''Meat Puppets II'' is the second album by the

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

band the

Meat Puppets Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood (guitar/vocals), his brother Cris Kirkwood (bass guitar/vocals), and Derrick Bostrom (drums). The Kirkwood brothers ...

, released in 1984. It is a departure from their self-titled debut album, which consisted largely of noisy

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

with unintelligible vocals. It covers many genres from country-style rock ("Magic Toy Missing", "Climbing" and Lost") to slow acoustic songs ("Plateau" and "Oh, Me") to psychedelic guitar effects ("Aurora Borealis" and "We’re Here"). The cover art is by

Curt Kirkwood Curtis Matthew "Curt" Kirkwood (born January 10, 1959) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist, singer and primary songwriter for alternative rock group Meat Puppets. Biography Curt Kirkwood formed the Meat Puppets along with hi ...

and Neal Holliday.

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

reissued the album in 1999 with extra tracks and B-sides, including a cover of the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

' ''

Aftermath Aftermath may refer to: Companies * Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing * Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre * Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company * Aftermath Services, an Americ ...

''-era track "What To Do." The Meat Puppets' SST labelmates

Minutemen Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...

covered "Lost" on the live EP ''

Tour-Spiel ''Tour-Spiel'' is an EP by Minutemen, released in 1985. It contains four songs, all covers. A studio version of track 1 appears on ''Double Nickels on the Dime''. Studio versions of "Lost" and "The Red and The Black", with different musical arra ...

'' and their last studio album, ''

3-Way Tie (For Last) ''3-Way Tie (For Last)'' is the fourth and final full-length album recorded by the American punk band Minutemen. It is particularly notable for featuring several covers of songs by bands such as the Urinals, Meat Puppets, Blue Öyster Cult, ...

''. Three of the album's songs were

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

(as the Kirkwood brothers joined them onstage) during their "Unplugged" show for MTV ("

Plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

", "Oh, Me", and " Lake of Fire").

Reception

Kurt Loder Kurtis Loder (born May 5, 1945) is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at ''Rolling Stone'', during a tenure that ''Reason'' later called "legendary". He has contribute ...

in an April 1984 review in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' described ''Meat Puppets II'' as "one of the funniest and most enjoyable albums" of the year, feeling that the band had developed beyond thrash music to become "a kind of cultural trash compacter" in which they blend head-banging with "a bit of the Byrds...Hendrix-style guitar...and...Blonde on Blonde-style wordsmithing". In his review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

felt that Curt Kirkwood had combined "the amateur and the avant-garde with a homely appeal", which resulted in a "calmly demented country music" in a "

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

" vein.

Robert Hilburn Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As critic and music editor at the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the wor ...

commented in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' that they were "far more of an acquired promising though willfully unfocused rock act".

Legacy

The album was included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

'' and was also #94 on

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

's "Best Albums of the 1980s".

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

listed the album at #91 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s". The final track "The Whistling Song" was taken as the title of

Stephen Beachy Stephen Beachy (born 1965) is an Americans, American writer. Early life Beachy's parents are Mennonites and his paternal grandparents were Amish, Old Order Amish. His brother Tim Beachy is a member of the band Squidboy. Beachy is a second cousin ...

's first novel. Curt Kirkwood created the cover art for the book. The album was performed live in its entirety at the

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

festival in Monticello, New York in 2008 as part of the ATP Don't Look Back season, and again in December, 2008 at a performance in London.

Track listing

Personnel

;Meat Puppets *

– guitar, vocals *

Cris Kirkwood Christopher "Cris" Kirkwood (born October 22, 1960) is an American musician who is the bassist and a founding member of the Meat Puppets, an alternative punk rock band. Biography Raised in Paradise Valley, Arizona, Cris took up the banjo after ...

– bass, vocals * Derrick Bostrom – drums ;Technical *

Spot Spot or SPOT may refer to: Places * Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States * The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia * South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse People * Spot (prod ...

- engineer *Curt Kirkwood, Neal Holliday - cover artwork

References

External links

''Meat Puppets II''
(

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) at

Radio3Net Radio 3 net is the former ''Radio România Tineret'' (or Radio 3). More than 20,000 albums are stored on Radio 3 net. A few of the prominent features available on the website are "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Mus ...

(streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control Meat Puppets albums 1983 albums SST Records albums