for inclusion, as I think this album is pretty good. The style is pretty unique. I like the blend of various influences like punk, country, and psychedelia. It works pretty well. The singing is certainly interesting, but I think there's a charm to it. The songs are solid. Perhaps the biggest impact of this album was that three of its songs, "Plateau," "Oh, Me," and "Lake of Fire" were part of Nirvana's MTV Unplugged show, where they were joined by the two main members of Meat Puppets for the performance. That's neat! I haven't heard Nirvana's Unplugged album yet (I'm waiting for this generator to give it to me), but it's pretty cool that these guys influenced and got to work with Nirvana. Those songs are great by the way, as are the other ones on the album. Overall, this is a nice album that I enjoyed. 4/5.

nur kurz reingehört. langsame akustische tracks gefallen mir, der rest eher nicht so.

Erster Song ist schon etwas hart, aber dann öffnet sich das Album in seiner Breite und inspiriert zum späteren Grunge, grossartig!

Another Great One! They opened for Stone Temple Pilots. Lake of Fire!..Fantastic!

Well consider me one of the people that learned today that Plataeu and Lake of Fire are not Nirvana songs and instead come from the Meat Puppets. This album is weird, mixes genres that normally aren't in the same room together, and is notably unpolished, and it stands out for all of those reasons. I think the 3 songs that appear on MTV Unplugged are probably the best here, but I enjoyed the other jamming bluegrass stuff the Meat Puppets performed here. My favorite is probably Aurora Borealis.

This is a solid album by a great band. Just a year away. From becoming the most underrated band of the 80s

Rough..

It was pretty chaotic, but not the good kind of chaos. I didn't enjoy it

Some catchy tunes

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. This is far more sophisticated and complex. No wonder Cobain was a fan. I don’t love some of the whiny vocals, but they knew how to play. Enjoying the instrumentals very much.

i love it when music is bad <3 highlights: we’re here; new gods; oh, me; lake of fire (dec 10 2023)

The lead singer sounds like he’s constantly on the verge of tears, which is pretty apt because that’s how I was living at Villanova when I first got into the album

Ich mein wenn nirvana drei lieder von dem Album covered kanns nicht schlecht sein

Only one song really hooked me the whole time. "Lake of Fire" was great but the rest was okay.

Surprised me w being interesting

Yeah, no. No clue why this is on the list.

muy ciclotímico

es extraño y eso no está mal, pero tampoco me vueela. Se nota como influyo a kurco el cantante . Por este punto podria sumar estrella. No es un disco largo y aun asi se me hizo largo

lo apruebo levemente porque noto la influencia sobre Kurt Cobain pero: por qué desafina asi!!!!! cantá bien, la reconchadetumadre

Maistuu vähän pölyltä, vaikka kovasti niitä koetetaan karistella. Tykkään pikku kantriviboista instrumentaalikappaleissa. Huudon olisi voinut jättää pois, tuntuu kuin haluttaisi vain säikäyttää kuuntelija. Ei yhtään napannut.

Kuulemisen arvoinen soundi, eikä Neil Youngin ystävillä pitäisi olla laulusta suurempaa valittamista. Biisit eivät kuitenkaan yllä siihen tasoon, mitä miellyttävän haparoiva esitys vaatii.

Just terrible.

I actually like a lot of this better than Nirvana, and that's saying something.

Blandet landhandel af country psyk rock, ikke lige min kop te

trash but fun trash

You can see where Nirvana took some inspiration, overall though it was just OK.

A very good album from a band I could never quite get into. The songs kind of blend together and it's all so lethargic and mumbly. Still, some gems in here, just not my go-to band or album.

Honestly not bad. I expected the band that inspired Nirvana to sound more like the Butthole Surfers, but I can get behind some of this.

I love what happens when punk becomes post-modern. I fell hard for their first album and never really dove into the rest of their work so this was a great spin. I took the opportunity to revisit the first MP album and what surprises me is how much twang they throw around throughout the 2 albums. While the vocals are all over the place on the second album, they work within the confines of the universe that MP create. This album isn't as cohesive as their first album but it's got some really memorable songs (ask Kurt Cobain) and it's nice to hear them try new stuff. Psyched to dive into their subsequent material!

not my thing.....

Lots of interesting things going on in here.

Muppets.

fleshy fingerbobs

4 - There was a lot of unique stuff on this album, most were good, some were great, some sucked. Cool to learn a few classics were from this too

Favorite Tracks: Lake of Fire Plateau

Pretty great and influential album. I wonder how well known it would have been had they not been highlighted by Nirvana's unplugged concert however. That's how I heard of them, along with most people I would imagine. They were definitely ahead of their time either way, hard to believe this was released in 1984! Sure the singing is a bit rough in places, but the guitar playing and songwriting are brilliant.

Without the Nirvana connection it would be harder to think why this was an important album. But it clearly was. Some great tracks on here, Plateau is even better than the Unplugged version, but also a lot of tracks that should have been clipped. Not one I'll have on rotation but an interesting listening experience.

There's been quite a few albums my group has gotten where I've found myself thinking about Kurt Cobain and, more specifically, his last list of his 50 favorite albums. Pretty often, I find myself wanting to refer to it when I'm listing an album's accolades: "Not only did ROLLING STONE name this one of the 500 greatest albums of all time, but Kurt Cobain dug it enough to write it down on a list!" That sorta deal. And I find myself wondering, why **do** I keep doing that? Do I really hold Cobain's opinion in the same high regard that I apparently do ROLLING STONE? Which, even as much importance as I throw on it, I still recognize as just being a list like any other. Well, this is the first time I've thought about Cobain's favorite albums list and it's actually mattered. After all, Cobain did have Nirvana cover three songs from it during their MTV Unplugged special. They even had two of the band members join them. Like, really, consider: out of 50 minutes, Nirvana spent 1/5th of it, ten straight minutes playing the Meat Puppets' music. They must have meant something to him. And even if it weren't for that, I think I'd still always think about the Meat Puppets in relation to Nirvana. I mean, as far as I know, Nirvana's the big (or maybe only) reason why they got picked up by a major label. (Just like the Butthole Surfers — although in their case, Nirvana was absolutely the only reason.) However, this album was released **long** before Nirvana blew up, so let's just rewind the clock and allow me to ask myself the simple question: what even **is** its deal, anyway? To begin with, I wasn't expecting it to be as... Country and bluegrass as it was. Like, the three songs Nirvana covered probably should've clued me in, and it's not like I was expecting Snot, but I really did think that, on average, the tempos here would be a little bit quicker than they are, y'know? That said, though, I did like what I heard quite a bit. You can attribute that to how much I do like country music, so a lot of this clicked pretty snugly with me. Particularly on the instrumentals — which, that's another thing I didn't know there would be, but they're so nice. "I'm A Mindless Idiot" especially, goodness. And hey, most of this album being country and Americana tinged does a big favor to the songs where they **do** get louder and/or faster; they're a nice change of pace. So, hey, I suppose you can call me "pleasantly surprised" with this whole endeavor. I can't be 100% on what Kurt might've seen in it, but whatever he did, hey, I'll probably agree. (And it's actually funny I keep bringing up Kurt and his favorite albums list, 'coz as it turns out, this album isn't actually on there. Yeah, surprisingly. Public Enemy's IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS is, but not the album he devoted time on his band's big MTV special to. Crazy.) But even that aside, this gets a pretty big thumbs up from me and... Aw, heck. I'll give a 5? Why not? Maybe it's just because I wanna keep my streak of 5's up, but I really can't think of anything that'd make me wanna bump it down. Maybe the lead singer's vocals if I wasn't already pretty used to that kind of tone. And I suppose it didn't exactly wow or amaze me like so many other 5's do, but, hey, I'm wanna be generous with an extra point. This music vibes, bangs... And whatever other words the kids these days use to describe music (I'm still 26). It wouldn't make **my** list of favorite albums, but it's one I'd be happy to come back to.

Despite the singers' admittedly Unique singing voice, this is still some pretty decent folk-tinged punk. Solid 4 for me.

I’m at a 4. I can see why Kurt Cobain liked these guys. They’re just kind of honest. That is to say, this album isn’t overly produced to hide any flaws – it actively welcomes them at times. There are moments where the vocals are hanging onto the beat by a thread, and to hear something like that in 1984, when everyone is trying to hit on masterpieces to compete with Thriller or any of the other stiff competition of the era, is rather welcomed. It’s also just a really fun blend of genres with a bit of variety – this album kinda bounces back and forth in time and goes all over the place. There’s some 70s rock tropes in here, the punchiness of 80s drums, a bit of garage/grunge influence that would be more present in the 90s, and even an occasional soundscape reminiscent of late-2000s indie rock. It’s not necessarily ahead of its time or anything, or super innovative, but it sounds pretty damn good. I can’t say this ever got into 5 territory for me – it certainly flirts with it a few times, namely on the tracks that are perhaps more well known as part of the MTV Unplugged performance, but it never keeps a consistently high mark on the other songs. There’s not any bad tracks here, though. It’s a fun album, and it’s a rather quick 30 minutes, even with about a quarter of it taken up by instrumentals. Obviously, this album’s influence on Kurt Cobain may be its legacy in the long run, but it’s rather good in its own right. Pretty solid 4.

I like the music but not the vocals

Don't like his voice. Some instrumental tracks have a nice sound though.

A weak 3, but I think it would grow on me.

The singers voice is too whiny and high pitched, I love punk so I had high hopes for this album.

Enjoyed this album. Kind of like a punky, raw vocal, MJ Lenderman, but back in the 90s.

Really good! First time listening to these guys.

I liked the weirdo-texan punk vibe on this and especially enjoyed the syncopated grooves on the instrumental songs. They have a unique and original sound. Unfortunately the vocals are borderline intolerable to me, so I can't really go any higher than 3.

Wow, this is what keeps me doing 5 albums a week Probably annoying to read, but worth saying. My only exposure to the MPs beforehand were the legendary nirvana covers in their unplugged show. Which I thought would sound better to me, but I actually prefer the Meat Puppets originals I loved this album and was completely hooked from ~start to finish. The music is complex, but not over the top, lyrics weird and deep. Genre spanning song selection. The influence on later bands is super clear - grunge, 90s/00s punk (Climbing had to of inspired some CAKE songs) We’re here sounds like an REM song, New Gods belongs on Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Im A Mindless Idiot sounds like a Led Zeppelin song, What To Do more CAKE 😂, 100% Of Nothing sounds like a Phish jam. And god damn, this came out in 1984 lol… if I played this next to Poison or Guns N Roses, Id shit myself.

Not my cup of tea

This might be a controversial pick - but I just love alt-country stuff - early Wilco like AM and Summerteeth, Son Volt, Drive-by Truckers. Lots of similarities to those guys in the Puppets, though just alot of more punk on top of it. This was one of Cobain's favorite bands - they played a bunch of their songs on MTV Unplugged. Yeah, some of these songs are pretty annoying at first (and second and third listen), but overall I'm super into it. The instrumental tracks are the highlights for me - Aurora Borealis, Mindless Idiot, 100% of Nothing. Pretty close to a 5 for me.

How to ruin some otherwise decent music with some terrible vocals 101. It's no surprise then that the instrumental-heavy second half is better than the first half.

At least they are having fun.

VERY surprised by the diversity in this album. I really enjoyed it and can see how they could be an influence for a lot of other bands.

Enjoyed it!!!

decent album, variation of styles, but the vocals are not great

Okay nothing special imo 4/10

I've never even heard of Meat Puppets before. And I find myself not terribly surprised about that while listening. There are some good musical moments with the guitar, but it has some distortion that doesn't agree with me.

#366. So we're going to listen to the Meat Puppets. It's not the album with Backwater on it, which is the only song by them anyone likes, but it is the one with that Lake of Fire song that Nirvana covered at their MTV Unplugged concert. I always thought that cover sounded bad, but let me tell you what, the original sounded way worse somehow. Geez, wtf? I get the feeling when listening to a lot of Nirvana's music that Kirk O'Bane is trying to sound intentionally bad sometimes, and now I see that he's just trying to sound like his favorite band, the Meat Puppets, who were just accidentally bad. 2/5: shit Song added to playlist: Lake of Fire I've created a playlist on Spotify that consists of the best and/or my favorite song from each of the albums in this book. This list can be found here if you are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MAXDGLWlwLkFLb8veGfkA?si=FqkQQPgZTFWG0jAUJXLFZA&utm_source=copy-link

Great hillbilly punk.

Favourite song - Aurora borealis

This is the first time hearing Meat Puppets, and just realized how impactful they were to the scene. Some of the top songs, and due to it inspiring Nirvana, it would be lake of fire and plateau. Such a great and trippy experience

Might take another listen but began to appreciate it as it went on. Not the smoothest ride, but quite fun.

Never heard of this group. Casual research reveals that they never charted in the UK or toured. I’m sure some hip UK DJ may have championed them at some point but never to my attention. Having listened to them it’s pure Americana rock which I doubt could be made by any non US bands. I expected Nivana type grunge but more like yee haw hillbilly on speed. Some good guitar but heavily spoilt by warbling lead singer. 2/5 26/9/24

3,2

Decent with some random yelling. Had never heard of them.

It has a rockabilly sensibility. Does that make me sound arrogant? Maybe, but I like some of the songs and could see some falling into a party playlist alongside the turnpike troubadours or Red clay strays. If a punk rock band made a country album, this is what it would sound like.

Good as long as they aren't singing

Why interesting?

The song writing was good. The singing wasn’t.

To be a fly on the wall when these guys found out they were the biggest rock musician in the world's favorite performers

I really enjoyed this. And I've never heard the originals that Nirvana covered.

Lots of people reviewing this record didn't listen to it. Yes his vocals are bad and yes some of the tracks are noisy. But this record has heart. Big time.

I did not listen to them ever, but I get why they were one of Kurt Cobain's favourite bands.

Ik kende een paar nummers - uiteraard via Nirvana - maar best wel een wijs album. Ik snap waarom Kurt Cobain fan was. 3.8

I was listening to this and really enjoyed Plateau but it wasn't until Lake of Fire until I realized Nirvana was covering these guys during their Unplugged set. Great complexity and an album I had never heard before. I'm glad I gave it a second listen and found a lot more as I went further in. I feel a strong 4 right now but something tells me if I had the time for another listen it would bump it up, so I'm going for it.

A very interesting fusion of country and punk. A meaty sound. I was never a huge fan of Nirvana, but the covers they did from this. Just never chased it down. I need more time with this. If I was back walking home from school listening to this, I would love just getting lost in this. I had an album by a Canadian band The Sadies back then, similar kind of sound. I'm a Midless Idiot is hitting a sweet spot.

I think this is one of those albums you forget about as soon you finish them. The country elements were pretty cool; I liked the instrumental tracks the most, but nothing really gripped me while I was listening. 3 stars

The instrumentation is quite nice and the vocals are pretty weak, but I vibe with it. Nirvana did these songs better, though.

Yeah, the Meat Puppets have never been my favorite and the 3 songs they allowed Nirvana to cover don't sound as good when they do them, sorry. :-/

This is testing me. Songs are short, nothing grabs on me, the vocals annoy me and it feels all over the place. Maybe it’s just too raw for me to get it. AND this is my second listen of Meat Puppets II, I liked it even less now. Somebody is pulling a cruel prank right now. 2 stars.

This is an interesting album. It starts off punk, then goes in all kinds of directions. There are some great instrumentals, particularly Aurora Borealis. As a whole, it’s really solid. The vocals, frequently out of key, leave a bit to be desired however. A lot of this album is closely tied to Nirvana now, thanks to their coverage of three albums off this list, with part of the band, during their MTV Unplugged show. As a result, I have the Nirvana version embedded in my brain. It’s good to hear the originals; the covers are quite faithful, and I generally prefer originals to covers, but I’d rather hear Cobain singing them.

Basically Dinosaur jr without the cool guitar riffs, surprisingly still pretty enjoyable

it's a solid little psych-alt-cowboy fusion

This was enjoyable enough, but wasn’t particularly interesting. Maybe I’ll come back and give it a little more attention at some point. 3/5 Highlights: Split Myself in Two I’m a Mindless Idiot

Bah, this could have been interesting with the sort of punk, sort of bluegrass vibe, and some of it was. But the awful, awful vocals. Why? And then even the instrumentals seemed kind of lackluster to me. Disappointing.

Instrumentals are ok, rest of the album is not for me 2/5

1. tuuo - 1 2. magic - 1.5 3. lozt - 1 4. plateau - 1 5. aurora - 1 6. here - 1 7. climbing - 0 8. godz - 0 9. me - 1 10. fire - 1 11. idiot - 1.5 12. zong - 0 13. teenager - 1.5 14. here - 1.5 15. godz - 1 16. lozt - 1 17. do - 0 18. nothing - 0 19. aura - 1

I can definitely hear how these guys influenced Nirvana (and the whole Grunge thing). It also makes sense how this guy ended up on Nirvana's MTV unplugged show. Pretty good. Extra props for being influential.

4.0

No les conocía. No están mal, pero hay muchos lps mejores.

One of my favourites from the 84 deep dive. 4.5/5

8.3 ★★★★ Could have been higher if I liked his vocals better, but band wise I freakin loved it.

Really cool in parts, but not my prefered musical style. Lake of Fire is fantastic, the rest merely good

Rules. That is all. 5 stars.

3.5