History Music / Primus

* LastNoteNightmare: "Farewell Wonkites" off ''Primus and the Chocolate Factory'' is primarily stuff one has already heard before from the album's opening track, "Hello Wonkites". However, the final minute of the track is nothing but Les Claypool shakily singing "Pure Imagination" as if having an emotional breakdown, while Larry imitates a passing emergency siren on his guitar. Also counts as a Last ''[[UpToEleven Track]]'' Nightmare, as it's the last thing you hear on the album.

->I have a very difficult time describing my music.

** ''Sailing The Seas Of Cheese'' ends with a ''Series/TheYoungOnes''-quote-laden reprise of "Here Come The Bastards" called "Los Bastardos", as a reference to a similar reprisal track from the Music/{{Genesis}} album ''Music/ATrickOfTheTail''.

** CreatorBacklash[=/=]OldShame: Claypool is, however, sick and tired of hearing it.

* WidgetSeries: WAT Band: they have such a strange mix of bass-led FunkRock, ThrashMetal, ProgressiveRock and PsychedelicRock that they're the only band on Winamp with their own [=ID3=] tag.

** "Ding Dong" by spin-off band ''Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade'' is about hateful slurs and how they negatively affect people.

* FunkMetal: One of the genre's key bands. It's both an accurate and somehow [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly completely inadequate]] description of their sound...
* GenreBusting: Just what in the ''fuck'' are they?

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: They're the only band with their own ID3 tag in Winamp. The band themselves famously refer to their sound as "[=psychedelic polka=]". This is what you get when you take a bassist who was into jazz fusion, progressive rock, and funk who also loved Music/TheResidents, a guitarist who played in thrash metal bands but was also obsessed with Frank Zappa, and a jazz-funk drummer (Jay Lane) who was later replaced by another jazz drummer who was also heavily into African folk (Tim Alexander).
** Referenced in "Mr. Krinkle":
-->"Hey ho Mr. Krinkle have you heard the brand new sound\\
It's a cross between Jimi Hendrix, Bocephus, Cher and James Brown\\
It's called "Heavy Hometown" New Wave, cold-filtered, low-calorie dry"

* Expected 2022 - ''Conspiranoid'' EP

Band members:

Albums:

* EpicRocking: "To Defy the Laws of Tradition", "Frizzle Fry", "Harold of the Rocks", "Fish On (Fisherman Chronicles, Chapter II)", "Hamburger Train", "Professor Nutbutter's House of Treats", "Southbound Pachyderm", "Over the Electric Grapevine", "Eclectic Electric".

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: 5-6 with a few going up to 7, which is unusual considering the band is so bass driven.

[[caption-width-right:319:[[Music/{{Eminem}} Hi, kids! Do you like Primus?]]]]

->''[[OurProductSucks Primus sucks.]]''

''Primus'' is a cult favourite AlternativeRock[=/=]FunkMetal band from El Sobrante, California.

The band went on hiatus in 2000, but then reunited in 2003 with the classic Claypool/[=LaLonde=]/Alexander lineup, recording a few new songs for the EP ''Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People''. However, in 2010, Alexander left the band once again and was replaced by Jay Lane, his return to the fold seeing the release of 2011's ''Green Naugahyde''. [[note]] They did also release a digital EP the year before called ''June 2010 Rehearsal'' which as the name suggests was just them rehearsing existing songs with Lane. [[/note]] Alexander came back in 2013 though for an all new album, ''Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble'' a re-imaging of the soundtrack of the film ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''. This line-up continues with 2017's album ''The Deaturating Seven'', inspired by the children's book ''The Rainbow Goblins'', written by Italian author Ul de Rico.

* CharlieAndTheChocolateParody: ''Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble'' is an CoverAlbum filled entirely with songs from ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Les Claypool has a nice ring to it. Larry Lalonde gets bonus points as AllierativeName.

* AllierativeName: Larry "Ler" [=LaLonde=].

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Larry "Ler" [=LaLonde=].

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Les Claypool has a nice ring to it. Larry Lalonde gets bonus points for {{A|ddedAlliterativeAppeal}}lliteration.

** ''Sailing The Seas Of Cheese'' ends with a ''Series/TheYoungOnes''-quote-laden reprise of "Here Come The Bastards" called "Los Bastardos", as a reference to a similar reprisal track from ''[[{{Music/Genesis}} A Trick Of The Tail]]''.

** ''Sailing the Seas of Cheese'' was Primus' first major label album, released at a time when hair metal was still dominant on the charts (the album came out six months before [[Music/Nirvana Nevermind]]). Les Claypool was worried about the band making an impression amongst such "cheesy" music, and the title of the album was born.

* 1990 - ''Frizzle Fry''

* NiceShoes: The protagonist in "My Name Is Mud" is excessively proud of his patent leather shows. The altercation that lead to him committing murder was initiated by someone stepping on them.

* 1995 - ''Tales from the Punchbowl''

* Jay Lane - drums, backing vocals (1984-1989, 2010-2013)

Primus were formed in 1984 by bassist and vocalist Les Claypool, who has always remained the driving force behind the band. The first incarnation of the band included Todd Huth on guitar and Jay Lane on drums, and recorded absolutely bugger all. [[note]] this line-up would eventually record one album, billed as the band Sausage, in 1994. [[/note]] The second incarnation was more successful, containing guitarist Larry "Ler" [=LaLonde=] and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander. Alexander left in 1996, dissatisfied with the direction the band was taking, and was replaced with Bryan "Brain" Mantia, who played on ''The Brown Album'' and ''Antipop''.

The band went on hiatus in 2000, but then reunited in 2003 with the classic Claypool/[=LaLonde=]/Alexander lineup, recording a few new songs for the EP ''Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People''. However, in 2010, Alexander left the band once again and was replaced by Jay Lane. Alexander came back in 2013 though for an all new album, ''Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble'' a re-imaging of the soundtrack of the film ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''. This line-up continues with 2017's album ''The Deaturating Seven'', inspired by the children's book ''The Rainbow Goblins'', written by Italian author Ul de Rico.

* UncommonTime: "Eleven" is, appropriately enough, primarily played in 11/8.
** "Here Come The Bastards" is in 5/4