Mudhoney
The Lucky Ones
(Sub Pop, 2008)

Longevity isn’t always a good thing. Case in point: Mudhoney. Had they called it quits or simply faded away like so many of their initial contemporaries, they too could have come roaring back today to critical acclaim on wings of ‘90s indie greatness, as is the style of the times. Instead, having long since slid in and out of grace (if I may), they stuck it out, kept it going, and at this point have their work cut out for them. They’re giving it their best shot, though, with a pretty ballsy move to mark their 20th anniversary.

It’s a move that warrants a little background: At the dusk of the ‘80s, Mudhoney tore holes through every denim knee in the underground, one foot skewering the malignantly sexual “big rock” ego and the other kicking over a stack of amps. They were fueled by a lonely garage punk rage that relished the muck of its own visceral noise, yet once punk broke, so did the spell they’d inadvertently cast. Grunge hit the big time, Mudhoney flipped to Reprise for a gilded few albums but also immediately reformulated their sound. The changes were subtle enough for Mudhoney to remain “Mudhoney,” but significant enough for the band to slip quickly from relevance, as tends to happen when any one scene becomes so suddenly and thoroughly commoditized. Mudhoney’s aboveground 15 minutes coincided conspicuously with the heyday of that reluctant, fame-shunning beast of early ‘90s indiedom; the limelit new punk of frumpy, lackadaisical slackers hoisted into the mainstream for milking and emulation. In that context, self-sabotage was also known as “keepin’ it real,” even though every sword was double-edged and it was just as hard for us to tell the difference then as it is now. At any rate, fans both old and new felt alienated and lost interest, Reprise eventually “released” the grody Seattleites back into the ether, and they slunk home to good ol’ Sub Pop, which was itself seven years deep in its lock onto the moneyed teat of Warner Bros. To herald the return of their former flagship all-stars, in Y2K Sub Pop rolled out the best-of/rarities compilation March to Fuzz, though it was entirely too soon. Two years later came another mediocre new Mudhoney album, and another one four years after that; neither turned heads.

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