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The band that grunge forgot >> Mudhoney's Marc Arm is one happy sap, regardless by ADAM GOLLNER
"Hah. We never had a hit. It probably would've been 'Touch Me I'm Sick,'" says vocalist Marc Arm. For any non-initiates to the Mudhoney sound, a pretty good starting place is the Stooges' Motor City desperation and two-chord crystal-meth teenaged blues abstractions. Although the physical similarities between Arm (especially now that he's lost his trademark long blonde hair-don't) and a mid-'80s Iggy Pop are striking, re-enacting Iggy's legacy of debauchery has never been too high up on Arm's personal agenda. "I mean, it's pretty tough to even be another Ron," he says, referring to Ron Asheton, original Stooges guitar genius and utter LSD disaster case. "I recently recorded a soundtrack (Velvet Goldmine) with Thurston Moore, Steve Shelley, Mike Watt and Ron Asheton. We did some Stooges covers and Ron wrote two songs that I put the words to. That was sort of like getting a lifetime achievement award, to play with Ron." While Arm admits that Mudhoney's central cortex is located "somewhere in the first two Stooges albums, "I think it extends beyond Detroit's city limits. Whether it's the Russ Meyer name-dropping, the Peter Fonda Wild Angels samples ("We want to be free to get loaded!"), guitarist Steve Turner's cool label Super-Electro, their constant championing of both Ed Fotheringham's casino-chic artwork and British renaissance idiot-savant Billy Childish, or just Arm's combination nasal drone/sneer, there's always been some elusive element that elevated Mudhoney above the other Seattle-ites' self-pitying and oft-maudlin wallowings. "I think we're part of a tradition of punk rock with a small 'p,' that starts with total hillbilly rockabilly kind of stuff to really rough '60s garage bands. There's this undercurrent of stuff that's been goin' on the whole time. If anything, we're part of that tradition." They were also undeniably part of the grunge tradition. What are the etymological origins of that humiliating term, anyway? "I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean. When that word was first being thrown around, it was just used to describe a guitar sound. I think the earliest usage of the word that we can decipher is from a '70s reissue of Johnny Burnett and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio talking about the 'grungy' sound of the guitar. So to me, grunge is rockabilly." Fuzz blasts, fashion explosion And what was it like, in retrospect, to live through the grunge phenomenon? "It's funny to me that anything I was involved with was even somehow barely connected to some huge international fashion explosion," he laughs. "I don't feel there's a place for us in popular music. I don't care. It's not like we're striving to have a hit single." Despite the lack of commercial viability, their authentic U.S. fuzz-blasts have rubbed off on countless talentless whiffets. Most of today's garage scene is indebted to Mudhoney. "A lot of it seems really studied and kind of fake, which is distressing. I really hate the schtickiness of some of the bands, like wearing masks and all that shit. It's kind of depressing." The undeniable influence they've extended over Nirvana and the Courtney Love sham also springs instantly to mind. Arm isn't remotely bitter at their success--he simply can't envision Mudhoney being a part of it. "I can't even imagine what it would be like. It just isn't even a possibility." But hang on, sloopy. If "Touch Me I'm Sick," a difficult-to-find SubPop single, was their biggest "hit," then what's the deal? Where's the contempt, resentment and frustration at all the lost opportunities? There's just no room in the Arm cosmology for regrets. He's too busy getting precisely what he always wanted out of rock 'n' roll: a good time. He recently wrote a song called "This Is the Life." But does stardom get Mudhoney laid? "Well, three quarters of the band are married. So, yeah, we get laid. It's not stardom that gets it for us, though." Arm once sang, "I've lost my mind about a million times, still ain't sure what I'm looking for." Does he still feel the same? "I think I'm probably happier now than I've ever been. I'm pretty content with where my life's at. I've learned a few things and I know where I'm at. Actually, I don't know if I've learned a damned thing with the Mudhoney experience (prolonged chuckling)." Like he says on the new LP: "There's no way out, I have to laugh." Hah!
At Cabaret, Monday, October 26,
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Remember shorts with longjohns underneath? Goatees, toques, plaid flannel? The Singles soundtrack? Mudhoney were there, charlie. They even recorded a version of "Baby Got Back" with Sir-Mix-A-Lot. Everybody knows Mudhoney, right? So what was their biggest hit?