Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

“Good Enough” might be the best grunge song. Or maybe “Pokin’ Around”, which surprised me with immediate joy. Look, I grew up with grunge, but I’m not an uncritical fan of the genre, nor of Mudhoney. Yet this slays. After the list already serving “Superfuzz Bigmuff”, I’m surprised to see this, the second album, less-feted, adjustments and experiments, no leap from the original idea, just better, killer-packed. The grunge is enlivened by flashes of eccentric cleverness, tints of echoey psychedelia, deceptively underpinned by Arm’s yawn-sneer and guitars that carry confused aggression and comic force, a drunk exaggerating their drunkenness, the songs often going unexpected places that eventually make sense. The cleaner guitars swapped in for the distorted during “Something So Clear”’s climaxes are inspired heralds of the old electric axe gods, Pete Townshend and Mick Green, tempo unchanging but the frantic strumming making everything go faster. A pulse-raiser. If Nirvana were Black Sabbath times The Beatles, on this record Mudhoney were Dick Dale to the power of the Stooges. Don’t think they ever matched this.

Good quality grunge, perhaps a bit too much 'Wedding Present guitar strum" (which was the style at the time) but the tunes keep coming. "Pokin' Around" is indeed a woozy highlight!

This is pretty awesome

A fine but forgettable 90s alternative album

An ok album but just ok.

I’ve already forgotten about this one

Hard and i like it

Pretty good but not terribly memorable

Liked it, but that I was going to like it more

3/5

Often heard of Mudhoney being referenced by old grungy pals of mine. I never quite got into Screaming Trees and Green River and the likes so avoided this band. Actually quite surprised that I like it. Right of the bat it starts well and doesn't really lose any steam. Definitely more nuanced than I thought they were. Good fizz, good melodoes. Very Nirvana-esque but suspect that's a two way street in terms of influence and scene etc. Good stuff, not quite a 4 but a strong 3.

Pretty exhausting for early in the morning. I like grunge and alternative rock. But this album didn't win me over at all. It was raw and gritty, but not much else besides that. "Good Enough" was good enough. The rest was pretty mind-numbing. 2/5

Occasionally a good riff or tune here and there, really love the energy but generally too messy for me to truly love.

Quality stuff, nice!

Well, if this doesn't make you want to put on some flannel and shoot some heroin, nothing will... maybe for the best. I knew of Mudhoney as OG Sub-Pop, but never took the time to listen. Worth it.

Just not for me. Didn’t find the music all too interesting and didn’t care for the vocals.

It was a fun album to listen to. This is one of the first albums in the Seattle grunge scene after all and was the vanguard of much good to come. Having said that, the album itself is not particulary good.

Good grunge songs, but nothing too memorable.

Liked more than I expected to. Pretty fun time capsule

Wasn’t bad - enjoyed it but felt like I wouldn’t go back to it anytime soon

Classic Mudhoney… I am not really a huge fan.

Good punky album

About halfway there, fun but nothing really sticks

Chaotic grungey goodness. I know little about this band but I enjoyed the rough and raw feeling to the whole thing.

Just very boring to me

Correct 2/5

First time listen which I'm super surprised by. Incredibly diverse sounding and much more expensive than a lot of their stuff I've heard before. Really good stuff.

Not for me.

I've seen this album name while flicking through the book, though the page it was on didn't include an album cover. Not bad - I do quite like the colours of this artwork. Anyways, there's no guessing what genre this album belongs to when looking at the year of release - this is very obviously an American alt rock album. That, or an American post-hardcore album, which have generally been quite well-represented on the list. I'm deadset on the alt rock prediction, however. Here goes. Grunge/garage punk. Man, I was on the precipice of being right, though I think I can be excused for not thinking that this album cover or name is particularly grungy/punky. This was dreck. Very Pixies-coded with its shitty vocals, wailing, discordant guitars and blown-out mastering. Yeah, not a ceiling fan of this. Not even a desk fan or a hand fan, to tell you the truth. If I am to say something positive about this album, it's that I thought there was a commendable level of variety for a genre I generally find to be sludgy and indistinct. I suppose the speed of this music was also a welcome change of pace from the dull, meandering style of grunge. All in all, however, this album just kind of flew by me without much notice. Book time. Mudhoney were never one of those bands that never achieved mainstream commercial success despite being influential within a popular music genre from the time. "[Fans of Mudhoney] called them pioneers of grunge, and the raw, frenetic, and confident third album Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge supports the fans' argument. [...] Mudhoney sounded like a 1950's garage band on speed." "The album persists in the memory as one long, smug sneer, from the irreverent title to the vocal delivery and lyrics." The entry closes by calling this album "...a classic album, one of the best of the genre." Wikipedia says that this album helped keep the band's indie record label in business, having sold over 50,000 copies. Critic reviews were only middling-to-positive, which seems to challenge the "classic" status of this album. The album only charted in the UK, where it peaked at No. 34. The 90s American picks have exclusively fucking sucked, and this album is sadly no different. That being said, I'm yet to think that the grunge picks are overrepresented, so I'm content with letting this one through. I cosign this inclusion.

3 stars for ‘Good Enough’. Minus two for the rest of the album.

This ended up being a little more than just a boring punk album, but I still don't love the production. Although, I guess it's best the vocals sit in the background of the mix because the vocalist isn't particularly pleasant to listen to. I probably got more pure, visceral enjoyment out of this album than the Bruce Springsteen, but not enough to give it a 3

As I said recently about a 2nd Arcade Fire album, I also don't think we needed a 2nd Mudhoney album here, and I see now no reason to change my "high 2" rating that I gave to the previous Mudhoney album. See that review for additional comments (precursors to Nirvana, etc.).

two albums by this band huh? The fact that the most glowing review by the guy who said MudHoney is their fav band gave this 4 stars and not 5 says enough whiny voice, subpar melodies, bad attitude. . . . yep that's the 90's the one redeeming quality for me is that it's rhythmically energetic and engaging

make more bad art

Once I was a guest star on iCarly and when I met Miranda Cosgrove she told me this was her favorite album.

2.5

2.5

Dope

'They own you to the grave / Nobody's here to stay.' There's heavy heavy & then there's light heavy - Mudhoney's second record is a very, very good instance of the latter. What this means is that Mudhoney has moved away from grunge, which is saying something b/c Superfuzz Bigmuff was already a punkier grunge than would be exhibited by Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, & Pearl Jam. But Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is e'en lighter & e'en faster than their first EP - & it works brilliantly well. 'I lose my bank of memory / How did we e'er get on?' Tracks that take on a slower tempo, like 'Broken Hands,' are ballads rather than slow-burning depressive cases that you'd get from other grungers. +, the harmonica-use is fucking killer.

good but too long

Strong music I get why they were influencial at the time and why a lot of the big grunge and garage bands mention them. Just not the type of music that does much for me, personally.

Great album.

No está mal, tiene una honda de Misfits con algo de rock n roll clasico, es interesante

pop rock, ok pas mal mais aussi redondant avec les albums de rocks deja ecoutes. J'ai du mal a les differencier. La pochette est vraiment chouette.

A un moment il y a 30 secondes d'un type qui ronfle. Et avant ça c'était déjà pas terrible. Le grunge c'est pas terrible.

The usual crap American rock band. Every good boy (and girl) deserves finer music than this. Were they on board the plane on the album cover? I hope so.

ziemlich „grunge“. eher weniger mein ding.

Grunge wie es sein soll

As a 50 year old, it's atrocious that I've never heard this. Now I have, it was pretty good. Will listen again.

Underrated grunge pioneers. .

This started out very promisingly with some fat, dirty, fuzzy riffage which got my head bopping, as well as some interesting angular instrumentation, but by around the album's halfway point I'd just had enough of the vocals and the fairly samey sounding tones throughout. I hung on hoping I'd manage to get back into it, but come the end it felt every bit of its 42 minutes.

Excellent album!

This was grunge before it ossified, a grab bag of punk, Nuggets-style garage psych, Dinosauric college rock, Replacements-style hootenannying, all the rich potential of the moment, served with a smirk and a Big Muff. Simpler times.

Not for me. 1/5

Love this band, not my favourite of theirs..but a solid 3

ok

Unremarkable

Definitely has its moments, when they go more punk or garage. Sadly, I recognise that the stodgy bits are the important and influential ones, and the punky bits are ultimately only really as good as a Descendents or Black Flag album track. And others would do the garage revival better. So I respect it, and some songs I would come back to from time to time, but it lacks the (especially) lyrical and sonic hooks to turn it to a proper classic for me

Slightly better than expected. Prefer to Big Muff Superfuzz

Is dit nu heel erg anders dan het andere Mudhoney album op de lijst? Was er een tweede nodig? Naar mijn mening niet echt, het klinkt eigenlijk gewoon identiek als de eerste. En wederom; grunge is gewoon niet echt mijn ding. Het is slordig, maar dat zal wel de bedoeling zijn, maar daarnaast is de geluidsopname ook gewoon vrij ondermaats. Tsja er zit een (mond)harmonica op Move Out, en dat is dan denk ik ook meteen het meest interessante dat ik tot nu toe ben tegengekomen. Heb Broken Hands opgeslagen; want vette gitaarsolo, maar als je nu een ander nummer aan zou zetten en zeggen dat dat Broken Hands was zou ik je ook best kunnen geloven. Is dit nu echt het beste wat Grunge te bieden had? Na Nirvana dan. Poeh, dan vind ik het niet heel vreemd dat je tegenwoordig niemand meer over grunge hoort. Prima om een keer te horen, maar ik ga dit nooit nog een keer luisteren. FAVO: Broken Hands( die gitaar solo is echt dik)

Decent grunge rock album. Takes a little to get going, but has some solid songs on the B side. A little too sloppy (especially from the drums) at parts, but fine enough to listen to. Top tracks: Broken Hands, Who You Drivin' Now?, Shoot the Moon

Good for what it is

Very fun grunge album. Great guitar riffs. Cool album cover

Bruh, it is freakin garbage. Dull af and brings nothing to the table

This was okay. It had some highs and some lows as well. I don't really like what they were going for near the end of the record. Favourite Track(s): Fuzz Gun '91, Thorn Least Favourite Track(s): Don't Fade IV, Check-Out Time

2 Mudhoney albums in less than a week, not much to add. This would have been the 1 album I guessed at. Though I actually enjoyed the ep more now. 3Star

Great rough guitar tone. Nice energy but the vocals aren't always my thing.

not bad

This is definitely more of a punk record than a grunge record. I would say that this has more in common with later pop punk like Offspring, Green Day, Blink 182 than it does with Nirvana or Soundgarden. I suppose that I could see this branching off towards grunge in one direction and pop punk in the other. It's a decent record, though I don't think there is anything on it that really stands out. I liked a few songs here and there but only saved one or two. I would have loved to have seen Mudhoney live back in the day, I bet they put on a great performance. Overall, I think this is a good record and one that deserves to be on the list. I wouldn't seek it out but definitely wouldn't say no if someone wanted to throw it on. 3.5/5

Unremarkable

I always wanted to love Mudhoney but could never quite get there. I like their vibe and sound, but the songs mostly lack any real hook for me (their song on the Judgment Night soundtrack being an exception). This record is like that for me too. It’s decent, and a welcome shift from the Brit rock bias on this site if only for a day, but I’m still just a very casual Mudhoney fan. 7/10

Rock, grunge sans grande personnalité

Pas trop mal Y avait des passages à la Libertines

J'aime pas du tout tout ce qui est harmonica, country et cowboy

Je me suis dit c’est du grunge ça peut que être cool et c’était pas cool + je suis de mauvaise humeur

Das Album klingt wie eine Garage, die man nie aufräumt – charmant, aber eben auch chaotisch. Die Energie stimmt, die Riffs sind bissig, doch vieles verschwimmt im gleichen, schrammeligen Grundton.

I see why this is included. If I found this in 1993 it probably would have blown my mind. But it's 2026 and, y'know, it's fine. 6 keepers in 14 (43%). 3 stars.

Good

Don’t Fade IV was actively offensive to my ears.

C'est le deuxième Mudhoney qu'on pogne. J'pense que celui-là était meilleur alors je vais lui donner le même nombre d'étoiles pour bien faire du sens. 3.25 étoiles

7/10

Day 392 Enjoyed this. Highlights Broken Hands Who you drivin now?

This is one of those albums where the songs would work great set to video but individually are just very generic and you can't really remember any of them in particular

The Seattle sound that stands out to me as more artful and college radio than most of its contemporaries. Grunge is a geographic indicator more than a sound description. If you go into Mudhoney expecting Nirvana & co., you will likely be annoyed. Instead, it's better to associate the sound closer to a Superchunk, Forms Against Boys, or Dino Jr... then you'll have a good time!

Sounds just like any other Seattle grunge rock band. I liked the risk-taking on some sounds, but overall it doesn't sound polished enough

Favorite Song: Thorn Least Favorite: Who You Drivin' Now?

I have heard a lot about Mudhoney (I'm a Nirvana fan), but I've never listened before. This was what I expected: dirty punk/grunge music. And I did like it a lot because it's similar to what I listen to normally. The guitar tones were a perfect grunge mix and the drums were hard-hitting. The random harmonica on some songs took me out of it, though.

Ok

I can hear some early garage rock influences like the VU in songs like Good Enough and NY no-wave ala Sonic Youth in Let It Slide. Those are great bands to emulate in my book! It's raw garage grunge punk, heavy on the fuzz. They have some cool variety you go from this intricate indie lo-fi songs to just in your face hardcore biker rock on the next song. This album will keep you on your toes. What a f'n fantastic rock record, I will be looking for a copy of this one

this was pretty good I expected more though.

Some grunge!!!! Rock was shifting!! Hair was greasy! This was the vibe you know, I was hoping for something a bit more angsty and indie but this is alright. Nirvana right? That was the time. I don't know if this is mean, but idk if there's anything special about this grunge album, and don't get me wrong I do like grunge.. but this is a little bit like Mystik Spiral from Daria but then like lowkey that was better because they were funny and taking the piss... sorry Mudhoney!

This is ok, I feel like it must’ve been nice to be in a rock band in 1991 where all you had to worry about was whether or not you’d sold out. It’s a fun listen lacks that bit of edge for me, I’m sure it slapped back in the slacker 90s but today it feels a bit surface level

Por la primera canción pensé que iba a ser inescuchable, pero mejoró bastante. Igualmente no lo volvería a escuchar.

meh

Great Seattle album or greatest Seattle album? I say the latter.

Has kind of an Iron Butterfly vibe starting off...probably just the organ. Something So Clear reminds me of the Foo Fighters...everything on this list reminds me of something now since I've listened to what seems like an endless stream of albums. This is an early 90s band. The snoring found sound is not a welcome addition.

When it comes to early 1990s US indie/grunge, it can be a fine line between 'we don't want to be corporate sellouts' and 'we're shambling and self-indulgent on purpose, take that David Geffen!' So, the fact that the Wikipedia entry treats it like a badge of honour that Mudhoney didn't go with a major label for this didn't fill me with confidence. I ended up liking it though - I feel like if they had wanted to sellout, there would have been actual buyers, which isn't always the case.

Punk-inflected grunge, the extension of Unwound into the PNW.

ehhhh it's alright. would't listen again.

Usually when I get a grunge album during this 1001 thing, I find myself expressing how I’ve had to accept that despite what I once thought, I don’t like grunge. This album is a nice opportunity to reminisce about how I once did like grunge. Mudhoney were the grunge sound that worked for me. Loose guitar licks slithering out of what might as well be a busted amp after they’ve been processed to all bejesus by a couple of pedals immortalised in the title of their legendary debut EP. The rhythms, also loose but far from shabby, gave the songs an undeniable funkiness. On top Mark Arm delivers fairly unhinged punky vocals not afraid to commit confidently to melodies a musicologist might question. Finally what they also brought to the party were tunes and fun. This is the crux of what made me fall out with grunge. It totally lost the fun. Listening to this album it isn’t difficult to hear the band are enjoying themselves. I don’t get that from many of the big name grunge bands except sometimes Nirvana (who are exceptional for many reasons). If I had to put my finger on it, I would guess that the grunge I like takes its cues more from garage rock and punk than from metal. I had moved on so much a few years after this album that I lost touch with Mudhoney I think it’s time I reconnected and checked out their later albums.