Line #78 Music/Primus


1	[[quoteright:319:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/primus_9082.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:319:[[OurProductSucks Primus sucks!]]]]
3
4	->''"I have a very difficult time describing my music."''
5	-->--Les Claypool, Primus
6
7	[floatboxright:
8	Influences:
9	+ Music/TheResidents, Music/FrankZappa, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Rush}}, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Music/{{Phish}}
10
11	Influenced:
12	+ Music/{{Incubus}}, Music/{{Deftones}}, Music/{{Korn}}, Music/LimpBizkit
13	]
14
15	''Primus'' is a cult favourite band from El Sobrante, California.
16
17	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 (the most notable of a large number in the chair) 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''.
18
19	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 Desaturating Seven'', inspired by the children's book ''The Rainbow Goblins'', written by Italian author Ul de Rico.
20
21	Primus' music is incredibly hard to describe, to the point that it is the only band to have its own [=ID3=] tag in Winamp[[note]]Not that this is saying much, given Winamp's notorious inaccuracy with genre tags[[/note]]. Les Claypool jokingly suggested calling the band "psychedelic polka", and is very adamant that Primus is ''not'' a FunkMetal band, saying that he is the only member of the group who was influenced by {{Funk}}. Primus's main influences include Music/TheResidents, Music/FrankZappa and Music/{{Rush\|Band}}. Additionally, their initial fans came from the [[ThrashMetal Bay Area Thrash]] scene due to opening gigs for Music/{{Testament}} and [[Music/ExodusBand Exodus]], among others, and Larry [=LaLonde=] was previously in seminal Thrash Metal bands Music/{{Possessed}} and Blind Illusion, the latter of which also included Claypool.
22
23	The dominant songwriter and Most Valuable Player is Les Claypool, he of the incredible bass talent and silly voice. For this reason, Primus subvert the general alignment of HeavyMetal and Rock bands, having the bass as the lead instrument and the guitar on the backseat. Larry himself generally complements Les' riffs with distorted noise and going on atonal tangents, but can bash out a heavy metal riff in lockstep if it's required. Alexander and Mantia generally both play incredibly complicated drum patterns that anchor the songs, acting as the [[Music/JimiHendrix Mitch Mitchell]] or [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]] of the band.
24
25	You probably know them as the [[HeAlsoDid band who made the]] WesternAnimation/SouthPark ThemeSong, while lead singer Les Claypool is known for doing the theme (And the "'''IT'S ALIIIIVE'''" scream) from ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''.
26
27	Les Claypool holds the distinction of being the only bassist to ever audition for Music/{{Metallica}} and be turned down because he was too good, according to James Hetfield. [[note]]For the record, Claypool himself [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS6gwp6SeXM thinks]] the "too good" explanation is BS and the real reason was that Hetfield thought Claypool was too weird and said he was "too good" just to be nice.[[/note]] His style also didn't match the band, as he jokingly asked the others after his audition to "jam on some [[Music/TheIsleyBrothers Isley Brothers]] tunes".
28
29	Primus landed in a bizarre, [[UnknownRival one-sided]] feud with Dave Pirner of Music/SoulAsylum in 1995, due to their absurdist single "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver". Les went to great lengths to point out that [[AlmostFamousName the song is not]], emphasis '''''not''''', about Creator/WinonaRyder - the spelling and pronunciation are different, not to mention the fact that the lyrics make no sense. Ryder didn't mind, but her boyfriend Pirner did, and even renamed one of his songs "Les Claypool's a Big Fucking Asshole" in concert. The correct title should have been "Dave Pirner Doesn't Know What the Hell He's Talking About".
30
31	!!Band members:
32	* Les Claypool - bass, vocals (1984-2000, 2003-present)
33	* Larry "Ler" [=LaLonde=] - guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer (1989-2000, 2003-present)
34	* Tim "Herb" Alexander - drums (1989-1996, 2003-2010, 2013-Present)
35	* Bryan "Brain" Mantia - drums (1996-2000)
36	* Jay Lane - drums, backing vocals (1988-1989, 2010-2013)
37	* Todd Huth - guitar (1984-1989)
38	* Vince "Perm" Parker – drums (1984)
39	* Peter Libby – drums (1984–1987)
40	* Robbie Bean – drums (1987–1988)
41	* Tim "Curveball" Wright – drums (1988)
42
43	!!Albums:
44	* 1989 - ''Suck on This'' (live album)
45	* 1990 - ''Music/FrizzleFry''
46	* 1991 - ''Music/SailingTheSeasOfCheese'' (first album released on a major label, breakout success)
47	* 1992 - ''Miscellaneous Debris'' EP (cover album)
48	* 1993 - ''Pork Soda'' (their highest charting album, thanks to the single "My Name is Mud")
49	* 1995 - ''Music/TalesFromThePunchbowl''
50	* 1997 - ''Brown Album''
51	* 1998 - ''Rhinoplasty'' EP (another cover album)
52	* 1999 - ''Antipop''
53	* 2003 - ''Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People'' EP
54	* 2006 - ''They Can't All Be Zingers'' (GreatestHitsAlbum)
55	* 2010 - ''June 2010 Rehearsal'' EP (free EP featuring rehearsed versions of existing tracks)
56	* 2011 - ''Green Naugahyde''
57	* 2014 - ''Primus & The Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble'' (Their tribute to the ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' soundtrack)
58	* 2017 - ''The Desaturating Seven''
59	* 2022 - ''Conspiranoid'' EP
60
61	Not to be confused with the God/Ancestor/Homeworld of the Franchise/{{Transformers}}, who has the same name.
62	----
63	!!Tropes employed by Primus:
64
65	* AlliterativeName: Larry "Ler" [=LaLonde=].
66	* AlternativeMetal: The TropeCodifier
67	* AteHisGun: The fate of the man in "Coattails of a Dead Man."
68	* AuthorAvatar: Les Claypool is a fly fisherman, and Primus has a series of songs called "The Fisherman Chronicles."
69	* BalladOfX: "Ballad of Bodacious" on ''Antipop'', a song about one of the most feared rodeo bulls in the history of the sport.
70	* BatterUp: "My Name Is Mud"
71	-->''We had our words, a common spat; So I kissed him upside the cranium with an aluminum baseball bat..''
72	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Arguably their schtick - they're probably the weirdest, least serious band in the universe... but every member, particularly Les are musicians that are so skilled that they basically redefine their respective instruments.
73	* BookEnds: "Hello Wonkites" and "Farewell Wonkites", the respective opening and closing tracks from ''Primus and the Chocolate Factory" both feature a slurred, ethereal guitar cover of "Pure Imagination"'s melody, with a deep, sharp bass pedal note in the background. The biggest difference, however, comes in the below LastNoteNightmare example.
74	* ButtMonkey: Basically Herb's job in their music videos. "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" sees him triply humilated: he's the only one who can't shoot a bottle off a fence (even at ''point-blank''), he has an utterly garbage hand when they play poker (Les and Ler both have five aces), and at the end Ler shoots his hat off.
75	* TheCameo: Music/TomWaits plays the titular character in "Tommy the Cat", and Claypool's grandfather plays the live-action Tommy in the music video.
76	* CatchPhrase: The sentence "Primus Sucks", a reference to Les Claypool introducing the band saying "We are Primus and we suck" in early concerts, and meaning something along the lines of "Primus rocks" seems to have become this for the fans, even though its use is kind of controversial.
77	* CharlieAndTheChocolateParody: ''Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble'' is an CoverAlbum filled entirely with songs from ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''.
78	* CircusOfFear: The music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOdo7dhvSwg Mr. Krinkle]]" has this going on in the background while Les (in a pig mask and dark green fat tuxedo) is playing an upright double bass in the foreground. However, it's kind of [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] in a sense that the background circus parade isn't really "evil", just ''really weird''.
79	* CompanionCube: "Mary the Ice Cube"
80	* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: Willy Wonka's "Candyman" becomes a threatening LSD trip through... [[EldritchLocation something...]]
81	* CoverVersion:
82	** "Hello Skinny", "Constantinople" and "Sinister Exaggerator" by Music/TheResidents, "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Music/{{Metallica}}, "Behind My Camel" by Music/ThePolice, "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Scissor Man" by Music/{{XTC}}, "Intruder" and "The Family and the Fishing Net" by Music/PeterGabriel, "Tippi-Toes" by The Meters, "Have a Cigar" by Music/PinkFloyd, "Silly Putty" by Stanley Clarke, "Amos Moses" by Jerry Reed.
83	** The band played the intro of "[[Music/{{Metallica}} Master of Puppets]]" live, and the intro from "YYZ" by Music/{{Rush\|Band}} at the beginning of "John the Fisherman" on ''Suck on This'' and "To Defy the Laws of Tradition" on ''Frizzle Fry''.
84	** Their cover of "N.I.B." by Music/BlackSabbath has Music/OzzyOsbourne himself on lead vocals. Perhaps because of this, its their biggest rock radio hit, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart.
85	*** CoverAlbum: "[[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Primus & The Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble]]''.
86	* CurseCutShort: "The Air Is Getting Slippery" has the word "fuck" replaced by "Forgive me if I hesitate", until the very last line. And even then, in the studio version, "fuck" is snuffed out by a SoundEffectBleep of a smashed bottle.
87	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Pork Soda'' - the music is somewhat heavier than on ''Frizzle Fry'' and ''Sailing the Seas of Cheese'', and it also features "Bob", one of the band's few entirely serious songs.
88	* DoubleEntendre: Subverted for "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" - the title explicitly sounds like a double entendre, but when put in context, the lyrics [[WordSaladLyrics make so little sense]] that it might as well not be.
89	* DrillSergeantNasty: "Sgt. Baker".
90	* DrivenToSuicide:
91	** "Bob", where Les sings about his friend who "hung himself in the doorway of the apartment where he lived."
92	** The male protagonist of "Coattails of a Dead Man". Some fans believe that the song was written about Music/KurtCobain and Music/CourtneyLove.
93	* DrugsAreBad: "Lacquer Head"
94	* EnsembleDarkhorse: An in-universe example serves as the title subject of "Lee Van Cleef". One part of Claypool reminiscing about his youth is how he and his friends watched a lot of Western movies. Everyone "really loved watching {{Creator/Clint\|Eastwood}}", but he preferred the less well-known contributions from [[Creator/LeeVanCleef the song's title character]].
95	* 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," "Conspiranoia."
96	* EvilLaugh: The infamously-creepy tunnel scene in ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' is covered in an even more nightmarish fashion by Primus in the form of "Semi-Wondrous Boat Ride", with an EvilLaugh replacing Wonka's maniacal scream after the poem.
97	* FakeOutOpening: "To Defy The Laws Of Tradition" functions as this for both ''Frizzle Fry'' and the ''They Can't All Be Zingers'' compilation. It starts with the same cymbal riff of [[Music/RushBand "YYZ"]] that opens Primus' debut album, ''Suck On This'', before suddenly LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand and beginning the real track.
98	* FirstPersonSmartass[=/=]PrivateEyeMonologue: parodied in "Tommy the Cat", where it's performed by Music/TomWaits.
99	* FunkMetal: Often categorized as this, but disputed by Les Claypool, who said that he was the only member of the band influenced by {{Funk}} and that he didn't think Primus was particularly funky.
100	* GenreBusting: They're the only band with their own [=ID3=] tag in Winamp. Les Claypool jokingly referred to their sound as "[=Psychedelic Polka=]". This is what you get when you take a bassist who was into JazzFusion, ProgressiveRock, and Funk who also loved Music/TheResidents, a guitarist who played in Thrash Metal bands but was also obsessed with Music/FrankZappa, and a Jazz drummer (Jay Lane) who was later replaced by another jazz drummer who was also heavily into African folk (Tim Alexander).
101	** Referenced in "Mr. Krinkle":
102	-->"Hey ho Mr. Krinkle have you heard the brand new sound\
103	It's a cross between Jimi Hendrix, Bocephus, Cher and James Brown\
104	It's called "Heavy Hometown" New Wave, cold-filtered, low-calorie dry"
105	* HiddenDepths: In the sea of supposedly wacky, off-kilter novelty songs you'll find topics like war ("Too Many Puppies", "Sgt. Baker"), suicide ("Bob"), student abuse / mental illness ("Mrs. Blaileen"), the environment ("Southbound Pachyderm"), murder ("My Name Is Mud"), substance abuse ("Laquer Head", "Jilly's on Smack"), and immigrants trying to make it in America only to end up destitute ("American Life").
106	** "Ding Dang" by spin-off band ''Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade'' is about hateful slurs and how they negatively affect people.
107	* HiddenTrack: ''Antipop'' is their only album to have one - A new studio version of "The Heckler", which previously could only be heard live on ''Suck On This'', was hidden after "Coattails Of A Dead Man".
108	* IconicItem:
109	** Les wears goggles or sunglasses a lot. And hats. Lots and lots of hats.
110	** Once he started his solo career, he developed a thing for masks.
111	** Being Les, obviously all of his basses are incredibly odd, and iconic, the most famous ones being his Carl Thompson four-string, his favorite bass, as well as the mind-bogglingly bizarre "Rainbow Bass" - a six string, fretless (!) bass made from a ''rainbow'' of exotic wood types, his bizarre one-string "whamola", and more recently, his Pachyderm basses, which look kind of like a Dr. Seuss nightmare.
112	* IndecipherableLyrics: "Pork Soda" (the title track of said album) consists of this is ranting form. The CD's liner notes omit the lyrics to this song, and barring the ACappella chorus they are completely unintelligible - if one looks them up on any lyrics site, only the first few lines of each verse is written down, and even then they make no sense.
113	* InNameOnly: Despite appearing on ''Frizzle Fry'', "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" is a keyboard instrumental not written or performed by Primus - it's an edited version of a song of the same name by The Spent Poets. Spent Poets member Adam Gates did the artwork for the album and is credited for the song.
114	* 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 ''Track'' Nightmare, as it's the last thing you hear on the album.
115	** "Hail Santa", the unsettling instrumental epilogue that closes ''Pork Soda'' after a reprise of the opening track.
116	* LastOfHisKind: "Last Salmon Man" on ''Green Naugahyde'' tells the sad story of Jimmy [=MacDonagal=], a third generation fisherman who still continues to trawl Bodega Bay commercially for salmon long after the other fleets have left, due to [[LastRequest a deathbed promise he made to his dad.]] It also doesn't help that after [[FromBadToWorse "Three closed seasons and a banknote on his shoulder/Now Jimmy's hidin' from the law."]]
117	* LeadBassist: Les Claypool arguably hits all four types: A) He is ''very'' good, B) he is the lead singer, C) He's been in Primus since Day One and is the most well-known member, and D) The bass, not the guitar, is central to the sound of Primus.
118	* LetsMeetTheMeat: One possible interpretation of "Shake Hands With Beef", the other being masturbation. Les says it was the catchphrase of a vegetarian friend of theirs who'd occasionally eat meat.
119	* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: Happens at the start of ''Frizzle Fry'' with "To Defy The Laws Of Tradition", which opens with the same cymbal opening of the [[Music/RushBand "YYZ"]] quotation that opens ''Suck On This'', before suddenly dropping out and starting the real track.
120	* LongRunnerLineUp: As you can see up there, it is sort of a RevolvingDoorBand [[IAmTheBand where only Les never left]], but the Les-Ler-Herb line-up always lasts at least 7 years in each stint together.
121	* LoudnessWar: ''Brown Album'' was one of the first albums to prominently feature clipping drums.
122	* LowerClassLout: As per Les, both the protagonist of "My Name Is Mud" and his victim are meth-addled trashy losers who were hanging out and got into a fight that ended with the protagonist killing his friend in a drugged-out rage.
123	* LyricalColdOpen: "Mr. Knowitall", "Mrs. Blaileen"
124	* MediumBlending:
125	** There's a fondness to blend live action with stop-motion animation in Primus videos, such as "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" and "Southbound Pachyderm".
126	** Or more traditional animation in "John The Fisherman" and "Tommy the Cat".
127	* MoodWhiplash: Their cover of [[{{Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory}} "Golden Ticket"]] starts off slow and sombre, before suddenly kicking into a "Welcome To This World"-esque triple-time shuffle.
128	** Similarly, much like the scene in the film it is based on, the ending of "Semi-Wondrous Boat Ride".
129	* MotorMouth: Les on "Is It Luck?", and Music/TomWaits on "Tommy the Cat", and he still has no idea how he managed to sing that fast.
130	* MundaneMadeAwesome: From "Nature Boy":
131	-->"I pull the blinds, fill out my income tax form, pen in hand, I write so legiblyyyyy..."
132	* MurderBallad: "My Name Is Mud".
133	-->"The breath on that fat bastard could bring any man to tears\
134	We had our words, a common spat\
135	So I kissed him upside the cranium with an aluminum baseball bat"
136	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" is NOT about Creator/WinonaRyder, as Winona's then-boyfriend Dave Pirner mistakenly believed. It led Dave to announce at a Music/SoulAsylum concert, "This next song's called 'Les Claypool's A Big Fucking Asshole'."
137	* NoodleImplements: In "Here Come The Bastards", we're never sure as to why Les Claypool is so fearful of their arrival. His only basis is some second-hand rumours that may or may not involve, "something about a hammerhead shark, nosehairs and flatus".
138	* OurProductSucks: Their tagline.
139	* PlaceWorseThanDeath: "I've been to hell... I spell it D-M-V", from "DMV".
140	* ProgressiveRock: Primus's music is often categorized as this, but a more accurate description would probably be the subgenre Post-Progressive, as aside from their main influences of Progressive Rock artists like Zappa, Rush and King Crimson, Primus has also shown in their [[CoverVersion Cover Songs]] a love of Jazz Fusion,[[note]]Stanley Clarke's "Silly Putty"[[/note]] NewWaveMusic and PostPunk[[note]]The Police's "Behind My Camel" and XTC's "Scissor Man"[[/note]] and Progressive Country,[[note]]Music/TheCharlieDanielsBand's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"[[/note]] demonstrating a wide range of Art Rock influences on their sound.
141	* ProtestSong: "Too Many Puppies" is a humorous attack on the military. A verse mentioning "too many puppies in foreign lands" and another about "maintaining our oil fields" making it seem like it's against the UsefulNotes/GulfWar, but the album appeared in February 1990 and the war only started in August.
142	* RecordProducer: '''DIY''' produced the majority of their records; co-produced ''Frizzle Fry'' with Matt "Exxon" Winegar and ''Antipop'' variously with [[Music/RageAgainstTheMachine Tom Morello]], [[Music/ThePolice Stewart Copeland]], Music/TomWaits, [[Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone Matt Stone]], and [[Music/LimpBizkit Fred Durst]]. ''Suck on This'' was produced by Matt Winegar and Bob Cock.
143	* RhymingWithItself: {{Lampshade\|Hanging}} in "Mr. Knowitall":
144	-->"They call me Mr. Knowitall/I am so eloquent/"Perfection" is my middle name/And... whatever rhymes with eloquent"
145	* RockTrio: Every lineup of the band consists of only three members, though they've also done shows with [[https://youtu.be/dV8CAUI3r8w DJ Disk]] and Music/{{Buckethead}}.
146	* RuleOfFunny: They live on this, sliding all the way along the SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness.
147	* SadistTeacher: "Mrs. Blaileen".
148	* {{Sampling}}:
149	** Clips of ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' variously saying "Bastard!" in "Los Bastardos"
150	** The ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2'' sample of Chop Top saying "Dog will hunt!" in "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver".
151	** "Where you goin', city boy?!" from ''Film/{{Deliverance}}'' is used in "My Name Is Mud".
152	* SelfDeprecation: Their motto/slogan is "Primus sucks." When fans first began to recognize the band on the street, Les' stock response to "you guys rule!" was "no, we really suck", and it mutated on from there. Occasionally fans who aren't in on the joke get offended when someone else says this.
153	* {{Sellout}} : "HOINFODAMAN" from ''Green Naugahyde''.
154	* ShoutOut:
155	** The beginning of "To Defy the Laws of Tradition" includes a bit from their previous live album ''Suck on This'', with Alexander playing the intro of Music/{{Rush\|Band}}'s "YYZ" to great audience approval.
156	** The music video for "Tommy the Cat" looks like ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. One of the song's melodies sounds like the theme to ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat''.
157	** "Mr. Krinkle" is asked "Have you heard the brand new sound? It's equal parts Music/JimiHendrix, [[Music/HankWilliamsJr Bocephus]], Music/{{Cher}} and Music/JamesBrown."
158	** "Creator/LeeVanCleef" is a tribute to the [[Creator/LeeVanCleef western actor of the same name]].
159	** ''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\|Band}} album ''Music/ATrickOfTheTail''.
160	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Ler sings lead on "I Want It Now" from "Primus and the Chocolate Factory."
161	* TheStoner: Les Claypool ain't subtle about where a lot of his... inspiration comes from.
162	* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: "The Air is Getting Slippery" does this with setting up a PrecisionFStrike, before instantly subverting it into the pre-chorus, "Forgive me if I hesitate". [[spoiler:At least until the ending.]]
163	* SurrealMusicVideo: which ones aren't?
164	** Okay, there's ''one'' exception: "DMV", which is mostly a PerformanceVideo interspersed with behind-the-scenes moments and a little stock footage having to do with the lyrics.
165	* TakeThat:
166	** "Coattails of a Dead Man" has never been really explained by the band, but it's frequently interpreted as being anti-Music/CourtneyLove.
167	** "Year Of The Parrot" is allegedly a veiled swipe at Music/ToriAmos and [[Music/CountingCrows Adam Duritz]], as the lyrics mention 1994 and unnamed artists ripping off Music/KateBush and Music/VanMorrison (which the previous two respectively sounded like).
168	** ''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 ''Nevermind''). Les Claypool was worried about the band making an impression amongst such "cheesy" music, and the title of the album was born.
169	* [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs They Call Me Mister Know-It-All]]
170	* ThrashMetal: Have always had elements of this in their heavier songs, particularly on ''Frizzle Fry''. This could probably be owed to Larry [=LaLonde=]'s time in Possessed and the time that he and Claypool both spent in Blind Illusion.
171	* TownWithADarkSecret: "Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers".
172	* UncommonTime: "Eleven" is, appropriately enough, primarily played in 11/8. [[note]] Or 11/4, but there's no real difference other than how you count it. [[/note]]
173	** As is "Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread", though accented differently.
174	** "Here Come The Bastards" is in 5/4.
175	* WarIsHell: "Too Many Puppies", which talks primarily about NewMeat sent to the Middle East to fight a WarForFunAndProfit.
176	* WordSaladLyrics: Many songs. For example, have you tried making heads or tails of "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver"?

Context Music / Primus