For most of the 1980s, Curt, Cris and original drummer Derrick Bostrom turned out a remarkable run of independent releases, originally released on the SST label, including such acknowledged underground classics as Meat Puppets, Meat Puppets II, Up on the Sun, Mirage, Huevos and Monsters. On those albums, the band applied punk’s loud, fast energy and a free-spirited sense of experimentalism to an ever-evolving mix of bluesy hard rock, high-lonesome twang and homespun psychedelia. The threesome delivered its eclectic iconoclasm with an increasingly sophisticated level of instrumental interplay, highlighted by Curt’s inventive guitar runs and his and Cris’ rough-hewn vocal harmonies. The trio’s dynamic interaction was further reflected in their adrenaline-charged live shows, which were prone to induce delirious sonic highs.

Meat Puppets exercised a massive influence on more than one generation of like-minded indie combos—including Nirvana, whose fandom ran so deep that they invited them along as opening act on their In Utero tour, and invited the Kirkwoods to share the stage to perform three Meat Puppets numbers on Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged special.

“I never broke the band up,” asserts Kirkwood. “I never said, ‘There’s no more Meat Puppets.’ I drove thousands and thousands of miles doing solo stuff…After four or five years of that, I’d had enough and was ready to play electric. And then some trusted friends in Phoenix said that Cris was rehabilitated, so I called him up and he seemed ready.”

New drummer Ted Marcus arrived in an appropriately organic fashion, entering the band’s orbit while working as soundman on a new Meat Puppets documentary. With new studio album Rise to Your Knees already the subject of a rapturous groundswell among longtime fans, the reborn Meat Puppets’ sense of musical mission is as strong as ever.

ALBUM REVIEW - MEAT PUPPETS II

The Meat Puppets' second album, 1984's appropriately titled Meat Puppets II, has since gone down in the rock history books as an all-time classic, and rightfully so. The Meat Puppets were one of the first punk acts to inject different musical styles into their sound, something that was an absolute no-no at the time -- especially the sparkling sounds of country. The trio resembles a more conventional band than on their white-noise self-titled debut; the songwriting had improved dramatically, and you could even clearly decipher the playing and singing this time around. As many '90s alt-rock fans know, Meat Puppets II reached a whole new generation of fans when Nirvana covered the album's three best tracks on their MTV Unplugged special from 1994 -- "Plateau," "Lake of Fire," and "Oh, Me." But this was an incredibly consistent recording from beginning to end; other highlights included the instrumentals "Magic Toy Missing," "Aurora Borealis," and "I'm a Mindless Idiot," the rockers "Split Myself in Two" and "New Gods," plus such mellower fare as "Lost," "We're Here," "Climbing," and "The Whistling Song." An essential recording that sounds as fresh and inviting as the day it was released.

Review by Greg Prato, All Music Guide