Music / Frizzle Fry

To defy the laws of tradition... is a crusade only of the brave.

Frizzle Fry is the debut studio album of the band Primus, released in 1990. After the underground success of the Live Album Suck on This, Les and Co. began recording on December 1989, with songs from Suck on This, now in a studio version.

Frizzle Fry became a hit, with signature songs like "To Defy The Laws of Tradition", "Too Many Puppies" and of course, "John The Fisherman". Even Les himself said that this was his favorite Primus album.

Tracklist:

1. "To Defy the Laws of Tradition" (6:42)
2. "Groundhog's Day" (4:58)
3. "Too Many Puppies" (3:57)
4. "Mr. Knowitall" (3:51)
5. "Frizzle Fry" (6:04)
6. "John the Fisherman" (3:37)
7. "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" (performed by Matt Winegar) (0:25)
8. "The Toys Go Winding Down" (4:35)
9. "Pudding Time" (4:08)
10. "Sathington Willoughby" (Title misspelled as “Sathington Willoby” on back cover) (0:24)
11. "Spegetti Western" (5:43)
12. "Harold of the Rocks" (6:17)
13. "To Defy" (0:36)

Personnel:

• Les Claypool – vocals, bass, electric upright bass, Double Bass
• Larry LaLonde – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Tim "Herb" Alexander – drums, percussion

They call me Mr. Tropeitall:

• Bookend: The album ends with a Reprise of "To Defy The Laws of Tradition".
• Broken Record: "Sathington Willoughby" has "this and that" repeating on the end. It even appears on "Spaghetti Western" for a brief second.
• Concept Video: "Too Many Puppies" and "John The Fisherman":
  • "John The Fisherman" has the band fishing, with clips of the band performing in the boat.
  • "Too Many Puppies"
• Continuity Nod: Sathington Willoughby appears in The Brown Album in "The Return Of Sathington Willoughby"
  • "John The Fisherman" would be a start in a weird quadrology called The Fisherman Chronicles.
• Epic Rocking: "To Defy The Laws of Tradition" and "Harold Of The Rocks", which are both 6 minutes in length.
• Miniscule Rocking: "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" and "Sathington Willoughby", both of which aren't even a minute long.
• One-Man Song: "Mr. Knowitall", "John The Fisherman" and "Sathington Willoughby".
• Protest Song: "Too Many Puppies".
• Sampling: "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" is actually an excerpt of the track of the same name by The Spent Poets.
• Spoken Word in Music: "Spaghetti Western" has this excluding the chorus.
• Word Salad Lyrics: On the title track, where Les dosen't believe in things except for Cap'n Crunch, and thinks himself as "The Frizzle Fry".