Tired of Living Nixon's Mess (the Meat Puppets' No Strings Attached)

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Didn't know this existed till I came across it on Christgau's site a few weeks ago. Found a good price, bought it, was playing it in the car today.

One of my favourite bands back then--top five or six, let's say--but only for a short time. They started to lose me around Huevos (reviewed that, and the two before it); when they reemerged with a Top 40 hit a few years later, I wasn't keeping up at all.

Most of this still sounds pretty good through the middle two-thirds, and the two songs I most loved then, "Lost" and "Out My Way," are as great as ever. When II came out in 1984, I remember thinking that the lyric I quoted in the thread title felt so odd--Nixon seemed a million miles away to me at the time (I was 23). In fact, he'd only been out of office 10 years. The relative closeness of the two feels just as strange to me today as the distance between the two felt in 1984...which is how time works, I know.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Up on the Sun 6
Lake of Fire 1
I Am a Machine 1
Swimming Ground 1
Look at the Rain 1
Lost 1
Quit It 0
Beauty 0
Big House 0
I Can't Be Counted On at All 0
Automatic Mojo 0
Meltdown 0
Like Being Alive 0
Confusion Fog 0
Out My Way 0
In a Car 0
Tumblin' Tumbleweeds 0
Reward 0
The Whistling Song 0
New Gods 0
Split Myself in Two 0
Maiden's Milk 0
Bucket Head 0
Attacked by Monsters 0


clemenza, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 21:40 (one year ago)

Timeless quality to "lake of fire"

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Tuesday, 27 February 2024 21:48 (one year ago)

I defend Huevos -- paradise, look at the rain, automatic mojo -- these are solid meat puppets jams. uots & mirage are both better though. I stan the hell out of mirage so I'm voting "I am a machine" here -- the Meat Puppets doing that Cali college funk is right there in my pleasure zone. it's funny but also kinda deep in the changes. but I could vote for half of these, best band.

J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, 27 February 2024 23:29 (one year ago)

Odd that it doesn’t include anything from the part of II where it really ascends imo - Plateau—Aurora Borealis—We’re Here. I still can’t quite get with the production of Mirage, wish I liked it more. From this comp probably Up On the Sun, though if Two Rivers were on here…

JoeStork, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 23:43 (one year ago)

up on the sun forever

fpsa, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 02:04 (one year ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Tuesday, 5 March 2024 00:01 (one year ago)

Same vote I would have cast 40 years ago: "Lost." I don't know which Kirkwood is singing, but I find it so poignant how his voice strains to keep up with the song.

clemenza, Tuesday, 5 March 2024 00:45 (one year ago)

Huevos is a great driving tape. ‘Look At The Rain’ without a second thought. He plays his geetar w/ quarter for a plectrum.

BlackIronPrison, Tuesday, 5 March 2024 02:40 (one year ago)

meat puppets are so great...

m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Tuesday, 5 March 2024 02:46 (one year ago)

Up on the Sun was the first Meat Puppets song I ever heard and still the best.

peace, man, Tuesday, 5 March 2024 15:39 (one year ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 00:01 (one year ago)


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