35 years on, Mudhoney are as feral and incisive and sarcastic as ever

Plastic Eternity is the 11th studio album for Sub Pop’s flagship band Mudhoney

By Everett True
( Classic Rock )
published
Mudhoney: Plastic Eternity cover art
(Image: © Sub Pop)

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The album titles give the game away: Flush The Fascists, Cascades Of Crap, Severed Dreams In The Sleeper Cell: Mudhoney are still – if not more – pissed off about everything, the layers and sewers of shit that swamp everyday life, guitars howling and wailing dissatisfaction, singer Mark Arm’s howl as feral and incisive and sarcastic as ever. 

Here Comes Sickness the Seattle stalwarts sang over three decades ago, and here it is in 2023, rubbing its disease and despair in your face. 

It’s been 35 years of Sub Pop, 35 years of Mudhoney and 35 years of grunge/whatever you want to call it babe, but no one wants to remove their foot from the Big Muff any time soon. 

Shades Of Dead Moon and The Scientists, US 80s hardcore litter tracks like Plasticity and the monstrous swirl of lead single Almost Everything but Mudhoney remain their own, inherent force of nature. 

Everett True
Everett True

Everett True started life as The Legend!, publishing the fanzine of that name and contributing to NME. Subsequently he wrote for some years for Melody Maker, for whom he wrote seminal pieces about Nirvana and others. He was the co-founder with photographer Steve Gullick of Careless Talk Costs Lives, a deliberately short-lived publication designed to be the antidote to the established UK music magazines.