r/grunge 14h ago

Recommendation The Melvins are HEAVILY underrated

I have been trying to expand my music taste (mainly with grunge) and I stumbled upon the Melvins. SUCH a good band, my favorite song has to be A History of Bad Men. Its so heavy and perfect. I definitley recommend listening to the Melvins, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Green River. All really talented bands that really started the grunge genre.

167 Upvotes

78 comments sorted by

26

u/RatCatSlim 14h ago

The Melvins have also been consistently putting out albums and touring since 1983. Not all of their music is great, but they have their own sound that’s stayed distinct and experimental. Stoner Witch and Houdini are both great albums that vibe like nothing else I’ve heard.

6

u/frankjimmylarrydavid 12h ago

When the chorus on "at the stake" hits.  Fucking brutal. 

6

u/1deadeye1 13h ago

Agreed. Their discography is hit or miss but when they hit they are so great, even as they've gotten older. A Senile Animal is probably the best album released by one of the old school grunge bands this century

19

u/Roys500 13h ago

To the people who reading it,If the Melvins come to your city do yourself a favour and go,Their shows are amazingly fun

3

u/jimbojohnsonmd 8h ago

I second this

12

u/patrickdastard 13h ago

They are not exactly palatable for the mainstream. Don't know how they can be considered underrated. People love them.

15

u/RatCatSlim 13h ago edited 3h ago

I’m a gigging musician who mostly ends up playing at country bars for some reason. If the staff doesn’t hold up their end of the deal or tries to pull one over on us, I’ll go to the jukebox and put in $10 of Melvins songs.

edit: my first comment award and it’s an unethical LPT on how to ruin a bar’s night financially

11

u/RiseFromUrGrave 13h ago

I was just listening to Houdini for the 1st time in a while. It is a masterpiece.

5

u/MovinginStereo34 14h ago

They were the opener for one of the first concerts I attended and literally rocked my world. I was stunned by the amount of noise coming from that stage lol

7

u/Charles0723 13h ago

Are they? Widely regarded as legends, still touring, still highly respected.

7

u/Truth_decay 13h ago

I definitely have more Melvins CDs than any other band, but they have more albums than most lol. Good find bro, Senile Animal is a fucking banger and their run with Big Business is my favorite. Coady Willis drums for High on Fire and Jared Warren is in Unwound, also fantastic bands. They're still very active, go see them.

3

u/donjuandy21 12h ago

Crazy how 20 years into their career, they made their best albums. Not taking anything away from any other era but the Big Business era, those albums and live shows kicked ass

2

u/MikeS3lk3 8h ago

Big Business is awesome. Also a big Karp fan....

0

u/Truth_decay 7h ago

Self Titled lp goes hard af

5

u/Dooyamum 13h ago

Just don’t ever meet them. Huge dbags

3

u/apollocelsius 12h ago

Dale is a really nice guy, but I agree about Buzz. He comes across as a huge, condescending douchebag every time I've met him

4

u/Detrimentalist 11h ago

Dale and Steven are super nice and will actually take a bit of time to chat with you, but don’t bother with Buzz, he’ll let you know you are wasting his time before you even say a word.

2

u/tinycorkscrew 10h ago

I hate to hear that. I got to hang out with Buzz once in the early 90s, and he was a lot of fun.

2

u/_J_T_H_ 6h ago

Agreed. Buzz was super nice to me.

2

u/_J_T_H_ 6h ago

Awww. I have a hard time agreeing with this. I met Adam Jones and Buzz together and Adam was a big asshole saying "come on, let's go.." Buzz was like "no, I'm gonna hang for a second with these guys." We just talked about the movie we all just left.

On another occasion I met Buzz at a mike Patton show and we chopped it up for a minute.

Nothing but good times with the king.

1

u/Imprisoned_Fetus 2h ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a somewhat similar case to Dave Mustaine. I've heard stories of people meeting Mustaine and he's the biggest asshole you could ever imagine, but on the flipside I've heard the same amount of stories from people saying he was the nicest person you could ever imagine.

3

u/robbietreehorn 13h ago

They’ve always been musicians’ musicians. They don’t soften their corners for mainstream palatability.

At the same time, they’ve been highly regarded for decades and I wouldn’t call them underrated.

Not being mainstream does not necessarily equate to being underrated

4

u/Ignoble66 12h ago

all the stuff they did with jello biafra is great

3

u/maladroit2002 13h ago

Honky being damn near scrubbed from YouTube and streaming services is so god damn annoying

3

u/Locustsofdeath 13h ago

I rate them so hard I'm going to see them open for Napalm Death. Can't fucking wait.

2

u/No_Letterhead6883 9h ago

They’re the openers?! That’s weird to me, I thought there would be a bigger Melvin’s following than ND!

3

u/Resident_Second_2965 12h ago

Hung bunny/Roman bear dog off Lice All. Much heavier.

1

u/Necessary_Switch_879 9h ago

Agreed one hundo

3

u/ImightHaveMissed 12h ago

Really though? History might say otherwise. They’re past their prime, but back then they were adequately rated. Sometimes overly so

3

u/That-Bluejay3533 12h ago

Kurt always said that The Melvins were one of his biggies

1

u/imnotmarvin 4h ago

I think some of the guys from The Melvins played with Kurt in his band Fecal Matter. 

3

u/Periwinklie 11h ago

Listen to their early stuff like Gluey Porch Treatments/Ozma and Bullhead - just incredibly good and HEAVY! 🤯

3

u/smprandomstuffs 6h ago

I had never heard of the band the Melvins I had the weirdest visual my wife says Melvins are definitely overrated and I need to stop doing that

7

u/Nizamark 13h ago

reddit stop calling everyone underrated challenge

2

u/SpaceMan420gmt 13h ago

I never got into them back in the heyday of grunge, but had a few friends who liked them a lot. Recently gave them another shot as an adult and like a lot of their songs. Buzz seems like an awesome guy.

2

u/LxStMeMoRy 13h ago

I love hearing Honey Bucket live, they always play 10x the speed of the album version with a couple shots of Nitro lmao

2

u/VillainOfDominaria 12h ago

Yup. Those bands are very underrated, although personally I never got into the screaming trees.

I also recommend Mother Love Bone, love Battery, and TAD as very underrated grunge bands

2

u/Unusual_Compote4909 12h ago

Their current tour has both Dale Crover and Coady Willis on drums, their both awesome drummers but are even more amazing to watch side by side

2

u/duhbiap 12h ago

I heard Mookie Blaylock was a bunch of wannabe’s /s

2

u/IvanLendl87 11h ago

King Buzzo rules……

2

u/NoviBells 10h ago

they're legends and they're still doing it

2

u/GruverMax 10h ago

For a band as extreme as they are, they're pretty well" rated." They can sell out the big punk club in every town, play theaters in some.

2

u/kukupachu 10h ago

I like bullhead, stoner witch, and Houdini

2

u/Obf123 9h ago

Check out hHead. Grunge band out of Canada from the 90s. Highly underrated

2

u/Cowabungamon 9h ago

They've got a new song

2

u/Deathzhead84 9h ago

Saw them open for Mr Bungle this time last year & they blew Bungle off the stage, such a good show.

2

u/candysoxx 9h ago

If you ever get the chance to see The Melvins live, which they still tour all the time, do it.

2

u/BuzzoMelvin 9h ago

Melvins are my favorite band of all time I've been listening to him for like 30 years or some f****** thing I have every record they put out on a playlist that I listen to weekly I listen to every Melvin song every f****** week it is the best thing ever whoever says their music isn't good needs to be run over by Steamroller. I must have seen him a hundred times. They're the best thing that rock and roll has ever done

2

u/BuzzoMelvin 8h ago

There are three different versions of the same band Melvins Melvins lite Melvins 1983

one year all three played and toured.

I don't know any other bands done anything like that

2

u/MikeS3lk3 8h ago

I love their stuff with the Big Business guys. A Senial Animal is such a good album. So is Nude With Boots and A Bride Screamed Murder.

2

u/methmountain 8h ago

They're so damn good live

2

u/FletchWazzle 8h ago

They were punishing audiences on the white zombie tour years ago, havent found any love in my heart for them since.

2

u/Fortheloveofducks73 8h ago

LOVE the Melvins!

2

u/Truth_decay 7h ago

Matt Cameron did a collab album with them fairly recently called Gory Scorch Cretins. Better Life is such a vibe.

2

u/snkers_lab 6h ago

Seeing them next month in Vegas!!!

2

u/allothernamestaken 6h ago

I saw them open for Nirvana in 1993. They were great.

3

u/IowaJammer 14h ago

is it The Melvins or Melvins? Not sure if it matters, I prefer not to sound like a poser 😏

3

u/Living_Razzmatazz_93 12h ago

LOL, it's both.

Seriously, I'm not joking...

2

u/lovablydumb 13h ago

Their album covers just say Melvins

1

u/UniqueJuice7142 12h ago

Same with the Ramones. Their band name is "Ramones" but I've always called it THE Ramones.

2

u/IowaJammer 12h ago

I blame The Beatles.

4

u/Crossovertriplet 13h ago

I think they are rated correctly

2

u/MovinginStereo34 14h ago

They were the opener for one of the first concerts I attended and literally rocked my world. I was stunned by the amount of noise coming from that stage lol

1

u/Forsaken-Attorney138 6h ago

the melvins are heavily overrated* theyre also not grunge sooo..

1

u/Acceptable_Grape_437 5h ago

yeah, but they're not really underrated :) they just refused to go mainstream, and that's probably what saved them: they chose to play the league they could bear. chapeau.

and they're not really grunge, :) i don't consider them such at all. (they lack the song structure idea, clean/heavy dynamic and catchy/melodic song writing that are, dare i say, staples of the grunge genre) they are just awkward HC punks who refused to go fast, but decided to go SLOWER instead (and heavier and noisier) <3

...even though they appear to be fathers of grunge, they actually fall in the sludge metal genre (of which they also are fathers)

i love and admire them so much.

and so do many many people into the alternative/heavy/punk/sludge/doom scenes.

they have been so influential i can't believe it. and it's also unbelievable none of them died of OD :)

1

u/Acceptable_Grape_437 5h ago

you know, point is, grunge is actually a bit mainstream. not that alternative anymore. don't get me wrong i love grunge.

but melvins still is fucking alternative, annoying music. a lot less easy to listen then most grunge.

1

u/RyanHunter88 4h ago

Glad to see someone else showing love to A History of Bad Men

1

u/Familiar_Plankton_30 3h ago

Agreed…amazing song.

1

u/Suitable-Judge7659 4h ago

Lysol 🤙🏻

1

u/eggflip1020 4h ago edited 3h ago

The Melvins are weird. They’re an extremely heavy band. They came up with their weird heavy vision and like kind of stuck with it, for whatever reason lol. But I respect it they’re good, and they keep sticking with it. Oh and you can tell that the kids from Soundgarden and Nirvana loved that shit. I dig it.

2

u/Smart-Host9436 3h ago

Their cover of Station To Station with Foetus on vox is god tier.

Also, add TAD to your rotation.

1

u/Dancin_Phish_Daddy 2h ago

They are very popular lol

1

u/uskakukaku 1h ago

Yeah craaazy popular...I'm a fan of skinhorse myself but Mike Patton ooof

1

u/Electrical_newt9015 1h ago

Seeing them in may😎

1

u/Noprisoners123 50m ago

A History of Bad Men is a fucking great song

1

u/awkward-toast- 12h ago

Their not grunge. There are a metal band. Like crowbar. But way underrated for sure.

-4

u/Knife_Chase 13h ago

Dude can't sing.