SONGS YOU MUST HEAR BEFORE YOU DIE, Nº 1

MEAT PUPPETS - PLATEAU

Writer: Curt Kirkwood

Album: Meat Puppets II (1984)

They toured with Black Flag and recorded for the pioneering punk label SST, but the Meat Puppets were never really a hardcore band. Arizona kids raised on drugs and classic rock, their early shows were riotous, with the trio covering The Grateful Dead and Neil Young between their own haywire trash. Their second album replaced full-pelt hurtle with sun-damaged psychedelic country, steeped in classic songwriting but still brilliantly unique.

The Hardcore kids didn’t “get” Meat Puppets II, but Rolling Stone raved about it. And while the band never broke through to the mainstream, Kurt Cobain invited Curt and his brother Cris to Nirvana’s Unplugged session, from which covers of three of their songs (including “Plateau”) introduced the band to a new generation.