In the early days of their career their dark, heavy, oppressively slow sound made them innovators of genres like sludge, grunge, and doom metal. The Melvins' music is influenced by Flipper, Black Flag's My War-era hardcore punk and Black Sabbath-style heavy metal, but their idiosyncratic approach, bizarre sense of humor, and experimentation make neat categorization difficult. Singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne (aka "King Buzzo") and drummer Dale Crover are constant members while several bass guitarists have cycled through the group. The Melvins usually performed as a trio until 2006 when two members of Big Business became permanent members of the band.
The band was named after a grocery clerk at the Thriftway in Montesano, Washington where Osborne was employed. Melvin was the most-hated fellow employee and the band felt it to be an appropriate name. Like SF noisenik predecessors Flipper, their love of slow tempos and sludgy sound were a strong influence on grunge music, especially Nirvana and many other bands from Seattle. Their protegés, however, tended to use more conventional musical structures with this sound.
Though the group has received mostly positive critical notice, Crover's drumming has been especially praised; Patrick Kennedy describes his work as "astonishing, powerful, and daring."
While never finding and most likely never even seeking great mainstream success, the Melvins maintain an impressive schedule of new albums and tours, including a collaboration with Fantômas in The Fantômas Melvins Big Band, two releases with former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, and in 2004 the Melvins collaborated with ambient artist Lustmord for Pigs of the Roman Empire. In appreciation of their devoted fans, the Melvins have released various collectables through the years that have included two-headed dolls, an eight-track tape, and a plastic fetus in a jar.
Fellow Aberdeen resident Kurt Cobain (a good friend of Crover) was a huge Melvins fan and helped them transport their equipment to a few shows. Cobain also auditioned to join the band on bass, but he didn't make it, reportedly because he was so nervous that he forgot all the songs. Cobain maintained his relation with the band. Later he produced and played on some songs (guitar on "Sky Pup", percussion on "Spread Eagle Beagle") on the band's major label debut, Houdini. Dale Crover is also attributed as playing on the Nirvana debut album, Bleach, and on "Incesticide". In addition, Dave Grohl (ex-drummer for Nirvana) co-wrote and played drums for Isabella on Buzzo's Melvins solo album, King Buzzo.
Hung Bunny
Melvins Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You're sure to smell my fear
Baby you can see-saw sun
And like to be
She once like animal
I can walk but be so free
She walks in like menopause
She looks like a well-worn one
I can be one by one look a little word
Half of you can get so sore
I go too well by feel
It's sure to get you there
I'm fade to see
She once like animal
I can walk but be so free
She walks in like menopause
But I can walk like them
She looks like a well-worn one
I can be one by one look a little word
I could've felt no woman like you
Under the well warm dish just fine
I could've felt no woman like you
Under the well warm dish you're fine now
The lyrics to Melvins' song Hung Bunny are somewhat cryptic and abstract, leaving much room for interpretation. The first line, "Lysol to get me high," suggests that the singer is using Lysol as a drug to alter their consciousness. The second line, "You're sure to smell my fear," could imply that the singer is paranoid and anxious about being discovered, or that they are aware of their own fragility and are projecting it onto others. The rest of the song contains seemingly disconnected phrases that paint an impressionistic picture of a woman who is both wild and worn-down, and of a man who admires her but also feels the weight of his own mortality.
The chorus repeats the lines "She once liked animal / I can walk but be so free / She walks in like menopause / But I can walk like them / She looks like a well-worn one / I can be one by one look a little word." These lines suggest a complicated relationship between the singer and the woman being described. The woman is compared to an animal, suggesting a primal, untamed quality, yet she also walks "like menopause," suggesting a sense of inevitability and an end to fertility. The singer seems to be able to see something of himself in the woman, perhaps feeling like he is becoming "well-worn" and has lost some of his own vitality.
Overall, the lyrics to Hung Bunny are open to a wide variety of interpretations, and their meaning may be best understood by listening to the song as a whole and allowing the emotion and energy of the music to inform one's understanding of the words.
Line by Line Meaning
Lysol to get me high
I am resorting to using Lysol as a way to get high
You're sure to smell my fear
My fear is so strong that it is emanating from my body
Baby you can see-saw sun
You have the ability to control the movement of the sun as if it were a seesaw
And like to be
I enjoy feeling this way
She once like animal
She used to behave like an animal
I can walk but be so free
I have the ability to walk but still feel liberated
She walks in like menopause
She enters the room with the same lack of energy as someone experiencing menopause
But I can walk like them
Despite this, I am able to walk similarly to them
She looks like a well-worn one
She appears to be old and worn out
I can be one by one look a little word
I can also appear this way if I am examined closely
Half of you can get so sore
Half of you can be in pain
I go too well by feel
I rely on my sense of feeling too much
It's sure to get you there
This will definitely take you to where you need to go
I'm fade to see
I am disintegrating and hard to be seen
I could've felt no woman like you
I have never felt a woman like you before
Under the well warm dish just fine
I am perfectly content being beneath a warm and sheltered place
Under the well warm dish you're fine now
You too will be perfectly fine if you stay under the warm and safe shelter
Contributed by Jeremiah D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@brianmilesky665
I’m a huge Melvins fan/listener and this 30 minutes or so Lysol record is peak for me. Especially these first 2 tracks.
@Shovelglove545
Where can I find it in full online?
@someguyontheinternet2714
yeah this is my fav Melvins record as well, though they have a lot of great ones of course.
@hornyconvict
really wish it was on spotify
@lecrapauddejerri9
always have to listen them both together
@JohnathanLaFey
for real👊
@angrypunk666
+1
@shrimpfist
duh its really one song
@koollegged5739
7:50...Drums kick in right as you pass my neighbourhood.
@fekdaleo
is your house in this video