I'm Now! The Story Of Mudhoney

Rock on!

Hello, fellow connoisseurs from around the globe and milky way. Every once in a while the S.P.A.M. Alternative team takes a break from their current duty of reviewing films and takes a look at other important elements of our human culture like video games, collecting and music. Today's entry will take us to the deep roots that shaped the story of one of the most important (and heavily under rated) punk rock bands of all times: Mudhoney.

I'm Now: The Story Of Mudhoney is a 2012 brilliant documentary that in only 100 minutes tells the story of the Seattle band that help built a music scene from within, hell! they were the Seattle music scene! 

OK, so where shall we begin? Ah! I know! let's get into our DeLorean time machine and set the time clock to 1991 and the G.P.S. to Seattle, Washington. Once people and media got sick of glam rock and 80's synth pop crappy music, their eyes and ears found a new pleasant target to aim to: Grunge! AKA Seattle Sound. In the annals of pop culture history I'm pretty sure whenever someone looks for the "Grungy" sound of the 90's through Google or any other research tool he or she will inevitably be taken straight to: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden & Alice In Chains. Also, if you happen to know people that was actually the target audience of the Grunge years (early 90's) they will probably answer the same four names. Unless, they were really into that kind music. Such is the case of this documentary. Here you won't find a visual essay  on the most popular bands the Seattle scene spawned, here you will find a visual essay on the most important band to ever come out of Seattle in the late 80's and early 90's. In fact, Mudhoney is probably one of the three most influential musical acts to ever come out of the Northwest coast. The other being obviously Jimi Hendrix & The Sonics. 

This band is punk rock history, trust me.

The Grunge Years!

Early Beginnings.

The stories that happened behind the band's origin are all told by its main characters, no filler material here, only the real deal. As soon as the film opens, we are told how important the band was to Sub Pop Records since their early beginnings. Before there was Mudhoney, there was Green River,  a seminal punk rock band that would release their albums under the above mentioned company's tutelage. The thing is, Green River disbanded right after they started selling their albums, so that kinda killed the hopes of making it big for the little Seattle based record company. Fortunately, that was only a momentary impasse because out of Green River's ashes two important musical names would rise: Mudhoney & Mother Love Bone. Evidently, Mudhoney would stick to Green River's hardcore punk rock roots while MLB would go into a more glam rock sound. Sub Pop believed in Mudhoney's music so they released their first E.P. "Superfuzz Bigmuff" and bang! as soon as it was an oven fresh release it became a major seller (in the area) In addition, their first single "Touch Me I'm Sick" is probably the very first "Grunge anthem" and also a collectable due to production issues (vinyl were painted in many different colors) The single attracted attention and the band enjoyed moderate success in the United States. Mudhoney quickly became Sub Pop's flagship band. Sonic Youth, who were fans of the band, had invited Mudhoney to join them for a tour in the UK in 1989. After this tour Superfuzz Bigmuff entered the British indie charts and they received a respectable amount of press coverage. The band released their first self-titled album, Mudhoney, in 1989.

Later, they released their second album, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, in 1991. After the album's release they were offered a deal with Reprise Records, and they joined the label in 1992 putting an end to a long term relationship with their mother label. The band explains working with Sub Pop wasn't getting any better for them since their interest was now fully focused in Nirvana's career.

Much Punk, Very Rock!

Steve Turner, the Eric Clapton of Grunge.

The Grunge Years.

Mudhoney's first album with Reprise was Piece of Cake. In a 2008 Mojo magazine article, Turner explained the album references "how easily things had come to them...the songs were kinda half-baked..." They also contributed a track "Overblown" at this time to the soundtrack to the romantic grunge film Singles.

With their 1995 album My Brother the Cow they mixed their earlier and more recent sound, but Turner explained in an article in Mojo, "There was a backlash after Kurt [Cobain] killed himself. The English press were so angry that we were still around. Those were some of the worst reviews we'd ever gotten. We were mocked for still existing."Here's where the documentary points out an interesting, yet unfortunate event in the band's life. Mark Arm wrote a song called "Into Yer Shtick" The song was a direct attack into the people who was feeding off of the Seattle musicianship scene. Before we continue, take a look at the lyrics:

You're so tormented, Demented, Indebted
To all the assholes, Just like you, Who've come and gone
Before you predictable, Just plain dull, Why don't you, Blow your brains out, too, You're so into yer shtik

You're so hounded, Ungrounded, Surrounded, By scum suckin' leeches
Who will shovel your shit, Sweep your dirt up before and after, man
Feed your ego, They never tell you no, All of you, Make me sick
You're so into yer shtik, And they're all into your shtik

Well, Mitchell's got a new girl, She's nineteen, Hollywood model, Star of the screen, Well, she's up here, To support the scene, It's all part, Of his rock and roll fantasy

Stan was at the bar, With bandaged hands, They tried to dry him out, And he got mad, Cut his fist, Punchin' hospital glass, Made his myth, Now he's trapped

Susie's just a girl, Who's doin' her job, That came to New York And wanted a car
Workin' with the management, To the stars, Kissin' ass, Is a part of the job
Well, it's part of the job, Yeah, it's part of the job, Oh she loves her job
What the hell, She does it so well

I'm not perfect, I've lived a life of mistakes, I'm not perfect, But there's one thing I can't take, You are into yer shtik, You're so into yer shtik, And they're so into yer shtik, Fuck you, you make me sick.

This is a cool ad.

Friends will  be friends.

Essentially, what happened was that Courtney Love made some phone calls to Reprise Records stating how upset she was with the song as she assumed it was written about her persona alone. for reasons unknown to Mudhoney, Reprise Records sort of wanted them to hit the road as soon as the record deal contract was over. In the documentary Mark Arm admits the song is about her and many other people who showed up only after the grass was greener in Seattle. Now, let's be fair and remember that the band had previously recorded a song about how it felt to be in the spotlight (Overblown in the 1992 Singles OST)

Obviously, the Grunge explosion opened the door to thousands of fake alt rock artists who dressed up a la Seattleite  so the criticism is more against a tendency rather than against a single person. In fact, Grunge is to music what Exploitation is to cinema, so in a way, or in many ways, when something's good it is inevitably going to be imitated.


Mudhoney's criticism of the over publicized Seattle music scene had nothing to do with them not being as popular as other bands, in fact at the very end of the documentary Mark Arm declares his band's reason to do music is because music is their goal, they never wanted to be rich and famous, they don't see their music as a means to achieve vain popularity, music is the very product of their work. 

When asked about working with Nirvana & Pearl Jam they recall working with Nirvana was terrible as their road crew felt like working with businessmen whose only concern was to squeeze Nirvana's agenda to make more profits out of it. On the other hand, the once considered "sellout band" Pearl Jam, was a whole different deal. To date, both bands healthily tour together around the world.

Russ Meyer inspired the band's name.

Nobody knows that I'm new wave.

Post Grunge Years, I'm Now!

After Kurt Cobain killed himself the Seattle musicianship scene seemed to have lost his number one icon, thus making people think of "Grunge" as something that was inevitably dying, so it was time for both the music industry and the consumer to move on to something else. Of course, that was a mass media thing, in reality there were many Seattle bands alive and kicking, and boy, to date they still are rocking the Kasbah.  


Things you can learn from watching I'm Now:

1. Nirvana wasn't the first band to save Sub Pop Records from bankruptcy. It was Mudhoney and it did twice. The first time was in 1988 with their debut single and later E.P. The second time was in 1990 with their second full length album.
2. The European tour financed by Sub Pop in the 1988 made Mudhoney the first "Grunge" band to be popular overseas.
3. Soundgarden was the opening act in an early Mudhoney concert.
4. Courtney Love doesn't like Mudhoney.
5.  Mudhoney members have daytime jobs like any other mortal being. 
6. They're OK if you call them a Grunge band.
7. According to Mark Arm, the word Grunge was used in Australia circa 1981 to refer to dirty, loud music.
8. Once they started working for Reprise Records they would spend the money check meant to pay the recording of an album in entertainment since they were almost self-produced. 
9. If you buy at Sub Pop's online store, there is a 100% probability that Mark Arm himself would send your items. How fucking cool is that?
10. Sub Pop is so grateful of Mudhoney's influence over their business that they're willing to record all of their following albums even if they don't sell a minimum amount of copies. 
11. Drugs are bad, even for rock stars.
12. There is so much to the Seattle scene than Nirvana. 
13. Nirvana didn't come up with anything new. They were just a radio friendly version of Mudhoney.

Grown ups.

The Space Needle surrenders!

"I'm Now: The Story of Mudhoney" explores the formation and influential sway of the group during the transitional period of American rock in the early-to-mid Nineties. Director-producers Ryan Short and Adam Pease (who have in the past done a documentary on grunge principals Tad) assemble Mudhoney's story with accuracy and moreover, an entertaining grasp of art house utilizing interjected footage of old films in smarmy fashion to accent certain points (mostly in condemnation of corporate label greed). Their film is fast-paced, so much you're half-screaming at them to let the snippets of Mudhoney's tunes play longer, but that's more testament to Short and Pease's shrewdness in selling their story, as it is to the hyper, giddy throb of the music itself. 

Overall, a magnificent piece that allows the world to take a closer look into a really important rock band that despite not being massively popular, they're truly an influential number. The documentary also features interviews with band members of Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, Tad and Soundgarden to name a few. If rock music is your thing, this documentary will deliver. If rock music is not your thing, please do the world a favor and kill yourself as soon as possible. 

Here's the documentary trailer:

Here's an instructive video on how to play the documentary properly:

Here's their "controversial" song "Into Yer Shtick":