History Music / MeatPuppets

* FaceOnTheCover: ''Too High To Die'' has a picture of Curt Kirkwood on the cover, albeit tinted pink and with most of his face deliberately obscured by a lens flare and text. Otherwise they've largely put artwork designed by Curt on their covers, rather than depictions of any members.

* NoTitle: ''In A Car'' officially has no title: Fans started referring to the EP by the name of its first song, in order to avoid confusion with the self-titled album. It caught on enough that it now appears in most discographies of the band under that title, and members of the band themselves have referred to it that way in interviews.

* FaceOnTheCover: ''Too High To Die'' has a picture of Curt Kirkwood on the cover, albeit tinted pink and with most of his face deliberately obscured by a lens flare and the band name and album title. Otherwise they've largely put artwork designed by Curt on their covers, rather than depictions of any members.

* HiddenTrack: ''Too High To Die'' has a [[RearrangeTheSong rearranged]] version of "Lake Of Fire" hidden after silence at the end of the last track. Some copies had a sticker on the cover that ruined the surprise as a selling point, since {{Music/Nirvana}}'s cover of the song was popular around the same time. Digital versions of the album have the "Lake of Fire" remake as its own, listed track.

Describe Meat Puppets here. Okay then, if you insist. [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly This may be a little complicated though...]]

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: The 'Pups mix PunkRock, HardcorePunk, PsychedelicRock, CountryMusic, {{Funk}} and sometimes {{HeavyMetal}} into their sound.

* HiddenTrack: ''Too High To Die'' has a [[RearrangeTheSong rearranged]] version of "Lake Of Fire" hidden after silence at the end of the last track. Some copies had a sticker on the cover that ruined the surprise as a selling point, since {{Music/Nirvana}}'s cover of the song was popular around the same time.

** Derrick Bostrom wrote most of the lyrics for the original songs on ''Meat Puppets''- [[IndecipherableLyrics not that you could tell without looking them up]], but where Curt tended to go for evocative WordSaladLyrics, Derrick tended towards dry wit about what was happening around the band at the time: Many songs on the album are sarcastic {{Rock Star Song}}s of some sort, while "Blue Green God" is SelfDeprecation about the band being a bunch of broke [[TheStoner stoners]].

** During this period, Derrick Bostrom wrote much of the band's lyrics - [[IndecipherableLyrics not that you could tell without looking them up]], but where Curt tended to go for evocative WordSaladLyrics, Derrick tended towards dry wit about what was happening around the band at the time: Many of the original songs on the self-titled album are sarcastic {{Rock Star Song}}s of some sort, while "Blue Green God" is SelfDeprecation about the band being a bunch of broke [[TheStoner stoners]].

* PerishingAltRockVoice: The Kirkwood brothers both have this. "Lake of Fire" is a great example.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: The first album and EP are around 7, the later albums are mostly 3-5 (with parts of the albums from Monsters onwards going up to 6). Occasionally they drop down to only a 2.

* Derrick Bostrom, drums (1980-1996)

* Shandon Sahm, drums (1999-2002, 2009-present)

* Elmo Kirkwood, guitar (2011-present, touring member only)

* HesBack: In 2017, Derrick Bostrom briefly rejoined the Meat Puppets when they were inducted into the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame, making it the first time the original lineup had performed together in over 20 years.

The Meat Puppets are an AlternativeRock and Cowpunk (a [[JustForFun/XMeetsY hybrid]] of PunkRock and CountryMusic, for those who couldn't guess from the name) band from Phoenix, Arizona who formed in TheEighties. First formed as a HardcorePunk band in 1980 by the Kirkwood brothers (Curt and Cris, on guitar and bass, respectively) and drummer Derrick Bostrom (this being regarded as the "classic" lineup), they were noticed by and quickly signed to the famed SST label, founded by Music/BlackFlag guitarist Gregg Ginn (and home to Music/BlackFlag, Music/DinosaurJr, Music/HuskerDu, Music/SaintVitus and numerous other well regarded AlternativeRock bands from the era). Their first EP and album were pretty typical (if somewhat noisier and less structured than usual) [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth hardcore stuff]] and kinda unrepresentative of the sound they'd become known for.

* WordSaladLyrics: They're evocative though, even if they don't always make sense.

In 2006, however, Curt asked fans on the band's MySpace page if they were interested in having the classic lineup reform. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and rumors spread. The band proceeded to do just that, though original drummer Bostrom dropped out and his spot was filled by Ted Marcus. They released ''Rise To Your Knees'' in 2007. They have released three more albums since then, with the most recent being ''Rat Farm'' in 2013. As of 2009, Shandon Sahm is back as the drummer. In 2011, Curt's son Elmo joined the band as a rhythm guitarist on their tours.

* HesBack: In 2017, Derrick Bostrom briefly rejoined the Meat Puppets when they were inducted into Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame, making it the first time the original lineup had performed together in over 20 years.

The Meat Puppets are an AlternativeRock and Cowpunk (a [[XMeetsY hybrid]] of PunkRock and CountryMusic, for those who couldn't guess from the name) band from Phoenix, Arizona who formed in TheEighties. First formed as a HardcorePunk band in 1980 by the Kirkwood brothers (Curt and Cris, on guitar and bass, respectively) and drummer Derrick Bostrom (this being regarded as the "classic" lineup), they were noticed by and quickly signed to the famed SST label, founded by Music/BlackFlag guitarist Gregg Ginn (and home to Music/BlackFlag, Music/DinosaurJr, Music/HuskerDu, Music/SaintVitus and numerous other well regarded AlternativeRock bands from the era). Their first EP and album were pretty typical (if somewhat noisier and less structured than usual) [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth hardcore stuff]] and kinda unrepresentative of the sound they'd become known for.

* PrematureEncapsulation: Five years after ''Golden Lies'', Curt Kirkwood included a song of that name on his solo album ''Snow''.

They achieved their highest level of commercial success in 1994, with the release of ''Too High To Die'', which contained the minor hit "Backwater". The biggest factor in their sudden (relative) success was Creator/KurtCobain choosing to cover "Plateau", "Oh Me" and "Lake of Fire" (all from ''Meat Puppets II'') in Music/{{Nirvana}}'s Music/MTVUnpluggedInNewYork performance. This success didn't last though- The follow-up, ''No Joke!'', didn't sell nearly as well. The band's increased use of hard drugs and the failure of the album resulted in the band breaking up shortly afterwards.

* ShoutOut: the title of ''Too High To Die'' was intended as a play on the {{Ramones}} album ''Too Tough To Die''.

Describe Meat Puppets here. Okay then, if you insist. [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly This may be a little complicated though]]...

The Meat Puppets are an AlternativeRock and Cowpunk (a [[XMeetsY hybrid]] of PunkRock and CountryMusic, for those who couldn't guess from the name) band from Phoenix, Arizona who formed in TheEighties. First formed as a HardcorePunk band in 1980 by the Kirkwood brothers (Curt and Cris, on guitar and bass, respectively) and drummer Derrick Bostrom (this being regarded as the "classic" lineup), they were noticed by and quickly signed to the famed SST label, founded by BlackFlag guitarist Gregg Ginn (and home to BlackFlag, DinosaurJr, Music/HuskerDu, Music/SaintVitus and numerous other well-regarded AlternativeRock bands from the era). Their first EP and album were pretty typical (if somewhat noisier and less structured than usual) [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth hardcore stuff]] and kinda unrepresentative of the sound they'd become known for.

Sick of the loud-fast rules of HardcorePunk, they changed up their sound [[NewSoundAlbum SIGNIFICANTLY]] for their next album, ''Meat Puppets II''. Now heralded as a [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome classic]], the record was well-received and set the tone for all their later albums. Throughout the rest of the decade, they released a string of records on SST that played with (but never completely abandoned) the sound they hit upon on ''II'', while also streamlining their production and either hardening (''Out My Way'', ''Huevos'', ''Monsters'') or softening (''Up On the Sun'', ''Mirage'') their overall sound. In 1989, after releasing ''Monsters'', they briefly broke up, but they re-formed in 1991 and signed to major label subsidiary London Records.

* StylisticSuck: Curt Kirkwood's bizarre vocal style on the first record. A Sputnik reviewer once described it as "...an angry downs old fat redneck dude who is pissed that he pissed his draws". It isn't even too big of an exaggeration.