Melvins
The Melvins were founded in 1984 in Seattle as a punk rock group, named after a fellow who was caught stealing Christmas trees. They now have their own very distinctive sound, which ranges from impossibly ugly metal to frantic psychobilly riffage. The Melvins' sludge was inspirational to the band Nirvana and many other Seattle-area bands, around 1988; the younger bands took the Black Sabbath-styled heaviness of the Melvins and added an important dose of pop song structure, which the group tended to lack.
While all of their disciples became famous after Nirvana broke big in 1991 (including Mudhoney, who featured former Melvins bassist, Matt Lukin), the Melvins only expanded their cult slightly. In addition to their Melvins activities, Buzz Osbourne joined Mike Patton (and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn) for the experimental outfit Fantômas, resulting in a pair of releases thus far (1999's Fantômas debut and 2001's The Director's Cut), while the Melvins' latest bassist, Kevin Rutmanis, joined Mike Patton in another side project, Tomahawk.
More recently, the Melvins were a major inspiration to the appropriately-labelled "sludge metal" scene of New Orleans.
Referenced By
1989 in music | 1990s in music | 1991 in music | 1993 in music | 1997 in music | 2000s in music | 2003 in music | Bullhead (album) | Fantômas | GrungE | Grunge Music | List of best grunge music albums | List of definitive grunge albums | List of grunge albums | List of grunge music albums | List of most influential grunge albums | List of most notable grunge albums | Mike Patton | Mudhoney | No Code | No Code (album) | Ozma | Seattle Sound | Timeline of trends in music (1990-present)
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