Prick (Melvins album)
Prick | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | August 5, 1994 | |||
Recorded | April 1994 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 43:31 | |||
Label | Amphetamine Reptile | |||
Producer | Melvins | |||
Melvins chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Select | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Prick is the sixth studio album by the Melvins which was released in 1994 through Amphetamine Reptile Records under the name ƧИIV⅃ƎM. It has been said that because the Melvins already had a contract with Atlantic Records, Prick was released with the band name in mirror writing.
Background
[edit]The album displays a distinctly experimental quality, with an eclectic selection including field recordings, electronic effects and loops, band jam sessions, a stereotypical drum solo that segues into an archetypal heavy metal guitar solo, and a track that's introduced as "pure digital silence"—followed by silence for a minute. Singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne has stated that Prick is "a total noise crap record we did strictly for the weirdness factor. Complete and utter nonsense, a total joke."[5]
The band claimed that they wanted to call the album Kurt Kobain but changed it after Cobain's death to eliminate the possibility of people mistaking it for a tribute record. They implied that Cobain, a friend and collaborator since their teenage years in rural Washington, was actually the titular "prick", because he died and therefore forced them to change the album's name.[6]
Select called it an experimental collection of "nosies, snippets and rhythm tracks overlaid with church bells, which under no account could be defined as influenced by Black Sabbath – four minutes of humming amps in front of a restless live audience. They'd've cheered if it was Neil Young."[2] Trouser Press critic Ira Robbins wrote: "Among the eleven formless tracks are newsreel interviews, acoustic and demi-electric jams that go until the tape runs out, ambient noise, church bells and anything else left lying around an English studio."[7]
Track listing
[edit]All songs written by The Melvins.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "How About" | 4:15 |
2. | "Rickets" | 1:20 |
3. | "Pick It n' Flick It" | 1:39 |
4. | "Montreal" | 4:09 |
5. | "Chief Ten Beers" | 6:28 |
6. | "Underground" | 2:19 |
7. | "Chalk People" | 1:16 |
8. | "Punch the Lion" | 3:14 |
9. | "Pure Digital Silence" | 1:32 |
10. | "Larry" | 2:59 |
11. | "Roll Another One" | 14:20 |
Personnel
[edit]Additional personnel
[edit]- Konstantin Johannes - engineer
- Mackie Osborne - art
References
[edit]- ^ Bromfield, Daniel (April 27, 2016). "Holy Hell! Stag Turns 20". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
- ^ a b c "Soundbites". Select: 106. October 1994. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
- ^ AllMusic review
- ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 261. ISBN 0-7535-0427-8.
- ^ Guitar World (1995). "The Father the Son and the Holy Grunge". Interview. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
- ^ Brian Walsby (1994). "MASSIVE MELVINS INTERVIEW FROM THE PRE-"STONER WITCH" ERA". Interview. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
- ^ Robbins, Ira. "Melvins". Trouser Press. Retrieved September 5, 2024.