Mudhoney
Mark Arm's band defined Sub Pop's early sound with raw, primitive punk-metal that refused to sand off its rough edges. 'Touch Me I'm Sick' became the template for grunge's lo-fi aesthetic and 'every band's secret favorite band.' When the hype around Seattle exploded, Arm sang what everyone was thinking: 'Everybody loves us/Everybody loves our town/That's why I'm thinking of leaving it/Don't believe in it now.../It's so overblown.' He was right. The scene was always smaller, scrappier, less impressive than the media suggested. Arm had been in Green River, the band that appeared on C/Z Records' Deep Six compilation in 1986 alongside Soundgarden and the Melvins. When Green River broke up in 1988, Arm formed Mudhoney with guitarist Steve Turner. Bruce Pavitt needed catalog copy for Green River's Dry as a Bone EP in 1988 and typed: 'Gritty vocals, roaring Marshall amps. Ultra-loose GRUNGE that destroyed the morals of a generation.' The word stuck to Arm. When Rolling Stone spoke with Green River's members years later, drummer Alex Shumway said: 'We just considered ourselves rock & roll guys who grew up on punk rock. We realized that there was some music that we liked before we became hardcore kids that we were afraid we listened to, but then we admitted we liked it. And we started making music like that.' Mudhoney never stopped making music like that.
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Superfuzz Bigmuff
Mudhoney's debut EP captured Sub Pop's raw, lo-fi aesthetic perfectly, with Mark Arm's snarling vocals and Steve Turner's feedback-drenched guitar defining grunge's sound. 'Touch Me I'm Sick' became the template for the scene's approach: primitive, aggressive, uncompromising. Between 1987 and 1989, Jack Endino produced seventy-five records for Sub Pop at Reciprocal Recording. He worked fast, used analog tape, captured the band's actual sound without digital trickery. Superfuzz Bigmuff was pure Endino: immediate, raw, lo-fi by choice. Mark Arm had been in Green River, the band Bruce Pavitt described as 'Ultra-loose GRUNGE' in his 1988 catalog copy. When Green River broke up, Arm formed Mudhoney with guitarist Steve Turner. They didn't smooth out the edges. When the hype around Seattle exploded, Arm sang what everyone was thinking: 'Everybody loves us/Everybody loves our town/That's why I'm thinking of leaving it/Don't believe in it now.../It's so overblown.' Superfuzz Bigmuff was released before the hype, when the scene was still small, scrappy, genuine. That's why it endures.