Meat Puppets
Too High to Die

THE REVIEW

The Meat Puppets are one of those bands for whom superlatives never suffice. 

They formed in the early '80s and, along with a handful of outcast bands, wrote music that was completely disconnected from the trends of the time and market logic. They reinterpreted their parents' music in a punk key, corrupted pop harmonies with skewed psychedelia. In retrospect, we can call them godfathers of alternative music, founders of indie rock, pioneers of grunge, heralds of stoner.

Groups often cited as inspirations for Nirvana are Pixies, Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Wipers, and Replacements, but ultimately the ones they owe the most to are undoubtedly the Meat Puppets. For what other reason, at the height of their success, would Cobain's band invite them to perform three of their songs live ("Plateau", "Oh Me" and "Lake Of Fire"), a performance then immortalized in the magnificent "Unplugged In New York"? After a long period with the historic indie SST, the Meat Puppets also signed with a Major (with "Forbidden Places"), but the quality of their work remained unchanged, reaching its peak in "Too High To Die".

For once, I won't follow Uncle Frankie's advice, and in the battle between me and the world, I'll defend my position: "Too High To Die" is the most complete album in the entire Meat Puppets discography, beating out competition from gems such as "II", "Huevos", "Forbidden Places", and "Up On The Sun". When the record came out, the strangeness of their music was no longer perceived as such by millions of teenagers eagerly awaiting the new Pearl Jam CD. They could have comfortably replicated themselves. And yet, there is no smell of self-celebration in this CD, nor any hint of artistic stagnation. They confront grunge (in "Flaming Heart") emerging victorious, make psychedelia even more acidic in "We Don't Exist" (with an astonishing guitar riff). They reinterpret country ("Shine", "Comin' Down"). They update The Byrds in "Never To Be Found", ZZ Top in "Station", themselves in "Lake Of Fire". They make the Violent Femmes presentable, the R.E.M. less whiny. They reach perfection in "Roof in a Hole", "Evil Love", and "Things".

Slow, fast, cheerful, drunk, eclectic: that's the Meat Puppets. As Pirandello would say: "One, no one, one hundred thousand."

SCORE 9