Meat Puppets

Among the acts that elevated SST Records to a dominant presence in the mid-1980s American underground, Meat Puppets outlasted nearly every peer, persisting long after numerous labelmates dissolved. They also ranked among the earliest SST signings to depart from the jagged yet powerful punk style that initially defined the imprint. Their 1982 self-titled debut arrived as an unadulterated punk statement whose hints of future range would soon expand, yet by the arrival of Meat Puppets II in 1984 the trio had coalesced into a singular blend of punk drive, hard-rock guitar force, country tunefulness, and psychedelic inquiry whose clearest touchstones were ZZ Top, the Grateful Dead, and Neil Young. Although the precise ratios shifted across subsequent releases, the core components remained largely constant as the band progressed from the hallucinatory textures of Up on the Sun in 1985 through the polished clarity of Mirage and the ZZ Top-inflected hard-rock bravado of Huevos, both issued in 1987. Major-label migration came with Forbidden Places in 1991, and Too High to Die in 1994 delivered the long-sought commercial breakthrough via the hit single “Backwater.” Misfortune nevertheless shadowed the group after No Joke in 1995, and only with the 2009 return to independent roots on Sewn Together did Meat Puppets appear to recover their creative equilibrium. While preparing reissues of their SST catalog in 2023, the band revisited earlier days via Camp Songs, a set of live recordings captured between 1991 and 1995.

The enduring nucleus of Meat Puppets has always been brothers Curt Kirkwood (guitar; born January 10, 1959) and Cris Kirkwood (bass; born October 22, 1960), both Phoenix, Arizona natives. During adolescence they performed in local rock and hard-rock outfits; after completing Jesuit preparatory studies they launched Meat Puppets in 1980 alongside drummer Derrick Bostrom. In contrast to those earlier projects, the new band drew direct inspiration from punk, maintaining such strict allegiance that rehearsals were deliberately avoided.

Barely a year after forming, Meat Puppets issued their debut EP, In a Car, on World Imitation. At that juncture the group operated at peak volume, delivering rapid hardcore laced with avant-garde tendencies. Black Flag guitarist and SST founder Greg Ginn encountered the record and extended an SST contract. The full-length self-titled album followed on SST in 1982, extending the experimental direction of the EP.

Meat Puppets forged a recognizable identity only with the 1984 release of Meat Puppets II. That album fused punk and country in a manner then unique within the American underground. Combined with relentless touring, the record attracted a growing nationwide cult audience that expanded through the remainder of the decade. Up on the Sun appeared in 1985 and earned the band their initial coverage in mainstream music outlets while also revealing a streamlining impulse that edged the sound toward blues-rock, country-rock, and psychedelia. The trajectory toward conventional hard rock persisted into the late 1980s as punk-derived rough edges were progressively smoothed.

Following the 1986 EP Out My Way, the group delivered two widely praised 1987 albums, Mirage and Huevos. By Mirage’s release, Meat Puppets had secured status as college-radio fixtures and reliable draws on the domestic underground circuit. Their final SST album, Monsters, emerged in 1989; its heavier rock attack previewed the direction adopted in the ensuing decade. The streamlined approach of Monsters met resistance from the band’s existing audience and failed to register on college radio.

After Monsters underperformed, Meat Puppets disbanded. They regrouped in 1991 and secured a London Records deal. Prior to recording for the new label, SST released the 1990 compilation No Strings Attached. Forbidden Places, the London debut, surfaced in 1991 yet achieved neither commercial nor underground traction.

For roughly two years after Forbidden Places the band remained largely inactive, playing occasional shows. They resurfaced in 1993 as openers on Nirvana’s In Utero tour. Near the tour’s conclusion Nirvana recorded an MTV Unplugged session that included three Meat Puppets II covers performed with the Kirkwood brothers present. The MTV exposure paved the way for the commercial ascent of Too High to Die, released in 1994.

Issued contemporaneously with the original MTV Unplugged broadcast, Too High to Die initially attracted modest notice, yet following Kurt Cobain’s April suicide both the album and its lead single “Backwater” gained traction through radio support and repeated MTV airings of the Nirvana performance. By summer 1994 “Backwater” had become a genuine hit, reaching number two on the album-rock charts and narrowly missing the pop Top 40. Subsequent singles from the album fared less strongly, yet Too High to Die itself succeeded, becoming the band’s first gold-certified release. No Joke!, the follow-up, appeared in fall 1995 but garnered middling reviews, scant airplay, and quickly vanished from charts and radio.

Thereafter Meat Puppets effectively entered hiatus. Derrick Bostrom released a one-off 1996 EP of lighthearted pop covers on Amarillo under the name Today’s Sounds, then joined a multimedia company while supervising the band’s website and Rykodisc’s 1999 Meat Puppets reissue program. Cris Kirkwood fared far worse: substance issues intensified during the No Joke! sessions, and in 1995 he married Michelle Tardif, whose own addictions and legal troubles accelerated the decline. Tragedy followed with the December 1996 death of the Kirkwoods’ mother and the August 1998 drug-overdose death of Tardif. After a period of near-disappearance, Cris entered rehabilitation to address his addictions and resolved attendant legal matters. Meanwhile London Records was absorbed by Universal in a corporate merger.

Already burdened, Curt Kirkwood had relocated to Austin, Texas before Tardif’s death and formed Royal Neanderthal Orchestra with ex-Pariah guitarist Kyle Ellison, ex-Pariah drummer Shandon Sahm (son of Doug Sahm), and former Bob Mould bassist Andrew DuPlantis. The project eventually assumed the Meat Puppets name, although neither Bostrom nor Cris Kirkwood was formally removed. Curt obtained a contractual release and signed with Breaking, an Atlantic subsidiary. Golden Lies, the first Meat Puppets album in five years, appeared in fall 2000. Seven years later, following a prolonged battle with substance abuse, Cris Kirkwood rejoined Curt and new drummer Ted Marcus for Rise to Your Knees. Touring continued through 2007, with scattered dates in 2008.

The band returned to the studio that year, and their twelfth studio album, Sewn Together, emerged in spring 2009. Activity persisted with an announcement that Up on the Sun would be performed at the Animal Collective-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in 2011. New material was also developed at Spoon’s HiFi Studio in Austin for the thirteenth studio album, Lollipop, issued in April 2011 by Megaforce Records. In 2013 Meat Puppets adopted a streamlined approach for their fourteenth album, Rat Farm, with the Kirkwood brothers augmented by returning drummer Shandon Sahm and Curt’s son Elmo on guitar. The Meat Puppets were inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2017; for the ceremony Derrick Bostrom joined the Kirkwood brothers onstage for the first time since 1996. Enthusiasm for the performance prompted Bostrom’s permanent return in June 2018 when Shandon Sahm departed. Dusty Notes, the first Meat Puppets album featuring Bostrom’s reinstatement, was released in March 2019. An international tour ensued, and in 2022 DC-Jam Records issued the five-song EP Live Manchester 2019 documenting a British date. In August 2023 Megaforce Records announced remastered editions of the SST catalog beginning in October with new versions of In a Car and Up on the Sun. The label also released Camp Songs, a live collection drawn from performances staged between 1991 and 1995.