 "Photo: Courtesy Mudhoney")
Rock 'n' roll is not out to overthrow the Man. On the contrary, the Man gives rock 'n' roll a purpose: If there were no Man, what would there be to rebel against? Case in point: Seattle's post-hype survivors Mudhoney. In 1985, Seattle banned all-ages shows with the Teen Dance Ordinance in reaction to parents expressing anger that their kids were dancing at Monastery, a gay disco. Mark Arm, guitarist and vocalist for Mudhoney, saw this ordinance not as the end of the local scene, but as the spark of ingenuity it needed most.
"If you wanted to be in a band and play original music in Seattle at that time, you really had to want to do it," he said. "There was no thought of personal gain that was going to come from it. You're playing for small groups of people. Bands were free to try a bunch of stupid shit and a bunch of great shit and kinda figure out stuff for themselves."
If any rock band has been viewed with astounding (and baffling) romanticism and pity, it's Mudhoney. Some fans lament the fact that they were never as big as they should have been. If you say you knew about them before Nirvana got big, you'll be met with skepticism. There's also the mythology that the Seattle scene was a glorious reactionary front against Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi, but according to Arm, Mudhoney and their contemporaries just wanted to play some rock 'n' roll.
"We didn't think that we were creating a new movement," he said. "All that happened was that an existing thing got a new name."
Arm and his band members weren't content to pick on the hair bands either.
"It was also a reaction to everything that was going on in the pop world," he said. "It was a reaction to Michael Jackson and the Smiths."
The members of Mudhoney are truly "the lucky ones," which is why that phrase is the title of their new album. Much like Mudhoney's previous albums, the songs are distorted and gritty with a slight semblance of pop. One key difference, however, is that Arm decided to focus solely on vocals and not play guitar at all on Lucky. This direction came about when Arm toured with the remaining members of MC5, who Arm, in 2004, said still "kick out the jams."
"The rest of the guys in Mudhoney saw that and they enjoyed watching me hop around without a guitar," Arm said.
Not playing guitar provided a fun challenge for Arm.
"Usually when we write songs, the thing that come up first are the riffs, and we would just jam on stuff, and then later on I would put words to [it]," Arm said. "It seemed more of a challenge to come up with something on the spot, like a vocal instead of figuring out a place for a second guitar."
Mudhoney is playing Saturday at Emo's outside stage. Om and the Crackpipes will support.
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