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Pork Soda

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Not to be confused with Bacon soda.
For other uses, see Pork Soda (disambiguation).
Pork Soda
Studio album by
Primus
ReleasedApril 20, 1993
RecordedWinter 1992 in San Rafael, California
Genre
Length57:40
Label
ProducerPrimus
Primus chronology
Miscellaneous Debris
(1992) 		Pork Soda
(1993) 		Tales from the Punchbowl
(1995)
Singles from Pork Soda
  1. "My Name Is Mud"
    Released: 1993
  2. "DMV"
    Released: 1993
  3. "Mr. Krinkle"
    Released: 1993

Pork Soda is the third studio album by the American rock band Primus. It was released on April 20, 1993, by Interscope Records and Prawn Song Records. The album was certified gold in September 1993 and platinum in May 1997.[3] The 2005 re-issue comes in a digipak and contains a booklet with lyrics printed to nine songs, omitting "Pork Soda" which consists of a series of unintelligible rants. Claypool explained the term "pork soda" was meant to refer to how Primus - a band that, in his eyes, wasn't suitable for radio play - was "an acquired taste, like a meat-flavored soda would be".[4]

The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 chart, which some music critics considered surprising considering the group's uncommercial sound. It became the group's first top ten album, and sold half a million copies. Singles include "My Name Is Mud" and "Mr. Krinkle". The album was performed in its entirety for the first time at the Fox Oakland Theatre on December 31, 2015.

Music and lyrics

[edit]

The album contains darker content than previous Primus efforts, featuring lyrics dealing with murder ("My Name Is Mud"), suicide ("Bob"), and alienation ("Nature Boy"). The band has commented that prior to recording, they had been touring for nearly two solid years and were thus in a somber mood, although in a 2015 interview frontman Les Claypool described the era surrounding the album as "Good times, happy times. It's not like we were reflecting any personal drama or anything."[4]

Regarding the song "Wounded Knee" drummer Tim Alexander said "I needed a name. I was reading this book called Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It was something I never really thought about before... I mean how this country came to be. We are taught to be so proud. But a lot of what we have is based on lies and deceit. They only teach you what they want you to know. I hope people will see the title and check it out. Next time you listen to 'Wounded Knee', try and put the story and the music together. The rhythm and the pulse, there is an element of it that is angry then peaceful."[5]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Chicago Tribune[7]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(2-star Honorable Mention)(2-star Honorable Mention)[8]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[9]
Entertainment WeeklyB[2]
Kerrang![10]
Q[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
Spin Alternative Record Guide6/10[13]

In his review of Pork Soda, Neil Perry of Kerrang! called it "a focused mess" that is driven by the "extraordinary percussive attack" from Alexander and Claypool, with guitarist Larry LaLonde "[hovering] on the edge of the action, throwing out sporadic mutant chords and droning feedback when the fancy takes him."[10] Reviewing the album for Entertainment Weekly, Deborah Frost notes that "the band is starting to gel". She describes Pork Soda as "goofy" and "Zappa-esque", predicting that the "alternative-metal-fusion will appeal mostly to folks who like a little fizz with their lard."[2] In his review for the album, Robert Christgau calls Primus "quite possibly the strangest top-10 band ever, and good for them."[8] Tom Sinclair, for Rolling Stone, describes the album as "an amalgam of elements that have no reason to be joined together in a sane universe", noting that "the band invokes the circa '69 Mothers of Invention and Trout Mask Replica-era Captain Beefheart as often as it does George Clinton or Bootsy Collins." He concludes that "hard-core funk-metal freaks may find it all a bit diffuse, but if you think its high time surrealism entered the mosh pits of America, Pork Soda just may be your cup of meat."[12]

In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Steve Huey contends that Pork Soda is "one of the strangest records ever to debut in the Top Ten." He notes that the album "showcases the band's ever-increasing level of musicianship" and that "[their] ensemble interplay continues to grow in complexity and musicality", although "[the] material isn't quite as consistent as Seas of Cheese". He concludes that "the band keeps finding novel variations on their signature sound, even if they never step out of it."[6] David Fricke of Trouser Press similarly said that Pork Soda debuting in the top ten of the Billboard chart was "a remarkable achievement for such an idiosyncratic combo." Despite praising some songs, he felt a "slight predictability" had crept into the band's "winning, weirdo ways", with Claypool's melodramatic singing "blurring the shades of black humor in his lyrics," and that despite Primus' inventive complexity, "the herky-jerky time and tempo changes don't always provide enough variety."[14]

Chris Norris of Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995) writes that much of the record resembles "a pissed-off octopus flailing around a gymnasium", with half of the songs "bashed out in the studio", but because it sold over half a million copies, "the band's perversion of astounding chops starts to feel like a genuinely subversive act. Maybe this is what Van Halen looks like post Ren, Stimpy, and Nirvana."[15] In The Rough Guide to Rock (1999), Alex Ogg called it Primus' breakthrough album and wrote that while they were not original, "you can forgive a band a great deal if they take themselves so (un)seriously and deliver songs and catchy and immediate at these."[16] Reviewing Pork Soda in Christgau's Consumer Guide (2000), Robert Christgau highlighted "Bob" and "DMV" and called Primus "quite possibly the strangest top-10 band ever, and good for them."[8] Chris Ott of Pitchfork included Pork Soda in a list of albums common in second-hand stores and believed that Primus had largely become "a one-liner" ever since the album's release.[17] He stated that while it benefitted from the Lollapalooza tour that Primus played on, the record was less inspired than its predecessors, adding that "apart from the clicking tempo gimmickry of 'My Name is Mud' and a brief percussion solo from drummer Herb ('Wounded Knee'), there isn't a single new idea on Pork Soda."[17]

Track listing

[edit]

All lyrics are written by Les Claypool; all music is composed by Primus

No.TitleLength
1."Pork Chop's Little Ditty" (instrumental)0:21
2."My Name Is Mud"4:48
3."Welcome to This World"3:40
4."Bob"4:40
5."DMV"4:58
6."The Ol' Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman's Chronicles, Part 3)"4:39
7."Nature Boy"5:35
8."Wounded Knee" (instrumental)2:25
9."Pork Soda"2:20
10."The Pressman"5:11
11."Mr. Krinkle"5:27
12."The Air Is Getting Slippery"2:31
13."Hamburger Train" (instrumental; beginning sample is audio of Paul Reubens from the film Nice Dreams)8:11
14."Pork Chop's Little Ditty" (instrumental)1:03
15."Hail Santa" (instrumental)1:51
Total length:57:40

Personnel

[edit]

Primus

[edit]

Production

[edit]
  • Derek Featherstone – engineer
  • Leslie Gerard-Smith – project coordinator
  • John Golden, K-Disk – mastering
  • Manny LaCarrubba, Neil King, Kent Matchke – second engineers
  • Ron Rigler – engineer
  • Tom Whalley – A&R direction

Visual art

[edit]
  • Jay Blakesburg – front cover and background photography
  • Paul "Bosco" Haggard – cover layout
  • Lance "Link" Montoya – sculpture
  • Snap – airbrushing

Charts

[edit]

Album

Chart (1993–1994) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 54
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[19] 45
UK Albums (OCC)[20] 56
US Billboard 200[21] 7

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1993 "My Name Is Mud" US Modern Rock Tracks 9

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[22] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Primus: Pork Soda | Reviews". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Frost, Deborah (April 23, 1993). "Pork Soda". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  3. ^ "Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Jones, Bill (June 4, 2015). "Rank Your Records: Les Claypool Rates Primus' Albums". Vice. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  5. ^ Primus FAQ Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  6. ^ a b Huey, Steve. "Pork Soda – Primus". AllMusic. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  7. ^ Kot, Greg (May 13, 1993). "Primus: Pork Soda (Interscope)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Christgau, Robert (2000). "Primus: Pork Soda". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 9780312245603. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  9. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 316. ISBN 0-7535-0427-8.
  10. ^ a b Perry, Neil (May 1, 1993). "Primus: Pork Soda (Interscope 7567922572)". Kerrang!. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  11. ^ "Primus: Pork Soda". Q. No. 83. August 1993. p. 98.
  12. ^ a b Sinclair, Tom (June 10, 1993). "Primus: Pork Soda". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 11, 2007. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  13. ^ Norris, Chris (1995). "Primus". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. p. 310. ISBN 9780679755746.
  14. ^ Fricke, David. "Primus". Trouser Press. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  15. ^ norris
  16. ^ Ogg, Alex (1999). "Primus". In Buckley, Jonathan; Duane, Orla; Ellingham, Mark; Spicer, Al (eds.). The Rough Guide to Rock (2nd ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 774. ISBN 1-85828-457-0.
  17. ^ a b Ott, Chris (August 2003). "Castoffs and Cutouts: The Top 50 Most Common Used CDs". Pitchfork. p. 5. Archived from the original on October 2, 2003. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  18. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 224.
  19. ^ "Charts.nz – Primus – Pork Soda". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  20. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  21. ^ "Primus Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  22. ^ "American album certifications – Primus – Pork Soda". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 28, 2023.
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