''No Joke!'' is the ninth studio album by 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 brothe ...

. The album was released on October 3, 1995, by

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

. It was the follow-up to the band's album '' Too High to Die'' and was the last Meat Puppets album with bassist Cris Kirkwood (until his reunion on 2007's '' Rise to Your Knees'') and drummer Derrick Bostrom (until 2019's '' Dusty Notes''). A video was filmed for the song "Scum", directed by

Dave Markey David Markey (born December 3, 1963, in Burbank, California, United States) is an American film director. Biography As a self-taught filmmaker and musician, David Markey directed, produced, edited, and photographed most of his films, the majorit ...

Artwork

The cover art "no joke" used on the album was originally created by Curt Kirkwood's daughter, which the band chose to use as the album's title and cover art.

Music

In September 2000, Al Shipley wrote that ''No Joke!'' had a "droning alt-metal sensibility".

Reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described ''No Joke!'' as an "average" Meat Puppets record, explaining that although the songs were "competent", it lacked the "wild spark" and "bizarre sense of humor" that characterized their 1980s work. Eric Flaum of ''

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

'' was more praising, awarding the album 4-out-of-5 stars and stating that ''No Joke!'' showed the band's creativity at "full throttle".

Track listing

All songs written by Curt Kirkwood except tracks 10 and 11 written by Cris Kirkwood.

Personnel

;Meat Puppets * Derrick Bostrom -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

s * Cris Kirkwood -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

s * Curt Kirkwood -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals, paintings ;Technical *

Paul Leary Paul Leary Walthall (born May 7, 1957), known as Paul Leary, is an American musician and music producer from Austin, Texas, best known as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist for the rock band Butthole Surfers Butthole Surfers ar ...

- producer

Chart performance

Album -

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

(North America)

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Meat Puppets albums London Records albums Albums produced by Paul Leary Grunge albums