Amongst all the lesser bands of the infamous grunge explosion was Mudhoney. Their sound, a fuzzed out approach that didn't rely too heavily upon the bloated, decaying corpse of 70s hard rock, was entirely what grunge should have been, a dirty style of garage rock full of great, tuneful songs. The band's best album was 1991's Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, which features a wonderfully dirty yet crystal clear eight track production by Conrad Uno. Mark Arm's vocals are atrocious, yet in a way that is endearing. He often sounds like he's stretching to his limits and what should be flat singing comes across as perfectly appropriate for the music. The band is excellent on these songs, with the guitars offering more than their fair share of great interplay, levels of distortion and riffs. The drums are well produced, giving a lot of punch to the music. Mudhoney did truly have their own sound going on this album, which set them apart from the legions of flannel-clad wannabees of the scene. Moreover, the songs on this album are simply outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. The band gives the listener precisely enough faster songs, moody numbers and everything in between to keep the album fresh and inviting all the way through. While Mudhoney never quite achieved this plateau again in their career, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is one of the very few true classics of the infamous Seattle music scene.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 06/2001

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