How you knew The Melvins?

[Joe Deutrom]

Believe it or not. I found out about the Melvins in the most unlikely way:in an article in Newsweek magazine! Or was it Entertainment Weekly? I can't remember. I wish I still had the article. It was at the height of Nevermind and the whole "grunge revolution", and the article talked about the Melvins and how they were nothing like Nirvana musically for those who were interested in checking out Kurt's favorite band and influence. Ultra low guitar, pounding drums, growling vocals and distorted bass. It talked about Houdini and Kurt's involvement with its production.

After reading this I purchased Houdini on cassette and I have been hooked ever since. I also like Nirvana and appreciate their victory over the horrible hair band era I grew up listening to. I am 29 years old and back in 91, I was listening to heavy music anyway like Slayer and Sepultura, so I really liked Houdini's heaviness and appreciated the quirkiness of its other tracks. Now Its 2003/04 and I still enjoy the Melvins and Nirvana-especially all of their hard to find tracks.

[GoatOvaries]

word of mouth and just seeing there name a few times. Downloaded instant larry and divorced (clencher cuz im a tool fan and had to check out) and been a fan since.

[participant]

I got interested in the Melvins through Soundgarden, not Nirvana.  And it was just last winter!  Of course from working in a record store I'd known they existed for years, but what it took was for me to read, in an interview of Kim Thayil, that it was Buzz who showed him dropped D tuning.  Stoner Witch was the first album I bought.  Then 26 Songs, HAT, Stag, and Eggnog (in that order).  I love finding out about bands that already have a nice back-catalog, but on the other hand it sure would have helped my sanity to have had them to listen to back in high school and college.  I had the luck of meeting Buzz after a Fantomas show earlier this month and it felt so bizarre being such a newbie yet feeling like I'd been loving this band all my life.  I haven't been this obsessed with a band since the Ramones.

[FartLips]

1989 thru my bass player. get gluey baby!!

[qsysue]

I was a teenager in Seattle during the grunge heyday. Got to see all the greats before they broke nationally at small all ages venues and colleges, Melvins included. Back when they were still a Seattle band.

Grunge exploding coincided with me getting married and having kids, so I basically gave up on music for years. It wasn't until I discovered Kyuss, QotSA and Fu Manchu a few years ago that I got back into heavy stuff, I thought all good music was gone. And I couldn't have been happier to discover the Melvins were still at it and as awesome as ever.

No one does it as good as the Melvins.

[Jess]

i got into them because they use my name in a song!  it's true.  it's not stee, it's steve.  and my full name is steven moenan ludlow.

[TOOL]

What year was it?  93 or 94?  I had tickets to see L7 at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz and the Melvins were one of the opening bands.  I had only heard of them, not heard their music.  Houdini had just come out so I bought it a couple weeks before the show to check out their music.  I HATED it!

They blew me away at the show and I guess "got it" right away.  Never looked back.

[Vcavallo]

i got into them because they use my name in a song!  it's true.  it's not stee, it's steve.  and my full name is steven moenan ludlow.

you are joking. i don't believe you.  your name might be steve. or maaaybe even steve ludow, but moenan....come on. you think we are all as stupid as wiseshotgun??

[Jess]

moenan is a combination of my parent's favorite people-moe of 3 stooges fame and nan their old bud hookup.  i just figured they knew who i was. i guess you could say i felt an immediate connection.

[Vcavallo]

would they know you? if so, how?

[Jess]

the only time i've seen buzz is in on stage and that one time back in 91 when he came home from san fransisco and i was mounting his mom.  i think he remembered and changed the lyric just enough to keep from paying me.  cheap bastard.

[Andy]

What can I say but      

[bUcKsAtAn]

first time i HEARD em', when i bought the big band cd.
then stoner witch.
i heard OF them , as did a lot of us i guess, from reading nirvana stuff.
shit, i dumped nirvana so fast my head spun, and i haven't looked back, cause i've found the melvins and so many other treats along the way!          

[Anonymous]

I first heard of 'em in late '91 or early '92. I was pretty into the Seattle stuff in general, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Nirvana, TAD, Screaming Trees, Alice In Chains, Green River, etc.. One of my roomates buddies came over wearin' a t-shirt that I remember sayin' MELVINS: Way Heavier Than Soundgarden (I've never seen that shirt again, but there's one in the book that says FUCK MELVINS LOUDER THAN SOUNDGARDEN, so maybe my memory's bad). Soundgarden was close to bein' my favorite band at the time ( Badmotorfinger was out but hadn't caught on at the time) so naturally I had to hear this band that was sellin' themselves as "heavier" (or "louder", whatever).  I looked, but didn't get a hold of anything until a year later when a friend of mine (I married her later) bought me Bullhead. It was in rotation for a while until one night I saw the video for "Honeybucket" on Headbanger's Ball. The nexet day I found a used copy of Houdini. Not long afterwords I caught a live show. Not long afterwords they took over from Sonic Youth as my official "favorite band".

[EGO the Living Planet]

That last one was me. I thought I was logged in...


Hi Sue!