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.
I'll Finish You Off
Melvins Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Stay here - the married would be wise
~Let's make a real justice and hollow~
~Still be the married that won't be wise~
Stay here
~Swinged wife with a goal to do a right shot~
There's no time for ~rating~ - don't even care
There's no rhyme and ~the reason is some ghost white like a pill~
~Swinged wife~ in time
To the tune of a man with his hand to his heart
We won't be long - you must be patient
~So there we stay~
It wouldn't be fair - to tell you where
~That's your mistake~
Might be today - might be tomorrow
~But you'll be staying~
Might be today - might be tomorrow
~But you'll be staying~
The lyrics of Melvins' "I'll Finish You Off" could be interpreted in various ways, but one possible meaning is that the singer is dying, and someone, possibly a married couple, is staring at them. The singer then suggests making a "real justice and hollow," which could mean a sincere attempt at doing something right or just but ultimately meaningless. The second line repeats itself but suggests that the married would be wise to stay. The next lines become more cryptic, with the idea of a "swinged wife" who has a goal to do a right shot. The singer seems unconcerned with time or rating and suggests that the act of violence the "swinged wife" intends would be easy.
The line "there's no rhyme and the reason is some ghost white like a pill" adds another layer of confusion but could be interpreted as suggesting that there is no logical reason behind the violence, only a ghostly presence that has taken control. As the song progresses, the singer repeats the line "Might be today, might be tomorrow, but you'll be staying," suggesting that there is no escape from the violence and that the listener is also somehow involved or complicit.
Overall, the lyrics suggest a sense of inevitability and doom, with violence and death looming large. The repetition of lines and ideas creates a haunting atmosphere, and the cryptic phrasing allows for multiple interpretations.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm dying and surely hanging staring
I feel like I'm dying and just hanging here, staring into nothingness
Stay here - the married would be wise
It's better to stay here, even if you're married
Let's make a real justice and hollow
We need to make a true justice, not something that's empty and meaningless
Still be the married that won't be wise
Getting married doesn't always mean getting wiser
Swinged wife with a goal to do a right shot
My wife is motivated to take a shot and make things right
There's no time for rating - don't even care
We don't have time to evaluate or judge, we just need to act
Pitch blind and it seems so easy on the eyes
We're blindly pitching in, but it looks easy enough
There's no rhyme and the reason is some ghost white like a pill
The reason why we're doing this is unclear and ghostly, like a pill
Swinged wife in time, to the tune of a man with his hand to his heart
My wife joined in, following the lead of a man who seemed sincere and heartfelt
We won't be long - you must be patient
We'll be done soon, but you need to have patience
So there we stay
We're staying put right here
It wouldn't be fair - to tell you where
It wouldn't be fair to tell you where we're going or what we're doing
That's your mistake
It's your mistake for not knowing
Might be today - might be tomorrow
We could be done today or it might take until tomorrow
But you'll be staying
But you'll have to stay put and wait for us
Contributed by Lily O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.