Mudhoney's early releases on the Sub Pop label, particularly their debut single "Touch Me I'm Sick" and the Superfuzz Bigmuff EP, were massively influential on the Seattle music scene. More than almost any other release of the era they inspired the dirty, high-distortion sound that would become grunge. Later on, Mudhoney also mixed heavy blues rock and punk rock into their sound at various stages. Although the band has found little commercial success during its long career, which has yielded ten studio albums, it has inspired countless grunge and alternative rock musicians.
Band history
Mr. Epp and the Calculations
The very beginnings of Mudhoney start out in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. While at Bellevue Christian High School, Mark McLaughlin (later known as Mark Arm) and some friends started Mr. Epp and the Calculations, a band named after a math teacher of his. The band was more a joke band than a real band; their first "show" was in class singing Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" and using rolled up maps as guitars because they couldn't play real instruments. "Mr. Epp" finally played their first show three years after they formed in 1981. Around this time Mark Arm and a friend of his, Steve Turner formed a more serious yet still humorous band, Limp Richerds. Mr. Epp appeared on KZAM-AM radio and were introduced being called "the worst band in the world". They played their last show on February 3, 1984 with Malfunkshun at the Metropolis in Seattle.
Green River
Green River was formed in 1984 when Mark Arm and Steve Turner pulled together and recruited Alex Vincent, who had previously played with Turner in Spluii Numa. Looking for a bass player the band asked Jeff Ament to join their band. Ament had recently arrived in Seattle with his band Deranged Diction who had come out of Montana. Another one of Turner's former bandmates, Stone Gossard, also decided to play with them. Steve Turner left the band after the recording of Come on Down due to his distaste in the heavy metal leanings of the band. He was replaced by another Derranged Diction member, Bruce Fairweather. After recording two EPs and a full-length album, the band decided to call it quits in 1987. Gossard, Ament, and Fairweather went on to join Mother Love Bone. Following lead singer, Andrew Wood's death, Gossard and Ament went on to form Pearl Jam and Fairweather joined Love Battery. Arm reunited with Steve Turner to form Mudhoney.
Sub Pop (1988–1991)
Steve Turner wanted to start a band that actually rehearsed before they played. He and Mark Arm began working on some music along with Bundle of Hiss drummer Dan Peters. The trio decided that Matt Lukin, who had recently left Melvins, should join them as the bassist. They named themselves Mudhoney after a Russ Meyer film that none of the band members had actually seen.
Mudhoney's partial success led to a number of other Seattle bands, such as Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Tad, gaining some recognition. In the early '90s, Sub Pop was not making very much money. As a result, many of its bands left the label to search for backing by major labels. Mudhoney decided to stay and they released their second album, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge in 1991. However, after this album was released they were offered a deal with Reprise Records and they left Sub Pop Records to join their new major label in 1992.
Reprise (1992–1999)
As grunge was becoming more mainstream, Mudhoney shifted away from their early grungy music sound. Many of the bands that they were friends with (Nirvana and Pearl Jam) were having huge success and gaining popularity worldwide. Their first album on Reprise was Piece of Cake, which was an album that sounded much more like garage rock than grunge. Despite the fact that the band had signed on to a major label, they still kept their quirkiness and non-careerist attitude with them.
In 1995, when grunge was in its last days in the mainstream, Mudhoney decided to go back to the sound that they used to have. With their album My Brother the Cow they managed to mix both their early heavy dirge songs and some of their more punk rock songs on the same album. The song "Into Your Shtik" is said to be a song which bashes Courtney Love, saying that she should blow her head off too like her husband Kurt Cobain. The album is a fan favorite and is considered one of their finest albums. Two years later they released Tomorrow Hit Today. The album showed that Mudhoney still had their garage rock roots in them as well as including new blues rock type songs.
In 1996, Mudhoney appeared in the comedy movie Black Sheep, starring Chris Farley and David Spade. Mudhoney was shown playing at an MTV concert and then speaking with Farley backstage.
After a few years of touring, Reprise decided to release Mudhoney from their label. One of the reasons was Mudhoney's record sales had reached a career low despite the fact their live shows were drawing more people than ever before. Subsequently, bassist Matt Lukin called it quits, saying that he didn't like touring. The band released March to Fuzz, a retrospective compilation of songs from throughout their career. Many fans thought that the band was going to stop playing music altogether, although they did play a few shows around the Northwest area.
Return to Sub Pop (1999— )
These shows were doing so well that Mudhoney decided to resurrect their careers. They found permanent bassist Guy Maddison (of Monroe's Fur, Lubricated Goat) who had played with Mark Arm in one of his many side projects, Bloodloss. After Arm and Turner spent time with their side project, The Monkeywrench, the band recorded and released Since We've Become Translucent in 2002. In late 2005, the band opened Pearl Jam's South American tour, with concerts in Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In March of 2006, the band released the well received LP, Under a Billion Suns. The band has promoted the album by touring in Europe and the U.S. with bands such as Jennifer Gentle, The Holy Soul and Comets on Fire.
Touch Me I'm Sick
Mudhoney Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh, wow, oh
I feel bad
And I've felt worse
I'm a creep, yeah
I'm a jerk
Come on
Touch me, I'm sick
Wow, I won't live long
And I'm full of rot
Gonna give you girl
Everything I got
Touch me, I'm sick
Yeah
Touch me, I'm sick
Come on baby, now come with me
If you don't come
If you don't come
If you don't come
You'll die alone
Wow
Oh, I'm diseased
I don't mind
I'll make you love me
'Till the day you die
Come on
Touch me, I'm sick
(Ah) fuck me, I'm sick
Come on baby, now come with me
If you don't come
If you don't come
If you don't come
You'll die alone
Mudhoney's "Touch Me I'm Sick" is a raw and chaotic song about self-loathing and desperation. The opening lines, "I feel bad/And I've felt worse/I'm a creep, yeah/I'm a jerk", set the tone for the song's lyrics. It's a guttural expression of someone who is disgusted with themselves and wants to inflict their misery and sickness onto someone else. The repetition of the phrase "Touch me, I'm sick" throughout the song adds to the desperation and the sense of needing someone to validate the singer's feelings of worthlessness.
The second verse highlights the singer's nihilistic outlook on life. They know they won't live long and are "full of rot", so they want to give everything they've got to someone before they inevitably die. This is where the lyrics become even more disturbing, as the singer is essentially saying that they want to infect someone else with their sickness and disease. The line "I don't mind/I'll make you love me/Till the day you die" is a chilling admission that the singer is willing to destroy someone else just to feel validated and loved.
Overall, "Touch Me I'm Sick" is a song about the ugliness of human nature and the lengths people will go to in order to feel seen and validated. It's a raw and unfiltered expression of self-hatred and desperation, and it's a testament to the power of punk rock as a genre that allows for this type of unbridled expression.
Line by Line Meaning
One, two
The song begins with a counting of numbers to synchronize the rhythm.
Oh, wow, oh
These words are repeated as an expression of strong emotions of pain and disgust.
I feel bad
The singer confesses that he's not feeling well and may be suffering from a disease.
And I've felt worse
Although the singer feels terrible, he has experienced more severe pain before.
I'm a creep, yeah
The singer admits to being an undesirable person who might make the listener uncomfortable.
I'm a jerk
The singer admits that he behaves in an insensitive and annoying manner.
Come on
Touch me, I'm sick
The singer is demanding that the listener come near him and touch him, despite his illness and unpleasant behavior.
Wow, I won't live long
And I'm full of rot
The singer believes that he is not going to live much longer and that his body is decaying.
Gonna give you girl
Everything I got
The singer is willing to give the girl everything he has, despite his health condition.
Yeah
Touch me, I'm sick
The singer repeats a demand for the listener to touch him, even though he is not well.
Come on baby, now come with me
If you don't come
If you don't come
If you don't come
You'll die alone
The singer is inviting the girl to come with him and implying that if she doesn't, she'll regret it later in life.
Oh, I'm diseased
I don't mind
The singer is acknowledging that he has a disease but he is unaffected by it and does not feel sorry for himself.
I'll make you love me
'Till the day you die
The singer is confident in his ability to make the girl fall in love with him and promises to love her until the end.
Come on
Touch me, I'm sick
(Ah) fuck me, I'm sick
The singer expresses strong emotions of desperation and desire for physical contact despite his illness.
Come on baby, now come with me
If you don't come
If you don't come
If you don't come
You'll die alone
The song ends with the same warning to the girl who is not willing to accept the singer despite his illness.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Matthew D Lukin, Mark T Mclaughlin, Daniel Joe Peters, Steven Neil Turner
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind