The Meat Puppets formed as a three-piece alternative rock band in Scottsdale, Arizona in January 1980, originally calling themselves the Bastions Of Immaturity. The Kirkwood brothers, Curt and Cris , played guitar and bass, respectively, and Derrick Bostrom played drums. They started calling themselves the Meat Puppets in June, 1980, after a song by Curt of the same name.

Their early works (the In a Car ep and Meat Puppets I lp) were wholeheartedly punk, with unintelligible vocals and often sloppy musicianship. These sounds gave way to psychedelia, acid rock, and quieter tunes alongside the western-style thrash on Meat Puppets II, and to more intricate and melodic songs on 1985's Up On the Sun. They were often grouped in to the grunge genre in the early 90's, due to the close ties to the popular grunge band Nirvana

Over the next decade, the Meat Puppets released a series of albums, both on SST Records and finally on major labels, which hearkened back to ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin. In 1994, the band found themselves suddenly popular when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain played "Plateau" and "Lake of Fire" (both originally from Meat Puppets II) among other songs with Curt and Cris on MTV.

1995's No Joke! was the final album recorded by the original Meat Puppets lineup. Derrick recorded a solo EP under the monicker Today's Sounds in 1996, and later on in 1999 took charge of re-issuing the Puppets' original seven records on Rykodisc as well as putting out their first live album, Live in Montana. Curt formed a new band in Austin, TX called the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra , but they changed their name to Meat Puppets to release Golden Lies in 2000 and Live in 2002.

In December of 2003, Cris Kirkwood was arrested for attacking a security guard at a post office with the guard's baton. The guard shot Kirkwood during the melee. Kirkwood was subsequently denied bail, the judge citing Kirkwood's previous drug arrests and parole violations. In August 2004 he was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Discography

See also

• List of alternative music artists
• List of musicians in the second wave of punk music

External links

• Meat Puppets official web site
• All Music Guide entry for Meat Puppets