Meat Puppets started as a punk rock band, but like most of their labelmates on SST Records, they established their own unique style, blending punk with country and psychedelic rock, and featuring Curt's warbling vocals. Meat Puppets later gained significant exposure when the Kirkwood brothers served as guest musicians on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance in 1993. The band's 1994 album Too High to Die subsequently became their most successful release. The band broke up twice, in 1996 and 2002, but reunited again in 2006.
Meat Puppets has influenced a number of rock bands including Nirvana, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh and Pavement.
Their early works (the In A Car EP and Meat Puppets LP) were wholeheartedly punk, with vocals so feral in their delivery they were often indecipherable, but ultimately humorous and clever once deciphered. The musicianship was mostly thrash, yet the songs were tinged with a subtle, haunting element like that of a long abandoned ghost town. Their brand of cathartic, explosive hardcore attracted the attention of legendary punk label SST, who released their first record in 1982.
Unsatisfied with the result, the band spent plenty of time in the studio before the release of 1983's Meat Puppets II. The band's exciting experimentation with psychedelia, acid rock, and quieter tunes on top of a core western-style thrash sound, gave them their one acknowledged classic album, and propelled the record to legendary status. Meat Puppets II turned Meat Puppets into the one of the leading bands in SST Records league and, along with Violent Femmes, the Gun Club and others, helped establish country punk.
The Meat Puppets' burgeoning musicality led to more intricate and melodic efforts on 1985's Up on the Sun, which was a cohesive collage of songs that further demonstrated their abilities to capture a sound that had all of the wonder of the desert. The band's sound and vision became closely aligned with the legacy of The Byrds; some of the group's fans accused the Meat Puppets of becoming dangerously hippy-sounding (this appreciation of "hippy" music was hardly a sudden development: Curt's guitar solos were, from the beginning of his career, often reminiscent of Jerry Garcia). However, Up On The Sun demonstrated strong musicianship, accompanied by an unfading ability to write sophisticated and intriguing songs. This album generated the band's first major mainstream exposure, and many fans still consider it to be their masterpiece.
Over the next decade, the Meat Puppets remained on SST and released a series of albums, touring almost relentlessly on the underground circuit. After the release of Out My Way in 1986, however, the band was briefly sidelined by an accident when Curt's finger was broken after being slammed in their touring van's door. The accident delayed the band's next album, the psychedelic Mirage, until the next year. The final result was a meticulously crafted release in early 1987, and their most polished sound to date. Mirage at the time was hailed by some mainstream critics as the Puppet's best work yet.
Subsequently, their next album, the heavier, power-trio-rooted Huevos came out less than six months afterward, in late summer of 1987. In stark contrast to its predecessor, Huevos was recorded in a swift, fiery fashion, with many first takes, and minimal second guessing. The album was named, not only after the Spanish word for eggs, but was also a reference to the Spanish slang use of the word "Huevos" to mean "testicles." This was significant not only with regard to the songs themselves, but to the bold, rough manner in which they were recorded. These recordings were completed in only a matter of days, and along with a few drawings and one of Curt's paintings taken from the wall to serve as cover art (a dish of three boiled eggs, a green pepper, and a bottle of Tabasco sauce), was all sent to SST shortly before the band returned to the road en route to their next gig.
Monsters was released in 1989, featuring Curt-as-guitar-hero on such extended jams as "Touchdown King" and "Flight of the Fire Weasel."
Major label career (1991-1995)
As numerous bands from the seminal SST label, and other kindred punk-oriented indies, grappled with the "going major" decision, so did the 'Pups. Two years after their final studio recording for SST, 1989's Monsters, the trio released its major label debut, Forbidden Places, on the indie-friendly London Records. A three-year break saw the band's studio return with 1994's Too High To Die, produced by Butthole Surfers guitarist Paul Leary. The album featured "Backwater", a hit on alternative radio, and a hidden-track update of "Lake of Fire." Too High To Die earned the 'Pups a gold record (over 500,000 sold), outselling their previous records combined. That same year saw the 'Pups in their brightest mainstream spotlight as the band achieved sudden popularity when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain invited Cris and Curt to join him on MTV for acoustic performances of "Plateau", "Oh Me" and "Lake of Fire" (all originally from Meat Puppets II). The resulting album, MTV Unplugged in New York, served as a swan-song for Nirvana, as Cobain died six months after the concert. "Lake of Fire" became a cult favorite for its particularly wrenching vocal performance from Cobain. Subsequently, the Nirvana exposure and the strength of the single "Backwater" (their only charting single) helped lift the Meat Puppets to new commercial heights.
1995's No Joke! would be the final album recorded by the original Meat Puppets lineup. Unfortunately, Cris Kirkwood was now a heroin addict, whose heavy and compulsive use of the drug increasingly dominated his life. This was a major departure from the psychedelic drugs with which the Meat Puppets had always been associated; his erratic behavior soon became too much for the band to cope with. The first single from No Joke!, "Scum", charted briefly on the modern rock charts, but ultimately the album paled in success to its predecessor.
First hiatus and reunion (1996-2000)
Derrick recorded a solo EP under the moniker Today's Sounds in 1996, and later on in 1999 took charge of re-issuing the Puppets' original seven records on Rykodisc as well as putting out their first live album, Live in Montana. Curt formed a new band in Austin, TX called the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra, but they changed their name to Meat Puppets to release a promotional EP entitled You Love Me in 1999, Golden Lies in 2000 and Live in 2002. The line-up was Curt (voc/git), Kyle Ellison (voc/git), Andrew Duplantis (voc/bass) and Shandon Sahm (drums). Sahm's father was the legendary fiddler-singer-songwriter Doug Sahm of The Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados. The concluding track to Classic Puppets entitled "New Leaf" also dates from this incarnation of the band.
Break up (2001-2005)
Around 2001-2002, the Meat Puppets dissolved as Curt has gone on to release albums with the groups Eyes Adrift and Volcano. In 2005, he released his first solo album entitled Snow.
His brother Cris was arrested in December 2003 for attacking a security guard at a post office with the guard's baton. The guard shot Kirkwood during the melee. Kirkwood was subsequently denied bail, the judge citing Kirkwood's previous drug arrests and parole violations. He eventually went to prison for felony assault. He was released in July of 2005.
Derrick Bostrom began a home page (www.meatpuppets.com) for the band about six months before the original trio stopped working together. The site went through many different permutations before it was essentially mothballed in 2003. In late 2005, Bostrom revamped it once again, this time as a "blog" for his recollections and as a place to share pieces of Meat Puppets history.
Second reunion (2006-present)
On March 24, 2006, Curt Kirkwood polled fans at his MySpace page with the following bulletin: "Question for all! Would the original line up of the Meat Puppets interest anyone? Feedback is good - do you want a reunion?!" The response from fans was overwhelmingly positive within a couple of hours, leading to speculation of a full-blown Meat Puppets reunion in the near future. However, a post made by Derrick Bostrom on the official Meat Puppets site dismissed the notion.
An April 26, 2006 billboard.com story reported that the Kirkwood brothers would reunite as the Meat Puppets without original drummer Derrick Bostrom. Primus drummer Tim Alexander was announced as Bostrom's replacement. Curt mentioned that a new Meat Puppets album was written, but it has not yet been recorded. Curt continued to tour on his solo material with his son Elmo.
Tim Alexander never ended up drumming with the Meat Puppets. Instead, Ted Marcus is the band's current drummer.
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Light
Meat Puppets Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Candy stars in bloom
Crystal fire fractures
Sparks into the room
Shadow seams have opened
Right inside the blaze to
Catch the spinning
Light
Flaming river
Burning in the sky
Falls in silence
Over land to dry
Gathering the elephants
Turning light to day
Beneath the current
Light
Luminescence
Essence of the will
Time and fire
Turning burning still
Upon the hour table
Dreams of light are laid
But I'm not sleeping
Light
The lyrics of the Meat Puppets' song "Light" are symbolic and enigmatic. The song suggests that the world is awash in a fiery, radiant energy that permeates everything. The first stanza conveys the image of a fiery spider spinning its web in the midst of a dazzling explosion of color and light. The second stanza describes a flaming river that falls silently from the sky, burning up everything in its wake. The river seems to be gathering in its currents things that might otherwise seem disparate, like the "elephants" and the "light."
The overall imagery suggests that the light referred to in the song is more than just the illumination of physical objects. The use of the word "luminescence" in the final stanza suggests that the light is an essence, a force of will that infuses everything. The fact that dreams of light are laid "upon the hour table" conjures the image of an alchemist or some other practitioner of esoteric lore who seeks to understand the nature of this magical energy.
The song is open to interpretation, but one possible reading is that it suggests the power of the imagination to transform the world. The line "but I'm not sleeping" seems to suggest that the singer is awake to the possibilities of this transformative power, even while others remain oblivious. Overall, the song suggests a kind of mystical awe at the power of this radiant energy, and a desire to understand and harness it.
Line by Line Meaning
Fiery spider
An intense and captivating presence, likened to a spider that exudes heat and energy.
Candy stars in bloom
Vibrant and colorful celestial bodies, shining like candy in the night sky.
Crystal fire fractures
The breaking apart of brilliant and sharp flames, creating a dazzling light show.
Sparks into the room
Small, lively embers at play, lighting up the whole space with their movement.
Shadow seams have opened
Previously obscured areas have been revealed, allowing for a glimpse of the darkness that balances the light.
Right inside the blaze to
Directly in the midst of the intense heat and brightness.
Catch the spinning
To apprehend the rapid and dynamic motion of light and fire.
Light
The illumination created by the burning and movement of energy.
Flaming river
A steady stream of blazing light that flows like water.
Burning in the sky
The fire that lights up the heavens, with its brightness and energy.
Falls in silence
Dropping down to the ground with a quiet and gentle descent.
Over land to dry
Passing over the earth to bring heat and light to what is parched and in need of recovery.
Gathering the elephants
The powerful creatures are drawn together by the light and its influence.
Turning light to day
The gradual dawning of daylight under the influence of the fire and its glow.
Beneath the current
The light that is seen within the movement and flow of energy across the land and sky.
Light
The illumination that radiates from the fire and its movement.
Luminescence
The brightness and energy that are inherent within the light itself.
Essence of the will
The power and direction that are synonymous with the light and its radiance.
Time and fire
The blending of the temporal and the eternal, the fleeting and the constant, that are at the heart of the fire and light.
Turning burning still
A paradoxical concept of motionlessness within the fiery and ever-moving light.
Upon the hour table
The passage of time, marked by the burning and blazing of light, symbolized by the imagery of a table or clock face.
Dreams of light are laid
Imagined possibilities and aspirations for the light and what it represents are brought into focus and manifest themselves.
But I'm not sleeping
The singer is alert and fully engaged with the experience of the light and all that it symbolizes and represents.
Light
The overarching theme and symbol, representing illumination, energy, power, and possibility.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: C. KIRKWOOD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind