Too High To Die: Meet The Meat Puppets by Greg Prato
(Published by Greg Prato via www.lulu.com)
My introduction to the music of the Meat Puppets came through the SST Records compilation cassette ‘The Blasting Concept Volume I’ – which I obtained by sending in a request form clipped from an issue of Thrasher magazine and a check kindly written by my mom to cover the postage – when I was 15 years old. The year was 1985. I was, without question, predominently a metalhead. But I was musically adventerous, and had recently discovered a whole new world of music that was as heavy, loud, obnoxious, and/or ‘offensive’ (to adults and mainstream kids, at least) as any of the metal in my collection. The two labels that spoke to me most strongly were Boner Records and SST Records, and since I thoroughly wrecked – through a maniacal barrage of replays – the copy of ‘The Blasting Concept Volume I’ referenced above within a matter of months, I ordered a fresh copy as soon as I took possession of another not-always-easy-to-obtain-at-the-time issue of Thrasher, and I took a chance on the just-released second volume as well. More Black Flag! More Husker Du! More Overkill (L.A.)! More Saccharine Trust! More Minutemen! And more Meat Puppets!! The songs on that first compilation – ‘Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds’ and ‘Meat Puppets’ – were unlike anything I’d ever heard before, and to this day are unlike anything I’ve heard since. The second compilation offered up the Puppets’ take on ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’, a song that danced through my record collection in a myriad of forms, from Foghat to Lee Aaron. And that was too much. Just… too much. How did this band come up with… anything they did?! I had to know more. I had to have more. It was official. I was a teenage Meat Puppets fan.
My next step was to hit the record shops in search of something – anything – else from the Meat Puppets. I was living in Germany at the time, and had no problem finding all the underground metal and crossover I desired… but I couldn’t seem to locate a damn thing from SST Records anywhere in the entire country. Thankfully, ‘The Blasting Concept Volume II’ came packaged with a handy one-sheet catalog, folded into an origami rectangle that fit pretty well inside the cassette box. I ordered a bunch of stuff over the next few years, starting with ‘Meat Puppets I’ and ‘Meat Puppets II’ – both of which simply slayed me – and, eventually, ‘The 7 Inch Wonders Of The World’, an incredible compilation that I now own multiple copies of on CD, featuring – you guessed it! – all the tracks from all the early SST singles by Black Flag, Minutemen, Husker Du, Wurm, Overkill (L.A.), and… Meat Puppets. Joy.
As the years have progressed, my love affair with the Meat Puppets has never waned, never wavered, never done anything except get stronger. My answer to the question ‘What’s your favorite Meat Puppets record?’ changes with every conversation I have with a fellow fan of the band. ‘Meat Puppets II’? ‘Under The Sun’? Sure, fine choices. Bona fide classics, and no mistake. But, seriously… ‘Sewn Together’? ‘Forbidden Places’? ‘Too High To Die’? ‘Golden Lies’? Have you heard these records?! And the band’s most recent album, 2011’s ‘Lollipop’… what a record!
So, how about this book, then? Too High To Die: Meet The Meat Puppets is a book about the Meat Puppets written by Greg Prato, who is a longtime contributer to Rolling Stone magazine and the All Music Guide and other publications, and the author of a slew of books about music and other forms of entertainment, including Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History Of Seattle Rock Music, MTV Ruled The World: The Early Years Of Music Video, and Touched By Magic: The Tommy Bolin Story. Aside from a brief introduction, Prato doesn’t actually contribute to this book through traditional narrative means. Instead, he has lovingly and painstakingly crafted an almost-seamless chronological narrative of the history of the Meat Puppets through interviews with key figures in the band’s development. In other words, quotes from those ‘in the know’ tell the story. Initially, I admit that I was a bit put off by this, and I struggled a bit through the first chapter – maybe a bit into the second. Once I ‘got it’, though, I ‘got it’, and I tore through the rest of the book like a man possessed.
The ‘cast of characters’ providing quotes is impressive and deep. Every Puppet – Curt Kirkwood, Cris Kirkwood, Derek Bostrom, Ted Marcus, Troy Meiss, and Shandon Sahm – gets to speak his piece about… well, about pretty much anything he wants! The real meat of the story (pun, I suppose, intended) comes from the Kirkwood brothers, who open up about everything: family dynamics, band dynamics, Cris’ drug addiction and incarceration, songwriting, recording, touring, love, life, loss… everything. Bostrom, who started the band with the Kirkwoods and remained behind the drum kit through the 1996 tour for his final album with the band, 1995’s ‘No Joke!’, offers some useful insight into the early days, but quickly becomes a tiresome subject as his bitterness and inability to let sleeping dogs lie turn his stories into largely pointless diatribes about nothing in particular – which is a shame. Subsequent drummers Marcus and Sahm add color and depth to tales of their respective tenures in the band – Sahm drums on the most recent album, ‘Lollipop’, and remains in the band as far as I know – as does one-time second guitarist Meiss. But it is Curt and Cris Kirkwood who have the most important – and most entertaining – things to say. Could it be any other way?!
In keeping with the theme I established above, I’ll call the quotes from the people on the periphery of the band the ‘bread’ – or the ‘fill-in-the-gaps-for-the-Kirkwoods’ – portion of the book. They are (in alphabetical order by last name): Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam guitarist/producer; ‘Forbidden Places’ producer), Mark Arm (Mudhoney/Green River), Scott Asheton (The Stooges), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr/Sebadoh), Brad Bell (‘Lollipop’ engineer), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Dez Cadena (Black Flag), Joe Carducci (SST Records), Chad Channing (Nirvana), Bill Cody (friend of the band), Joseph Cultice (photographer/friend of the band), Dean DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots/Army Of Anyone), Chuck Dukowski (Black Flag/SST Records), Jack Endino (Skin Yard/producer extraorinaire), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers, et al), Sandy Glaze (former girlfriend of Curt Kirkwood), Glen Graham (Blind Melon), Grant Hart (Husker Du/Nova Mob, et al), Sam Hundley (childhood friend of the Kirkwoods), Linda Kite (fiance of late Minutemen frontman D. Boon and friend of the band), Peter Koepke (founder of London Records), Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers/producer of ‘Too High To Die’ and ‘No Joke!’), Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi, et al), Dave Markey (director of ‘Scum’ and ‘Rotten Shame’ videos, et al), Doug Martsch (Built To Spill), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr), Kyle McDonald (Slightly Stoopid), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver), Greg Norton (Husker Du), Buzz Osborne (Melvins), Dennis Pelowski (band manager), Jeff ‘JD’ Pinkus (Butthole Surfers/Honky), Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Brian Ritchie (Violent Femmes), Kira Roessler (Black Flag), Henry Rollins (Black Flag, et al), Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Christopher Thorn (Blind Melon), Abby Travis (singer/songwriter), Jim Walters (Das Damen), Mike Watt (Minutemen/fIREHOSE/The Stooges, et al), and Ben Wood (friend of the band).
They – the ‘bread’ – collectively provide some fascinating stories – some funny, some disturbingly dark, some simply informative – that add a significant amount of heft to the book. For me, the best ‘bread’ quotes come from Watt, Leary, Anderson, Walters, Pinkus, DeLeo, Mascis, Buck, Hundley, Ranaldo, Osborne, Hart, Roessler, and Rollins (of course – that guy could make an Olive Garden menu seem interesting). I find Thayil’s contributions oddly polarizing – much like I do Bostrom’s. Some of his stories about discovering and loving the Meat Puppets are funny and loving and amazing, but others make it clear that he thought the band broke up and disappeared sometime in the mid-to-late 80s (they didn’t) and that being interviewed for a book about another band is pretty much the same thing as being interviewed by a magazine about his own band (it isn’t). Despite a few – honestly, very, very, very few – duff tales that make for some potholes in the road, Too High To Die: Meet The Meat Puppets is one of the most adventurous and ultimately satisfying literary journeys about rock ‘n’ roll that I’ve ever experienced. I’m really hoping that a film adaptation is in the works…. The Impaler @impalerspeaks
www.lulu.com/spotlight/gregprato
@gregpratowriter
Accessed: 2/28/13
http://theimpalerspeaks.com/post/44213631844/too-high-to-die-meet-the-meat-puppets-by-greg-prato
(Published by Greg Prato via www.lulu.com)
My introduction to the music of the Meat Puppets came through the SST Records compilation cassette ‘The Blasting Concept Volume I’ – which I obtained by sending in a request form clipped from an issue of Thrasher magazine and a check kindly written by my mom to cover the postage – when I was 15 years old. The year was 1985. I was, without question, predominently a metalhead. But I was musically adventerous, and had recently discovered a whole new world of music that was as heavy, loud, obnoxious, and/or ‘offensive’ (to adults and mainstream kids, at least) as any of the metal in my collection. The two labels that spoke to me most strongly were Boner Records and SST Records, and since I thoroughly wrecked – through a maniacal barrage of replays – the copy of ‘The Blasting Concept Volume I’ referenced above within a matter of months, I ordered a fresh copy as soon as I took possession of another not-always-easy-to-obtain-at-the-time issue of Thrasher, and I took a chance on the just-released second volume as well. More Black Flag! More Husker Du! More Overkill (L.A.)! More Saccharine Trust! More Minutemen! And more Meat Puppets!! The songs on that first compilation – ‘Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds’ and ‘Meat Puppets’ – were unlike anything I’d ever heard before, and to this day are unlike anything I’ve heard since. The second compilation offered up the Puppets’ take on ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’, a song that danced through my record collection in a myriad of forms, from Foghat to Lee Aaron. And that was too much. Just… too much. How did this band come up with… anything they did?! I had to know more. I had to have more. It was official. I was a teenage Meat Puppets fan.
My next step was to hit the record shops in search of something – anything – else from the Meat Puppets. I was living in Germany at the time, and had no problem finding all the underground metal and crossover I desired… but I couldn’t seem to locate a damn thing from SST Records anywhere in the entire country. Thankfully, ‘The Blasting Concept Volume II’ came packaged with a handy one-sheet catalog, folded into an origami rectangle that fit pretty well inside the cassette box. I ordered a bunch of stuff over the next few years, starting with ‘Meat Puppets I’ and ‘Meat Puppets II’ – both of which simply slayed me – and, eventually, ‘The 7 Inch Wonders Of The World’, an incredible compilation that I now own multiple copies of on CD, featuring – you guessed it! – all the tracks from all the early SST singles by Black Flag, Minutemen, Husker Du, Wurm, Overkill (L.A.), and… Meat Puppets. Joy.
As the years have progressed, my love affair with the Meat Puppets has never waned, never wavered, never done anything except get stronger. My answer to the question ‘What’s your favorite Meat Puppets record?’ changes with every conversation I have with a fellow fan of the band. ‘Meat Puppets II’? ‘Under The Sun’? Sure, fine choices. Bona fide classics, and no mistake. But, seriously… ‘Sewn Together’? ‘Forbidden Places’? ‘Too High To Die’? ‘Golden Lies’? Have you heard these records?! And the band’s most recent album, 2011’s ‘Lollipop’… what a record!
So, how about this book, then? Too High To Die: Meet The Meat Puppets is a book about the Meat Puppets written by Greg Prato, who is a longtime contributer to Rolling Stone magazine and the All Music Guide and other publications, and the author of a slew of books about music and other forms of entertainment, including Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History Of Seattle Rock Music, MTV Ruled The World: The Early Years Of Music Video, and Touched By Magic: The Tommy Bolin Story. Aside from a brief introduction, Prato doesn’t actually contribute to this book through traditional narrative means. Instead, he has lovingly and painstakingly crafted an almost-seamless chronological narrative of the history of the Meat Puppets through interviews with key figures in the band’s development. In other words, quotes from those ‘in the know’ tell the story. Initially, I admit that I was a bit put off by this, and I struggled a bit through the first chapter – maybe a bit into the second. Once I ‘got it’, though, I ‘got it’, and I tore through the rest of the book like a man possessed.
The ‘cast of characters’ providing quotes is impressive and deep. Every Puppet – Curt Kirkwood, Cris Kirkwood, Derek Bostrom, Ted Marcus, Troy Meiss, and Shandon Sahm – gets to speak his piece about… well, about pretty much anything he wants! The real meat of the story (pun, I suppose, intended) comes from the Kirkwood brothers, who open up about everything: family dynamics, band dynamics, Cris’ drug addiction and incarceration, songwriting, recording, touring, love, life, loss… everything. Bostrom, who started the band with the Kirkwoods and remained behind the drum kit through the 1996 tour for his final album with the band, 1995’s ‘No Joke!’, offers some useful insight into the early days, but quickly becomes a tiresome subject as his bitterness and inability to let sleeping dogs lie turn his stories into largely pointless diatribes about nothing in particular – which is a shame. Subsequent drummers Marcus and Sahm add color and depth to tales of their respective tenures in the band – Sahm drums on the most recent album, ‘Lollipop’, and remains in the band as far as I know – as does one-time second guitarist Meiss. But it is Curt and Cris Kirkwood who have the most important – and most entertaining – things to say. Could it be any other way?!
In keeping with the theme I established above, I’ll call the quotes from the people on the periphery of the band the ‘bread’ – or the ‘fill-in-the-gaps-for-the-Kirkwoods’ – portion of the book. They are (in alphabetical order by last name): Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam guitarist/producer; ‘Forbidden Places’ producer), Mark Arm (Mudhoney/Green River), Scott Asheton (The Stooges), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr/Sebadoh), Brad Bell (‘Lollipop’ engineer), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Dez Cadena (Black Flag), Joe Carducci (SST Records), Chad Channing (Nirvana), Bill Cody (friend of the band), Joseph Cultice (photographer/friend of the band), Dean DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots/Army Of Anyone), Chuck Dukowski (Black Flag/SST Records), Jack Endino (Skin Yard/producer extraorinaire), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers, et al), Sandy Glaze (former girlfriend of Curt Kirkwood), Glen Graham (Blind Melon), Grant Hart (Husker Du/Nova Mob, et al), Sam Hundley (childhood friend of the Kirkwoods), Linda Kite (fiance of late Minutemen frontman D. Boon and friend of the band), Peter Koepke (founder of London Records), Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers/producer of ‘Too High To Die’ and ‘No Joke!’), Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi, et al), Dave Markey (director of ‘Scum’ and ‘Rotten Shame’ videos, et al), Doug Martsch (Built To Spill), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr), Kyle McDonald (Slightly Stoopid), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver), Greg Norton (Husker Du), Buzz Osborne (Melvins), Dennis Pelowski (band manager), Jeff ‘JD’ Pinkus (Butthole Surfers/Honky), Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Brian Ritchie (Violent Femmes), Kira Roessler (Black Flag), Henry Rollins (Black Flag, et al), Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Christopher Thorn (Blind Melon), Abby Travis (singer/songwriter), Jim Walters (Das Damen), Mike Watt (Minutemen/fIREHOSE/The Stooges, et al), and Ben Wood (friend of the band).
They – the ‘bread’ – collectively provide some fascinating stories – some funny, some disturbingly dark, some simply informative – that add a significant amount of heft to the book. For me, the best ‘bread’ quotes come from Watt, Leary, Anderson, Walters, Pinkus, DeLeo, Mascis, Buck, Hundley, Ranaldo, Osborne, Hart, Roessler, and Rollins (of course – that guy could make an Olive Garden menu seem interesting). I find Thayil’s contributions oddly polarizing – much like I do Bostrom’s. Some of his stories about discovering and loving the Meat Puppets are funny and loving and amazing, but others make it clear that he thought the band broke up and disappeared sometime in the mid-to-late 80s (they didn’t) and that being interviewed for a book about another band is pretty much the same thing as being interviewed by a magazine about his own band (it isn’t). Despite a few – honestly, very, very, very few – duff tales that make for some potholes in the road, Too High To Die: Meet The Meat Puppets is one of the most adventurous and ultimately satisfying literary journeys about rock ‘n’ roll that I’ve ever experienced. I’m really hoping that a film adaptation is in the works…. The Impaler @impalerspeaks
www.lulu.com/spotlight/gregprato
@gregpratowriter
Accessed: 2/28/13
http://theimpalerspeaks.com/post/44213631844/too-high-to-die-meet-the-meat-puppets-by-greg-prato