Melvins : A History of Bad Men

I love the Melvins. They are one of my favorite bands, and, unlike many of my other favorite bands, they've managed to both stay together and release good quality material consistently for over twenty years.


While their older stuff is classic, the stuff from their newest phase, starting with 2002's Hostile Ambient Takeover on Ipecac, is just as awesome. Somewhere along the way, (2006, if Wikipedia is to be believed) they lost yet another bass player, but this time they drafted an entire band to replace him, pulling in the power sludge duo Big Business. This gave them the bass player they needed, but also gave them an extra drummer, for super-heaviness.

Having two drummers is awesome. If you've never seen a band with two drummers (I saw the Boredoms with two drummers once), you're missing out. There's this naturally occurring choreography between them that occurs automatically (since they're playing the same rhythms) that is just amazing to watch. Plus, the Melvins' second drummer is left-handed, so Dale and he can pull off a mirror image thing as well. They've even melded part of their kits. So sweet!

There are several great songs off this album, but I chose "A History of Bad Men" for a couple of reasons. First, they do speed-punk quite nicely, but I wanted something that showcased the slow churning heaviness that the Melvins are known for. Second, you can really hear the two drummers on the track. Third, you can really hear the Big Business influence, which is funny in a way, considering you can really hear the Melvins influence in Big Business. But the vocals, while clearly following the Melvins grunge lineage, draw from BB's soaring, metal-based style.

As usual, I can't make heads or tails of what Buzzo is singing. In an interview with him once, I asked him whether the lyrics they printed for "Hooch" in the Houdini booklet were a joke, and he said, no, they were the actual lyrics. He doesn't really write lyrics, per se, he just writes sounds. I think this has changed a little, as you can actually hear him say "I got a head start running away" and "Not dead, just sleeping" in the song. But it's still anyone's guess as to what he's talking about.

You can hear "A History of Bad Men" on the Melvins' 2006 release, their first with the Big Business boys, A Senile Animal. The album is excellent (as is their most recent, Nude with Boots) and straddles the full range of the band, completely delivering exactly what you expect from them, yet somehow continuing to progress their sound. Excellent.

[You can listen to the Melvins' "A History of Bad Men" by navigating to the post "Song058" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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