Meat Puppets

Phoenix, 1980

Meat Puppets formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona, with Curt Kirkwood on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Cris on bass and Derrick Bostrom on drums. Bostrom and the brothers met at Brophy Prep High School, and the brothers grew up in Sunnyslope. Wikipedia says they considered the name the Bastions of Immaturity and settled on Meat Puppets in June 1980; Bostrom told Roman Candle they rehearsed by learning songs from his collection of punk 45s. Early songs were short hardcore, and Joe Carducci suggested signing with SST. Bostrom said a dislike of hardcore audiences pushed them toward what he called hippy roots.

SST released Meat Puppets (1982), Meat Puppets II (1984, delayed about a year by the label), Up on the Sun (1985), Out My Way (EP, 1986), Mirage and Huevos (1987) and Monsters (1989). Pitchfork, quoted by Wikipedia, called the sound warped psychedelic country music, and AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described punk with a strong affection for 1960s psychedelia and American roots music. They opened for Black Flag in the 1980s, where Kurt Cobain saw them. Forbidden Places (1991) was their major-label debut on London Records.

Nirvana and the 1990s

In late 1993 Cris and Curt Kirkwood joined Nirvana for MTV Unplugged in New York, playing "Plateau", "Oh Me" and "Lake of Fire" from Meat Puppets II with Cobain singing. Too High to Die followed in January 1994, with "Backwater" their only Hot 100 entry, and they toured with Blind Melon, Soul Asylum and Stone Temple Pilots; a planned run opening for Nirvana ended in April 1994. No Joke! (1995) was the last album by the original line-up, and the trio split in 1996.

Curt formed a new band in Austin in 1999 with Kyle Ellison, Andrew Duplantis and Shandon Sahm, and made the You Love Me EP (1999), Golden Lies (2000) and Live (2002). The brothers reunited in 2006 without Bostrom, making Rise to Your Knees (2007), Sewn Together (2009), Lollipop (2011) and Rat Farm (2013). They played Meat Puppets II in full at ATP New York in 2008 and Up on the Sun at ATP in May 2011. Bostrom returned in July 2018 with Curt's son Elmo on guitar and Ron Stabinsky on keyboards, and Dusty Notes came out on March 8, 2019. They were inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2017.

Lou Barlow has called them the most influential band on Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, and Wikipedia lists Soundgarden, Pavement and Jawbreaker among those influenced. Greg Prato's book Too High to Die: Meet the Meat Puppets appeared in 2012.