''Mr. Bungle'' is the debut studio album by American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band Mr. Bungle. It was released on August 13, 1991, through

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. The album contains many genre shifts which are typical of the band, and helped increase the band's popularity, gaining them a cult following.

Content

The album cover features artwork by Dan Sweetman, originally published in the story, "A Cotton Candy Autopsy" in the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Piranha Press Piranha Press, an imprint of DC Comics from 1989 to 1994, was a response by DC to the growing interest in alternative comics. The imprint was edited by Mark Nevelow, who instead of developing comics with the established names in the alternative co ...

imprint title '' Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children''. The album mixes a variety of musical styles, including

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

, circus music, heavy metal,

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

, and funk.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

called it a "dizzying, disconcerting, schizophrenic tour through just about any rock style the group can think of, hopping from genre to genre without any apparent rhyme or reason, and sometimes doing so several times in the same song." The website described

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...

's lyrics as "even more bizarrely humorous than those he used in Faith No More", and "also less self-censored". At the time, the band's label Warner promoted the record as being Mike Patton's "seriously weird new project". The lyrics in the album are broad in themes, ranging from more comedic tones to dark and sexual references. "Slowly Growing Deaf" was "inspired by the ironic need to wear earplugs while listening to music and also people’s inability to listen", according to bassist

Trevor Dunn Trevor Roy Dunn (born January 30, 1968) is an American composer, bass guitarist, and double bassist. He came to prominence in the 1990s with the experimental band Mr. Bungle. While performing with Mr. Bungle, Dunn would dress similar to the ...

, and also marked as the first song in the "Sleep" trilogy, with parts two and three being featured on the band’s second album. "Squeeze Me Macaroni" is a song featuring strong sexual themes being illustrated through food metaphors. "Egg" is about

asociality Asociality refers to the lack of motivation to engage in social interaction, or a preference for solitary activities. Asociality may be associated with avolition, but it can, moreover, be a manifestation of limited opportunities for social relati ...

. "Stubb (A Dub)" is about

Trey Spruance Preston Lea "Trey" Spruance III (born August 14, 1969) is an American composer, producer, and musician who co-founded the experimental rock band Mr. Bungle. He is also leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3. Originally a guitarist an ...

's dog, Stubb. "The Girls of Porn" is about pornography and masturbation. "Love is a Fist" is about domestic violence. "Dead Goon" is about an asphixiophile, whose actions leads to the narrator’s death due to asphixiation. Quotes from David Lynch's 1986 film '' Blue Velvet'' are strewn throughout the album.

Critical reception and legacy

The album received mixed reviews upon release. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' gave the album a negative review, writing "Adjectives like 'puerile' and 'unlistenable' take on entirely new dimensions when applied to ''Mr. Bungle''". ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' called it "one of the most ambitiously random, fractious records in recent memory" and "one of the finest records of its kind". In 2015, Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer praised the album, stating "I loved their last album, ''California'', but their self-titled debut had the biggest impact on me. There’s a song on there called "Love Is a Fist" that's fucking crushing. That set the tone for us and what we went on to do creatively. They were completely outside the box and just didn't care – they satisfied only themselves. It wasn't about record sales, it was just about creating a band."

Mike Portnoy Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American musician who is primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. In September 2010, Portnoy announced his departure ...

, former drummer of

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

band Dream Theater named ''Mr. Bungle'' as one of his 10 favorite

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

albums of all time, as he wrote "It actually scared the shit out of me the first time I heard it. I literally had never heard anything that twisted and evil and joyful. It was just the most bizarre hour I had ever spent listening to music." Synyster Gates, from the hard rock band

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance ...

, named the album as "one of the most incredible pieces of music ehas ever heard in islife". In 2021,

Incubus An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...

vocalist

Brandon Boyd Brandon Charles Boyd (born February 15, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, author and visual artist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the American rock band Incubus, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums. In a ...

stated that he was a fan of the album when it was first released, remarking that he loved how "irreverent and disgusting and scary the music was."

Track listing

All songs credited to Mr. Bungle. Actual writers below, according to ASCAP. Three more songs ("Mr Nice Guy", "Thunderball" and "Platypus") were also recorded for the album, but were cut at the last minute: "Platypus" later appeared on the band's second album, ''Disco Volante''.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Mr. Bungle

– vocals, keyboards, production (credited as 'Vlad Drac') *

– guitars, keyboards, production (credited as 'Scummy') *

– bass, production (credited as 'Trevor Roy Dunn') * Clinton McKinnon –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

, production (credited as 'Bär') *

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

– alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, production (credited as 'Theobald Brooks Lengyel') *

Danny Heifetz Danny Heifetz (born 1964 in New York City) is an American musician who is perhaps best known for being the drummer for American experimental rock group, Mr. Bungle from 1989, until their disbandment in 2000. Heifetz also plays trumpet, guitar, ...

– drums, production (credited as 'Heifetz')

Additional personnel

* Yeesus Krist – backing vocals * Maximum Bob – backing vocals * Kahli – backing vocals * Jennifer – backing vocals * David Shea –

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

* John Zorn – alto saxophone on "Love Is a Fist", production

Technical personnel

* Matt Murman – engineering assistance, digital editing *

David Bryson Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mi ...

– engineering, mixing * Bob Ludwig – mastering * Troy Blakely – management * Stan Diamond – legal representation * Kristin Yee – band management * Anthony Lee – album sleeve design * Lisa Wells – band logo

typeset Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random H ...

* David Louapre – album cover and interior art * Dan Sweetman – cover and interior art * Jay Marshall – cover and interior art * P. Earwig – inside double panel art

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1991 debut albums Albums produced by John Zorn Funk metal albums Mr. Bungle albums Ska punk albums Third wave ska albums Warner Records albums