Touch Me. . .

[cbertsch]

After washing the kitchen floor today to the sour-sweet strains of Mudhoney's first EP and the singles now collected along with it on the album, played on shuffle mode, I headed towards the CD player to hear the one song I absolutely still had to hear. But it came on before I reached the stereo, so I launched into my solo simulation of life in a mosh pit. At the end of the song, I had a realization. Nothing elevates me more than "Touch Me I'm Sick". There are more subtle songs, more complex songs, more significant songs. For sheer lose-your-composure intensity, though, the first Sup Pop single ever is at the top of my list.

Comments

ah, Mudhoney

[tpratt.livejournal.com]

Back in the day, Mudhoney was the band that lived up to the hype surrounding them. I'll never forget the first time I heard a song by them - "You Got It (Keep It Outta My Face)", on a single Sub Pop sent to my high school radio station. I had read about them and wasn't particularly interested in hearing them. Then I put the record on for a spin. Holy shit, is that record GOOD. If they could have maintained even a degree of the power and joy (after a fashion, I suppose) they displayed in their first few records (as in before their first full-length LP), people wouldn't give a shit about Kurt Cobain today. They're also the band that proved to me that emo-esque lite punky rock songs about girls-n-stuff ultimately suck when they came onstage at the Berkeley Square after the Lemonheads. I could never take Dando et al seriously after that. If only Mudhoney had kept it up, so to speak...ah well, we still have the records to enjoy, don't we?

Re: ah, Mudhoney

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

I've actually grown quite attached to Evan Dando, listening backward. But I was always more of a pop-lover than you (or your brother). That was the show where you were late because you were blinded by the setting sun and had a minor accident as I recall. Somehow you made it into the show before me. I was outside for the Lemonheads, but we finally hooked up for Mudhoney. They were a three-piece that night. No bass, as I recall.

Re: ah, Mudhoney

[tpratt.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing Matt Lukin that night, and I recall Mudhoney being a four piece with bass and all. As you know, though, my memory does me the occasional disservice. The Lemonheads were pared down to three...not to their benefit, in my opinion. There used to be another songwriter in the band besides Sr Dando, Ben Deily I think his name was. He wrote at least as many good songs as Dando, and his absence was more than noticeable for me that night. The record they were touring for, Lick, is fair-to-middling even for a strictly pop record. I still love the first album and especially the out of print EP that's tacked on to the cassette version (maybe the CD of Hate Your Friends, too) best of all. It is glorious stuff. All of this It's a Shame About Ray and Into Your Arms and Mrs. Robinson stuff is lazy at best and sickmaking at worst. Put on Creator, then listen to a two chord aural fart like Into Your Arms and tell me why I shouldn't hate it.
You were right about that accident, too. Stupid setting sun.

Re: ah, Mudhoney

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

Well, I think you should hate that later, softer Lemonheads material because you're hard. I, however, am a sucker for that kind of sound, provided that the singer has a certain kind of voice and the guitars have a certain sheen. Like I said, though, that's consistent with my pop-loving roots. Then again, didn't you go through a fey Soft Cell phase at RLS?

My recollection of the Mudhoney show is that they had only two guitars and drums and that Mark Arm talked about their bassist being in jail, which I assumed at the time was a joke and/or euphemism. I have a pretty distinct memory of their being a three-piece. Wonder if it's false.

so that's how it's gonna be

[tpratt.livejournal.com]

Well, well. In case you didn't know, I'm about as hard as a big vanilla souffle. Creator is a pussyish pop record, no bite or hardness or punky stylings to be found. I like that record a great deal. It's not the production or the stylings or the twaddle that passes for lyrics that Dando offends me with. Covering a song that needs not to be covered offends me. Writing a song with two chords that does nothing with them (the aforementioned Into Your Arms) offends me. Being boring offends me. Evan Dando is pretty much nothing these days, which means not much has changed since you and I (or maybe just I, as you noted) saw him sleepwalk through his band's set lo those many years ago. As for any "fey Soft Cell phase" in high school, ouch. There is a picture in a yearbook that documents me as wearing eyeliner and having dyed black hair. Yes, I did have hair at one time. Soft Cell, however, was not at that time nor ever has been a favorite of mine. Sisters of Mercy? Yes. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry? For sure. Even Cactus World News, Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, and the Bolshoi bent my ear back in those days. I don't even hate any of those bands now, although they don't exactly boil my potato these days. If I didn't know better, I'd think you're trying to call me out for having the temerity to suggest that Evan Dando is a vastly overrated hack. Cheers!
Oh, and I think you're right about the Mudhoney lineup. Maybe that fat oaf Lukin had a broken arm or something.

Re: so that's how it's gonna be

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

He-he-he. . . I'll admit to throwing in the Soft Cell bit purely to provoke you. Nothing like confusing the Brothers Pratt to elicit ire! I did see the yearbook photo, naturally.

I didn't like the Lemonheads' semi-mainstream phase that much in the early 90s. But now I really, really like Come On Feel the Lemonheads. I have to be honest. I know it makes me sound like a dork, but that's the truth of my taste.

Of course, I also have fond feelings for Mudhoney, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Alban Berg, so at least my dorkiness is tempered by other faults.

Re: so that's how it's gonna be

[tpratt.livejournal.com]

You, sir, are indeed among the dorkiest of dorks. And yes, an honest dork to boot. You were aided this time by my ingestion of 2 pints of Peter Vella Blush out of the box that's been on top of my fridge for about 7 months. More baiting tactics like that from you and I'll stop feeling bad for tricking you into taking a swig of that 90/10 warm generic vodka/lemonade concoction I had out in front of that Melvins show at Slim's. Here comes sickness, indeed.

Re: so that's how it's gonna be

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

Goddamn. Please, please keep commenting. It's the ony way for me to maintain what's left of my credibility. If you feel so inclined, you might regale my readers with the tale of that absurd Gwar/Melvins bill at the Omni, where the Melvins went on early and we missed them, making my cough syrup and antihistamine high pointless.