Prick (Melvins album)

Last updated

Prick
Prick.png
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 5, 1994
RecordedApril 1994
Genre Experimental rock
Length43:31
Label Amphetamine Reptile
Producer Melvins
Melvins chronology
Houdini
(1993)
Prick
(1994)
Stoner Witch
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Prick is the sixth studio album by the Melvins which was released in 1994 through Amphetamine Reptile Records under the name ƧИIV⅃ƎM. It has been said that because the Melvins already had a contract with Atlantic Records, Prick was released with the band name in mirror writing, which resulted in some sites such as RateYourMusic [2] crediting it to Snivlem.

Melvins band from the United States

Melvins are an American rock band whose early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. The band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. They have mostly performed as a trio, as well as a quartet with either two drummers/bassists in recent years. Since 1984, vocalist and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been constant members. The band was named after a supervisor at a Thriftway in Montesano, Washington, where Osborne also worked as a clerk. "Melvin" was disliked by other employees, and the band's members felt it to be an appropriately ridiculous name.

Amphetamine Reptile Records American record label

Amphetamine Reptile Records is a record label which was founded in 1986 by US Marine Tom Hazelmyer in Washington state. The label specializes in noise rock and also released Strap It On, the debut album by alternative metal band Helmet which sold more than 40,000 records. According to Hazelmyer, the success of the album was vital to keeping AmRep going throughout the 1990s, as it "helped support the other things that sold less." The label was the subject of the 2014 documentary The Color of Noise.

Atlantic Records American record label

Atlantic Recording Corporation is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important American labels, specializing in jazz, R&B, and soul by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. Its position was greatly improved by its distribution deal with Stax. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group, and expanded into rock and pop music with releases by Led Zeppelin and Yes.

Contents

Background

The album displays a distinctly experimental quality, with an eclectic selection including field recordings, electronic effects and loops, band jam sessions, a stereotypical drum solo that segues into an archetypal heavy metal guitar solo, and a track that's introduced as "pure digital silence" -- followed by silence for a minute. Singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne has stated that Prick is "a total noise crap record we did strictly for the weirdness factor. Complete and utter nonsense, a total joke." [3]

Experimental music is a general label for any music that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilites radically opposed to, and questioning of, institutionalized compositional, performing, and aesthetic conventions in music. Elements of experimental music include indeterminate music, in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. Artists may also approach a hybrid of disparate styles or incorporate unorthodox and unique elements.

A drum solo is an instrumental solo played on a drum kit. A drum solo may be set or improvised, and of any length, up to being the main performance. In rock, drum solos are unique in that traditionally they are minimally or never accompanied, whereas other instruments may play solos accompanied or unaccompanied. They are also typically free-form in that they do not necessarily adhere to the tempo, style or structure of the song they accompany.

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock, and acid rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. The genre's lyrics and performance styles are sometimes associated with aggression and machismo.

The band claimed that they wanted to call the album Kurt Kobain but changed it after Cobain's death to eliminate the possibility of people mistaking it for a tribute record. They implied that Cobain, a friend and collaborator since their teenage years in rural Washington, was actually the titular "prick", because he died and therefore forced them to change the album's name. [4]

Kurt Cobain American singer, composer and musician

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the rock band Nirvana. Cobain is remembered as one of the most iconic and influential rock musicians in the history of alternative music.

Track listing

All songs written by The Melvins.

No.TitleLength
1."How About"4:15
2."Rickets"1:20
3."Pick It n' Flick It"1:39
4."Montreal"4:09
5."Chief Ten Beers"6:28
6."Underground"2:19
7."Chalk People"1:16
8."Punch the Lion"3:14
9."Pure Digital Silence"1:32
10."Larry"2:59
11."Roll Another One"14:20

Personnel

Mark Deutrom is a musician, composer, songwriter, and producer, best known as the bassist for the multi-genre band The Melvins from 1993 to 1998.

Dale Crover drums, guitar

Dale Crover is an American rock musician. Crover is best known as the drummer for the Melvins. He's also been the drummer for Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, Crystal Fairy, and, for a brief time, Nirvana. He is also guitarist and vocalist for Altamont. He has also toured with Fantômas, Off!, and Redd Kross.

Buzz Osborne American singer, musician and producer

Roger "Buzz" Osborne, also known as King Buzzo, is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He is a founding member of the Melvins, as well as Fantômas and Venomous Concept.

Additional personnel

Mackie Osborne is an artist responsible for the design and illustrations of many music albums since the 1980s. She is a member of the band Fleabag and has contributed to many albums on packaging artwork, layout design and art direction.

Related Research Articles

Dave Grohl American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter

David Eric Grohl is an American singer, songwriter, musician and director. He is the founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Foo Fighters since 1994, and was the best known and longest-serving drummer for Nirvana from 1990 to 1994, when they disbanded following the death of Kurt Cobain.

Nirvana (band) American rock band

Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. It was founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting and best-known being Dave Grohl, who joined in 1990. Though the band dissolved in 1994 after the death of Cobain, their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock and roll culture.

Grunge is a rock music genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the Pacific Northwest U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. The early grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop and the region's underground music scene. By the early 1990s its popularity had spread, with grunge bands appearing in California, then emerging in other parts of the United States and in Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals.

<i>MTV Unplugged in New York</i> 1994 live album by Nirvana

MTV Unplugged in New York is a live album by American rock band Nirvana. It was released on November 1, 1994 by DGC Records. The album features an acoustic performance recorded at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993, for the television series MTV Unplugged. The show was directed by Beth McCarthy and aired on the cable television network MTV on December 16, 1993. In a break with traditional practice on the television series, Nirvana played mainly lesser-known material and cover versions of songs by the Vaselines, David Bowie, Lead Belly, and Meat Puppets, whose Cris and Curt Kirkwood joined Nirvana onstage.

<i>In Utero</i> (album) 1993 studio album by Nirvana

In Utero is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana, released on September 21, 1993, by DGC Records. Nirvana intended for the record to diverge significantly from the polished, refined production of its previous album, Nevermind (1991). To capture a more abrasive and natural sound, the group hired engineer Steve Albini to record In Utero during a two-week period in February 1993 at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The music was quickly recorded within that time with few studio embellishments. The song lyrics and album packaging largely incorporated medical imagery that conveyed frontman Kurt Cobain's outlook on his publicized personal life and his band's newfound fame.

<i>Ozma</i> (album) 1989 studio album by The Melvins

Ozma is the second studio album by the Melvins, released in 1989 through Boner Records. It is the first Melvins album to feature Lori Black on bass guitar and was recorded when the band relocated to San Francisco.

Come as You Are (Nirvana song) 1992 single by Nirvana

"Come as You Are" is a song by American grunge band Nirvana, written by frontman Kurt Cobain and released as the second single from the band's second studio album Nevermind in March 1992. It was the band's second American top 40 hit, and second UK top 10 hit, reaching number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number nine on the UK Singles Chart.

Drain You Song by Nirvana

"Drain You" is a song by the American rock band, Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the eighth track on their second album, Nevermind, released in September, 1991. The same version also appears as a B-side on U.K. retail editions of the first single from that album, "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

<i>Gluey Porch Treatments</i> 1987 studio album by The Melvins

Gluey Porch Treatments is the debut album by the Melvins. The album was released in 1987 through Alchemy Records. The original release was vinyl only. This album was later released on tape with the Six Songs EP through Boner Records and appears as bonus material on the CD version of Ozma. Tracks 18–29 can only be found on the 1999 Ipecac Recordings re-release; these songs are taken from a boombox demo.

<i>King Buzzo</i> (EP) 1992 EP by The Melvins

King Buzzo is an EP by The Melvins' guitarist Buzz Osborne, which was released in 1992 through Boner Records. Osborne recruited Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl for the project. Grohl is credited as "Dale Nixon", in reference to the pseudonym Greg Ginn adopted for playing bass on Black Flag's My War.

<i>Houdini</i> (album) 1993 studio album by Melvins

Houdini is the fifth studio album by the Melvins, released in 1993 on Atlantic Records. The album was the band's major label debut after releasing their previous albums on the independent label Boner Records.

<i>Honky</i> (album) 1997 studio album by Melvins

Honky is the ninth studio album by Melvins, which was released in 1997 through Amphetamine Reptile Records. It is widely considered to be the band's most experimental album. Their first studio album after being dropped from Atlantic, it contains a mixture of traditional Melvins-sounding rock, experiments with drones and soundscapes, and some rather uncharacteristic electronic pieces. A video was made for "Mombius Hibachi". The final track, "In the Freaktose the Bugs are Dying", concludes with more than 25 minutes of silence.

<i>Melvinmania: Best of the Atlantic Years 1993–1996</i> 2003 greatest hits album by Melvins

Melvinmania: The Best of the Atlantic Years 1993–1996 is an album by Melvins, which was released in 2003 through Atlantic Records (UK). Tracks 1–5 are taken from the 1993 Houdini album. Tracks 6–10 are taken from the 1994 Stoner Witch album. Tracks 11–15 are taken from the 1996 Stag album.

Fecal Matter was a short-lived punk rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. The group was formed in 1985 by Kurt Cobain, the future front man of the grunge band Nirvana, along with Dale Crover of Melvins and drummer Greg Hokanson. Melvins members Buzz Osborne and Mike Dillard appeared in a later version of the band during rehearsals the following year.

Bride was an American Christian metal band formed in the 1980s, by brothers Dale and Troy Thompson. During the band's peak years it was known for covering a wide range of musical styles and remains popular in places like Brazil. Their song "Same 'Ol Sinner" is on the Digital Praise PC game Guitar Praise.

Prick was an American industrial rock band, founded in 1992 in Los Angeles by guitarist and songwriter Kevin McMahon, after his first project Lucky Pierre disbanded. The first line-up of the band featured McMahon on vocals and guitar, Chris Schleyer on guitar and Andy Kubiszewski on drums. The band was known for its glam rock and new wave influences.

References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/snivlem/prick/
  3. Guitar World (1995). "The Father the Son and the Holy Grunge". Interview. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  4. Brian Walsby (1994). "MASSIVE MELVINS INTERVIEW FROM THE PRE-"STONER WITCH" ERA". Interview. Retrieved September 2, 2010.