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Prick (Melvins album)

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Prick
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 5, 1994
RecordedApril 1994
Genre
Length43:31
LabelAmphetamine Reptile
ProducerMelvins
Melvins chronology
Houdini
(1993)
Prick
(1994)
Stoner Witch
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
Select[2]

Prick is the sixth studio album by the Melvins which was released in 1994 through Amphetamine Reptile Records under the name ƧИIV⅃ƎM. It has been said that because the Melvins already had a contract with Atlantic Records, Prick was released with the band name in mirror writing.

Background

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The album displays a distinctly experimental quality, with an eclectic selection including field recordings, electronic effects and loops, band jam sessions, a stereotypical drum solo that segues into an archetypal heavy metal guitar solo, and a track that's introduced as "pure digital silence"—followed by silence for a minute. Singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne has stated that Prick is "a total noise crap record we did strictly for the weirdness factor. Complete and utter nonsense, a total joke."[5]

The band claimed that they wanted to call the album Kurt Kobain but changed it after Cobain's death to eliminate the possibility of people mistaking it for a tribute record. They implied that Cobain, a friend and collaborator since their teenage years in rural Washington, was actually the titular "prick", because he died and therefore forced them to change the album's name.[6]

Select called it an experimental collection of "noises, snippets and rhythm tracks overlaid with church bells, which under no account could be defined as influenced by Black Sabbath – four minutes of humming amps in front of a restless live audience chanting for Primus. They'd've cheered if it was Neil Young."[2] Trouser Press critic Ira Robbins wrote: "Among the eleven formless tracks are newsreel interviews, acoustic and demi-electric jams that go until the tape runs out, ambient noise, church bells and anything else left lying around an English studio."[7]

Track listing

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All songs written by The Melvins.

No.TitleLength
1."How About"4:15
2."Rickets"1:20
3."Pick It n' Flick It"1:39
4."Montreal"4:09
5."Chief Ten Beers"6:28
6."Underground"2:19
7."Chalk People"1:16
8."Punch the Lion"3:14
9."Pure Digital Silence"1:32
10."Larry"2:59
11."Roll Another One"14:20

Personnel

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Additional personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Bromfield, Daniel (April 27, 2016). "Holy Hell! Stag Turns 20". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Soundbites". Select: 106. October 1994. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  3. ^ AllMusic review
  4. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 261. ISBN 0-7535-0427-8.
  5. ^ Guitar World (1995). "The Father the Son and the Holy Grunge". Interview. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  6. ^ Brian Walsby (1994). "MASSIVE MELVINS INTERVIEW FROM THE PRE-"STONER WITCH" ERA". Interview. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  7. ^ Robbins, Ira. "Melvins". Trouser Press. Retrieved September 5, 2024.