Mudhoney - The Lucky Ones

by Pete Charles

Do you feel lucky, punk?

"We’re glad of this element of Mudhoney: the noise. It’s typically chaotic, but not through habit and certainly not by design. It’s never planned, it just happens. "

It’s nearly two decades since Mudhoney’s ‘Superfuzz Bigmuff’ album was released on Sub Pop, and to celebrate the label’s 20th birthday, it’s being re-issued, along with this newie from Mark Arm and co. With bands like No Age and The Gutter Twins on their books, Sub Pop’s releases should be no less relevant and exciting than they were twenty years ago. Their original flagship band, for whom they paid just $160 to record their first demo, are still serving up their dirty, distorted grunge like it was the freshest thing on the Sub Pop menu.

Arm’s duties on the record are limited to the howlin’ and hollerin’ we know he does well, since the shredding, fuzz-grinding and assorted noise are left in the capable hands of guitarist Steve Turner. His lead parts are still riotous enough to challenge the screeching, scraping headaches songs like ‘In ‘n’ Out Of Grace’ gave you, but tracks such as ‘Next Time’ and ‘The Open Mind’ develop from bass and drums rhythms, with the guitar simply adding volume and texture to produce the roughed-up and raw sound that is so typically Mudhoney.

If Arm’s punishing stage antics of the 80s have now been somewhat watered-down, it comes as some relief that the lyrics are still as ragged, dehumanising and, well, grungy:

“I’m a slug in salt / losing its skin / I turn inside out over you.”

After the initial wave of caustic grunge has abated, the more rounded, summery and (shock! Horror!) ‘pop’ ‘And The Shimmering Light’ is cast into the mould. The madness doesn’t last long though. ‘Tales Of Terror’, a tribute to a Californian skate-punk band of the same name, sounds like a punk piss-take of an AC/DC song, Turner’s buzz-saw metal riffs going into overdrive to produce the heaviest, and best, song on the album. We’re glad of this element of Mudhoney: the noise. It’s typically chaotic, but not through habit and certainly not by design. It’s never planned, it just happens. Never a band to shy away from the excitement of spontaneity, ‘The Lucky Ones’ was recorded in just over 3 days.

In short, Mudhoney have lost none of their reckless unpredictability, but seem eager to attract new punk fans with a keen ear. Opening track ‘I’m Now’ perhaps underlines their willingness to move on, keep jamming and see what comes out:

“The past made no sense / the future looks tense / I’m now!”

Like Soundgarden’s snottier, drunker kid brothers, Mudhoney were the missing link between punk and the sort of heavy rock that was popular in Seattle when the band was in its infancy. Grunge may have died in ’94 in a volley of buckshot and China White, but we can’t think of anything more poetic than for Mudhoney to lead its revival. Hell, they practically invented it.

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