Melvins Songs Ranked
The Melvins are an American rock band formed in 1983, in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. They have mostly performed as a trio, as well as a quartet with either two drummers/bassists in recent years. Since 1984, vocalist and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been constant members. The band was named after a supervisor at a Thriftway in Montesano, where Osborne also worked as a clerk; “Melvin” was disliked by other employees, and the band’s members felt it to be an appropriately ridiculous name. Here are all of Melvins’ songs ranked.
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20. Hung Bunny (Lysol, 1992)
“I’ll given the Melvins one thing: they’re a dang consistent band. Lysol offers up more tasty Melvins sludge metal in the style of the preceding Bullhead, leading off with the epic and doomy as hell (to the point where it borders on drone metal) Hung Bunny.”
19. It’s Shoved (Bullhead, 1991)
“Despite what some people say, Bullhead has a surprising range of melvins songs, from the slow to midtempo, to the almost radio-friendly “It’s Shoved”.
18. Rat Faced Granny ((A) Senile Animal, 2006)
“When the Melvins hit, they hit hard. You didn’t need to read this far into the review to know that. But when they don’t gauge themselves, they can easily run into excess that is mediocre at best. Hey, when you’re having fun with two drummers, sometimes the gauge gets tossed out the window.”
17. Stop Moving to Florida (Pinkus Abortion Technician, 2018)
“The song slides into a pretty straight reading of the Butthole Surfers “Moving to Florida”. It’s okay – the fact is, it’s almost impossible to beat the original, even with a Butthole on deck (this track is from the upcoming Pinkus Abortion Technician, featuring Jeff Pinkus).”
See more: Melvins Albums Ranked
16. Sky Pup (Houdini, 1993)
“Sky Pup” is horrendously unlistenable, sounding like some other band’s song was accidentally added onto a Melvins album, but fortunately it is an aberration after which normal service is resumed.”
15. Civilized Worm ((A) Senile Animal, 2006)
“Civilized Worm is exemplary in post-sludge musicianship – carrying as it does a great heavy rhythm section, Buzzo’s typical apocalyptic-croons, and a great drum track that reveals at times how close to bursting at the seams the chaos under the surface is – especially towards the end of the track which becomes somewhat of a free-improve session.”
14. Queen (Stoner Witch, 1994)
“Queen”, justifies buying the disc — a very heavy, downtempo thing, with Buzz howling at his absolute best on vocals and guitar. Download this song from somewhere — description can’t do it justice. This is one of those songs that gives proof to Nirvana’s claim that they were heavily influenced by the Melvins (notwithstanding that Dale played drums on some of Nirvana’s first album).”
13. The Talking Horse ((A) Senile Animal, 2006)
“The twin-drum effect and the harmonic vocals from Warren (I assume) give the Melvins a fresh sound, fusing with those monster Black Flag/Sabbath riffs and Buzzo’s distinctive howl. It all sets off swimmingly with The Talking Horse, which showcases the twin-drum set-up wonderfully – like the majority of the album this is a song relatively to the point and located in the 2 to 3 minute duration (six of the songs in total).”
12. Set Me Straight (Houdini, 1993)
“The beginning of set me straight was like a breath of fresh air after being suffocated for 7 long minutes after listening. It’s an album of great highs and lows, and while I really unfortunately dig that Alice in Chains-esque harmony on Set Me Straight, I can’t help but feel that many of their more dedicated fans found that to be a bit of a sell-out point.”
11. At the Stake (Stoner Witch, 1994)
“This may be my favorite Melvins album & it definitely has my favorite Melvins song on it “At The Stake”. Not sure why the album isn’t well liked by Melvins fans – it has some great songs.”
10. Going Blind (Houdini, 1993)
“I think this is an amazing killer track. Should be up there on number 1. It’s very melodic and seems to have a good meaning. Reminds me of Iron Maiden slowed down a ton.”
9. Lizzy (Houdini, 1993)
“Lizzy” is really, really awesome, but the rest is some kind of Hardcore. The acoustics on a track like “Lizzy”, which is really well done and could be part of a sweet song, is foreboding in this context. The electric guitars erupt on them often and there’s a nice contrast between the two styles of guitar.”
8. Hag Me (Houdini, 1993)
“Osborne developed a speaking-shouting style around this time, which goes perfectly with the marching instrumentals, like on Hag Me, which is one of their best songs ever. It just feels ANGRY, makes you wanna shout. Very good stuff.”
7. The Bit (Stag, 1996)
“The song “the bit” sounds just like Korn to me it is followed by the album version of “the bit” (who cares?), after that, you’ll hear “Tipping the Lion” with a constant high noise, which sucks totally. The last track is a improvisation of Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive. Well this is the only “good” song. (It’s not a really good impro)”
See more: Screaming Trees Albums Ranked
6. A History of Bad Men ((A) Senile Animal, 2006)
“It slows right down with a near-perfect stoner-doom track – A History of Bad Men that really exemplifies the grunge-tinged west-coast stoner rock that the Melvins flawlessly crafted.”
5. Night Goat (Houdini, 1993)
“Songs like “Night Goat” make this album catchy, with blurry hooks coming out of the noise and distortion that surrounds Melvin’s albums. “Night Goat” is an instant classic, and the Kiss cover is very impressive.”
4. Revolve (Stoner Witch, 1994)
“Revolve” may sound like a warped Metallica song but its catchy hook and balls to the walls instrumentals give it just as much kick as tracks like “Lizzy” did.”
3. Hooch (Houdini, 1993)
“Houdini opens with “Hooch,” which could easily be the greatest thing in the Melvins’ discography. Hooch was the very first Melvin’s song I ever heard and I can remember not liking it a whole lot at first but once I started listening to more I was hooked.
2. Boris (Bullhead, 1991)
“The ultra-slow sludge-doom mega-mountain Boris opens the show with eight minutes of brutal subsonic riffing with bizarre guitar noises serving as kind of a solo. It’s like a vastly improved version of the Old Testament of Sludge – that is, side B of Black Flag’s My War. It also served as the namesake of the world’s favorite Japanese noise-metallers!”
1. Honey Bucket (Houdini, 1993)
In “Honey Bucket”. we’ve got a furious drum performance inspiring the guitars to rev higher and higher. When the adrenalized intro settles down to a more manageable pace, a James Hetfield sort of voice takes the mic. And by that, I mean the “good” Hetfield of Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets… his style more developed and powerful, and not yet curiously affected as in Metallica’s 90’s repertoire.”