“NIRVANA MAY have put an entire generation in flannel, and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden both sold a lot more records, but Mudhoney were truly the band that made the ‘90s grunge rock movement possible.”
So said Allmusic.com of the influential Seattle band which plays the Róisín Dubh on Saturday October 2 at 9pm
Mudhoney’s mix of heavy metal, punk, and garage rock, made them the first real success story for Sub Pop Records and laid the ground for the musical style that became known as grunge.
The band was formed in the late 1980s by Mark Am (aka Mark McLaughlin ), Steve Turner, Dan Peters, and Matt Lukin (formerly of the Melvins ), and named themselves after a Russ Meyer film none of them had ever seen.
In 1988, Sub Pop released the band's first single ‘Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More’, followed by the Superfuzz Bigmuff EP., which gained airplay on college radio. An invitation from Sonic Youth to support them on their British tour opened up European audiences to the Seattle band’s sound. The EP did well and critics and audiences were impressed by the band’s eponymous debut album in 1989.
Mudhoney’s growing success saw them sign to a major label Reprise, although their music was too eccentric and uncompromising to reach wider, mainstream, audiences. However their two albums for Reprise - My Brother The Cow and Tomorrow Hit Today - are ranked among their finest.
Mudhoney continued to be a potent live draw but in 1999 Reprise dropped the band and Matt Lukin quit, leading many to assume they had called it a day. However a series of successful shows in 2001 saw the band return to full time live duties.
Since then they have also released the albums Become Translucent (2002 ), the socio-political Under A Billion Suns (2006 ), and The Lucky Ones (2008 ). Pitchfork said of the latter album: “The fact that this hard-working band still means something is impressive - and, based on The Lucky Ones, difficult to deny.”
Tickets are available from the Róisín Dubh and Zhivago.
