Groovy Tunes: Mr. Bungle by Mr. Bungle (Patreon)

Someone pledged for me to talk about this band on the next Echo Pod but that was already recorded so i just went ahead and gave it the full Groovy Tunes treatment. If you've never listened to this album or never heard of this band it's my honor to be your introduction. 

This viciously experimental, avant garde, heavy metal acid nightmare/explosive jazz monster party / circus clown panic attack was released in 1991, and in 2007 it got me and my friends through a lot of boring high school classes we'd rather pass headphones around than pay attention to. 

There's a lot to love about this electric musical freak show. I remember hearing the first track for the first time and having my fucking brains blown out of my ass in a combination of mortal terror and manic hysteria. That song has basically been playing nonstop in the dark corners of my mind ever since, but it was especially fun revisiting this album for all the deep cuts i didn't remember as well. I don't know about you but IT'S NOT FUNNY, MY ASS IS ON FIIIIIREE is probably the most relatable lyric in all of music for me. 

There's so much exuberant energy and raw uncompromising creativity throughout every minute of this album's runtime. It's the kind of album you can listen to a thousand times and always find new things to zerk you off or get totally freaked out to. Despite being complete pandemonium and a totally chaotic tornado of ideas and sounds that no one's ever dared to imagine let alone heard anywhere else, it also manages to be highly listenable and rock balls. It's catchy, melodic, and fun while at the same time sounding like the inner mindscape of a madman undergoing shock treatment. It's a real achievement. 

The eclecticism of styles here is mind-blowing, as is the sheer musicianship and unbound imagination to shake them all together into a musical mr. hyde concoction that goes down smooth as it twists your mind into that of a deranged monster man. Prolonged exposure to this album is not unlike prolonged exposure to the One Ring. You will become a Gollum, so listen responsibly. 

Mike Patton in particular is at his demented best on vocals, with a performance that effortlessly and constantly morphs between singing, yelling, screaming, shrieking, mumbling, grumbling, turning into The Joker, rolling around in garbage, and ascending beyond the hologram into the next dimensional plane, on a skateboard.

He sounds like a minimum of 5 different people on any given song, and all of them are at differently mixed levels of scary, weird, horny, and wildly insane. At many points he ceases to sound like a human being from this earth entirely. It's the rock vocal equivalent of all the different schizophrenic voices in my brain arguing over which clandestine government agency, subterranean race of lizard men, ancient vampire bloodline, or Sumerian Deity space aliens are gangstalking me today.

It's Mr. Bungle. It can't be described, even though I just did. I can do it because I'm special. Mr. Bungle and I are on the same wavelength, we pass each other on the cosmic half pipe now and then and high five. If you're brave enough to endure the horrors and make it through this album with your faculties intact I might see you there. Bring Wendys.