When I heard that Mudhoney was playing Miami I jumped up with glee. Like a little skank tween Britney Spears fan; the idea of one of my favorite bands performing after 13 years of silently head-banging in my room to
Touch Me I'm Sick,
1995 and
In N' Out of Grace or trying to mimic their guitar parts on my Epiphone SG finally paid off Saturday Night as Mudhoney took the stage at Churchill's Pub.
It was as the last 13 years of singing along to LPs and memorizing every musical change in the bands catalog was just part of more than a decades practice to follow the band as they performed live. The air was thick and the fuzz even thicker, these guys were fucking better than their own albums which is unbelievable to even conceive. Mark Arm and company dominated the stage and showed every spectator why they're considered Rock n' Roll Gods.
I remember reading years ago this interview with Mark Arm where he said that "the Nirvana guys would open Mudhoney's tour van and carry all their heavy equipment after shows and basically kiss their ass", I never quite understood this ego trip remark made by Arm in the interview until Saturday. Shit even Kurt Cobain must've questioned his own worth when Mudhoney took the stage.
It's been said that Mudhoney should've gotten all the attention Nirvana did. The problem is that you can't bottle and market Mudhoney like you can all the radio friendly shit from the early 90's. The closest the band got was "Piece of Cake" their major label debut, as a matter of fact with a song called "Suck You Dry". But they were too much of the real deal for MTV or Rolling Stone. Nevertheless, I'm just glad they played Miami. I can now die happy. Well after Sonic Youth rolls around here.. then yeah. Jesus take me to higher place!
-chuck
photo credit: Nick Helderman
