SLCene Suggests: The Meat Puppets at The State Room

THE MEAT PUPPETS, THE STATE ROOM, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 8 p.m., $17

There’s no mincing words when it comes to my feelings about the Meat Puppets. Simply put, they are one of my Top 5 all-time favorite bands, a desert island pick, a must-listen every time they put out a new album–and they have been all that for me for more than 20 years. And even though I started listening to them heavily while I was in college, even then I felt like I was late to the party because they were one of the important American punk bands on SST Records in the early ’80s, touring alongside The Minutemen, Husker Du and Black Flag, and had already delivered their acknowledged classic, Meat Puppets II. Some of the songs from that album were covered by Nirvana on their Unplugged in New York set, accompanied by the Puppets’ Kirkwood brothers, and the band had some mainstream/MTV success when “grunge” exploded thanks to that Nirvana assist and the catchy-as-hell “Backwater.” I’m of the opinion that Curt Kirkwood is one of the best rock guitar players I’ve ever seen, and albums like Up on the Sun, Too High to Die and the more recent Lollipop and this year’s Rat Farm show that II was no one-shot classic. I go see the band every chance I get, and I suggest if you’ve never seen them, The State Room is the perfect place to change that. The might fine local cat Cory Mon opens the show.