Melvins have kept it interesting to say the least. Their 25th (!) year brings the brilliant Nude With Boots & is a great opportunity to reflect on one of Seattle’s (Aberdeen actually) truly great musical legacies. One of the forefathers of stoner rock (along with Kyuss) & doomy drone riffery (I know it’s not a genre, whatevs), Melvins’ stamp can be heard all over these days, from Boris & Isis, to Earth & Sunn 0))). Having toured with Tool, Jello Biafra & Lustmord, Melvins’ core creative of King Buzzo Osbourne (guitar, vocals) & Dale Crover (drums, vocals) recently took on two new members; Jared Warren & Coady Willis (the two also moonlight as Big Business). With an extra drumkit in the mix & four sets of lungs for yelling, Melvins returned with a vengeance in 2006 on (A) Senile Animal. Here’s a look at their brief stint on a major in the 90’s, which coincided with the rising popularity of their #1 fan aka Kurt Cobain.

Houdini

Houdini was Melvins’ first album on Atlantic & for a band that doesn’t make concessions, it’s about as “pop” as they get. Pretty much all the songs here, save the closing 10 minute drum jam “Spread Eagle Beagle”, bear conventional structures with a plentiful abundance of riffs & thick, oozy guitar tone. “Honey Bucket” is just blistering, ever-morphing into successive riff after riff & “Joan Of Arc” is doom shriekery genius. The sludgy pace & lagging feel of “Lizzy” & “Night Goat” inspired many to slow it down.

Stoner Witch

I remember seeing the video for “Revolve” on the Pepsi Power 30 & being astounded at the sound of the riff. So chunky & thick, it’s no wonder that Buzz Osbourne’s sound was sold in a catch-all guitar pedal. The tracks on Stoner Witch are a little more protracted than on Houdini, but all the weirdness, from the whistling outro to “Roadbull” to the garbled static intro of “Magic Pig Detective”, keeps things interesting in between the undeniably hooky tracks. Track of note is “Shevil”; a paced, soothing droner, passing for Melvins Quiet, that confused me as a rowdy youngster, but totally enhanced my revisits with this record.

Stag

The sleeper album of this era & the one that no doubt got them booted from the major leagues, Stag, for reasons unknown, has been a bit more difficult to acquire than the other two major label albums from this period. Too bad, cos it’s got the best of both worlds; tonnes of crazy riffage (“Berthas”, “Captain Pungent”, “The Bloat”) plus the ambient randomness & noise (“Sterilzed”, “Lacrimosa”, “Goggles”) that would infect the next hyper-prolific phase of their career (the Mansruin phase). The opening sitar drones of “The Bit” drop into one of Melvins’ most pummeling moments, while “Buck Owens” is so bloody… you get the picture.