The Meat Puppets were never a personal fave of mine, but no doubt they're an important and original band. Starting off as a hardcore power trio (brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood on guitar/bass, Derrick Bostrom on drums) out in Phoenix, AZ, within a couple years they began to challenge the hardcore status quo, adopting a hippie look and playing in a new and unique style - instead of hardcore roar, they devised a skittering, skeletal, country-ish sound with occasional hallucinogenic flourishes. Hardcore audiences were pissed, but the Puppets found their own crowd and were a major player, releasing six albums of their weird country-rock (plus their initial, more hardcore-ish first outing) on SST while touring relentlessly.
In the 90's, they signed to a major, got endorsed by Kurt Cobain and even pulled off a gold album. By late decade drug problems were doing the band in. They packed it in officially in 1995, but within a few years were back in business. They have continued (with occasional hiatus) ever since.
Discography
Their official site is here.
Original drummer Derrick Bostrom has an amazing site which includes a wealth of archival material, and any fan of the Puppets or 80's underground music period oughta check it out.
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