''Skin Yard'' is the first studio album by the band

Skin Yard Skin Yard was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on several of their grunge contemporaries, including Soundgarden, Screaming ...

. In January 1987, 1400 vinyl copies were released by

C/Z Records C/Z Records was a Seattle-based punk rock record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale. It started with the release of '' Deep Six'' which collected the earliest recordings of what later came to be known as ...

, mostly on translucent sand-colored vinyl, the rest on standard black vinyl to be played by radio DJs. This recording was the first engineering project by

Jack Endino Jack Endino (born Michael M. Giacondino; 1964) is an American producer and musician based in Seattle, Washington. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands including Mudhoney, ...

who was also the band's guitarist. Endino went on to record many of the most successful grunge records in Seattle.''Jack Endino's official Skin Yard site''
/ref> All of the lyrics were written by vocalist Ben McMillan. Bassist Daniel House designed the album layout, and Beth Hendrickson painted artwork for the front cover. Performance photographs on the back cover were taken by Cam Garrett. The album was copyrighted in 1986 by Skin Yard, but not issued until January 1987. In 1992, the album was re-released on CD by

Cruz Records Cruz Records was an offshoot record label of SST Records, owned by the Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. The label was founded in 1987. Its roster consisted mainly of pop punk and grunge bands, along with Ginn's solo records. The label has rema ...

with one song removed and seven songs added, and at the same time it was released again on vinyl with fewer songs than the CD.

1987 vinyl track listing

;Side A

# "Reptile" – 3:00 # "Skins in My Closet" – 6:15 # "Epitaph For Yesterday" – 4:22 # "The Blind Leading The Blind" – 5:33 ;Side B

# "Scratch" – 3:30 # "Burning the Candle" – 6:00 # "Dear Deceased" – 3:35 # "Stuck in a Plan" – 3:31 # "Jabberwocky" – 2:25

1992 re-release

#"Skins in My Closet" (music by Endino, lyrics by McMillan) #"Reptile" (music by Cameron, lyrics by McMillan) #"Epitaph for Yesterday" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) #"The Blind Leading the Blind" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) #"Scratch" (music by Endino, lyrics by McMillan) #"Dear Deceased" (music by Endino, lyrics by McMillan) #"Stuck in a Plan" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) #"Jabberwocky" (music by Skin Yard, lyrics by McMillan) #"Gelatin Babies" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD and reissue vinyl only) #"Bleed" (music by House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD and reissue vinyl only) #"Out of the Attic" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only) #"Skinstruction" (music by Cameron and Endino, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only) #"Red Tension" (music by Cameron, Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only) #"The Birds" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only) #" She Shook Me Cold" (

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

cover, recorded live - CD only)

Personnel

*Ben McMillan — vocals, saxophone *

— guitars, engineering * Daniel House — bass *

Matt Cameron Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986. He appeared on each of ...

— drums, percussion *Jason Finn — drums on "Bleed" and "Out of the Attic"

References

{{Authority control Skin Yard albums 1987 debut albums C/Z Records albums Cruz Records albums Albums produced by Matt Cameron