Mr. Bungle - Self-Titled Album | Album Reaction + Review (Part 3)

[@TPJN777]

I remember as a 12yo kid listening to this and reading the album notes and credits to John Zorn. About a week later I ordered a John Zorn album, Naked City self titled to be precise. My life changed for the better on very first listen and music was so much more exciting

[@wowwhywow]

It has been fun watching you react... You will be happy to know that you are the ONLY reacter that has listened to this album from start to finish, and you did a great job. Mr Bungle is a group that is TRYING to get a reaction out of their listeners... one of the funnest things to do is to watch someones face when they hear ANY song off of the first two albums for the first time,,, they always have that "Did I just hear what I think I heard?" look on their face( you included )..lol.

[@wowwhywow]

you are standing on the edge of a very large rabbit hole.....Mike Patton is the gift that keeps on giving.

[@tomh3999]

If you want to dive even deeper into the Patton catalogue, I recommend Fantomas or Tomahawk. Both good bands.

[@barisagalozu2287]

Maldoror!!!! Patton and Merzbow collaboration.

[@swartwoodart2558]

Lovage, Peeping Tom, and General Patton vs the xecutioners are my favorite Patton projects

[@TPJN777]

I hope to hell you're doing Disco Volante next. That album is a masterpiece

[@champdeluxe3720]

hope to heaven

[@MrHyde11976]

not even close to this album

[@jamesmyrick9083]

I think you did Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz already. It's a good example of the entire Disco Volante album. It's totally insane.

[@Sweep_The_Leg_Johnny]

Dead Goon is one of my favorites. that bass line!

[@joshuafult84]

I think the horn section is what made this album, there are some rock bands that have the bass higher in the mix but I've never heard a band throw in horns lol

[@jacksonbrickmedia939]

Listen to Thank you Scientist. Specifically the songs “blood on the radio”, “feed the horses”, and the entire stranger heads prevail album. You’ll love it

[@8kai12]

Very sexy reaction!

[@wowwhywow]

Mr. Bungle are exhausting...lol...aren't they?

[@mirkocheljavi6668]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@Youtubeissokewl]

Cutiepie

[@TPJN777]

Very true comment

[@boyhrn]

Cool, the carnival is over...😊😎So, what can we say about the last 3 songs of this album...🙂 - "The Girls of Porn" - in terms of music, stands as a "normal" contrast to a totally abnormal lyrics!😁And that's perfectly fine, it's genius and it actually works on many levels.😀Both, the music and the lyrics, represents the parody of a dominant commercial music of that time, mostly through MTV, and which can be described as "the holy duality", ideally depicted in the very music of this song: 1.commercial Pop and 2. commercial Rock of late 80's and early 90's.😉🙂 By number 1, it goes by these artists: Paula Abdul, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, George Michael and many similar epigons and imitators of them...😎Number 2 stands for most successful, platinum, best selling rock bands of that time: Skid Row, Extreme, Def Leppard, Motley Crew, G'n'R... All in all - the song strolls through the most common, typical cliches of these 2 types of music.🙂🙃Lyrically, however, GoP are a parody of a sentimental, immature, kiddish lyrics in pop music of that time.😉🙂"Immature" steps back and gives room to blatantly mature, (read: adult, pornographic) pictures that puts a shame on everyone !😁😆😄Though these lyrics are a weakest semantic content of this song (it won't end in any poetry book, I guarantee!😅), together with the music it creates this special magic and humor of Mr.Bungle that makes the both of 2 worlds ashamed and destroyed...🙂 Pop music is polished to the shining through Patton's voice delivery😃, which means a proper homage to it, 😉but it's also ridiculed by a complete lyrical abomination and twist of it's predictability, naivety and slimy sweetness...😂Rock music was also given a credit through some pretty good and mighty funk-rock-metal lines (the most popular by that time), but by putting it together with pop music in the same song, Mr.Bungle deconstructs "the rock attitude" of those "bad looking boys" who thought pop music is funny and for children, avoiding any contact with it - so by that, they are ridiculed in this song too!😆😄Patton and the crew wins!😂😎It's a delicious piece of pie...🙂 do yourself a favor, play it once more with the speakers up, and you won't regret it. You'll be dancing, simply by it's catchy groove. 😉😊And what a work of saxophones, you haven't mentioned it once, shame on you...😎😅 - "Love is a Fist" continues with the sexual topic, but in a rather radical and painful way. It talks about a domestic violence. I think North California, where these guys live, are known for this type of criminal behavior. 😐The subject also touches that strange intro for "My Ass is on Fire" which is an insert from David Lynch's movie "Blue Velvet" where a lead female character also suffers from this kind of brutal mistreat. 😐My opinion regarding the lyrics goes a little like this... Patton is trying to give power, confidence and support to the victims of abuse and teach them to stand for themselves by realising the reality of violence, to fight back in some point only for defending purpose and that this act will mean some kind of love delivery (mostly toward themselves!) That's why that strong chorus emerges with these powerful and strangely said words: "LoVe iS a FisT !!!" 😃It promotes and anulls the violence at the same time... Song simply makes you - feel it... and leads you - out of it.🙂😎That's the real meaning behind this oximoron. 🧐🤓Do you agree?🥴Musically, this song revolves around some death metal (or is it a thrash metal?🤔) and the movie jazz standards around 50's and 60's.... Did you know that in that era, the violence toward women was considered as a common, almost "normal" thing to do, the conservative way of thinking....😮‍💨Whiskey, smokes, and a slap in the face...🤕I think that's the reason Mr.B. used this music in this particular song.🤨😑 Oh, BTW, to answer your question... Yes! The outro for this song is a REAL material...🙂 It's a puppet show for kids in 50's, teaching them how NOT to behave by using this ugly Mr. Bungle puppet character... the name these guys eventually took for their band.😉😊🙃🙂Real history...😎 - "Dead Goon"... Finally, the subject of sexuality reaches its paroxysm and paradox in this song with this strange line in lyrics: "Sex, there's no such thing..." Simultaneously, it opens the door of heavenly innocence through the subject which seems like the most painful on album so far...a suicide. 😑The most chilling thing is that this song goes with a real backstory...😐 And it goes like this... Back when they were just the kids in their hometown of Eurika, Patton, Trey and Trevor were friends or acquaintances to this silent and introvert boy who was often molested in school by his schoolmates... It was a good kid, but in a kind - in his own world. Eventually, the puberty come... Boy wanted to feel what a primer sexuality is like... He kind of struggled with his relief on that field. So he came to this crazy idea... Took his mama's underwear, used it as a choking thing on himself to amplify his pleasure while giving himself a handjob at home alone...🤐and accidentally choked himself to death!😵😵‍💫😔Patton and the rest of the guys were so shocked when they heard this grizzly news that, years after, they decided to write a song about this boy and that event...😔Giving it a name "Dead Good" (goon - a small man, a dwarf), the song depicts and ugly, sad and isolated life this boy had, with music changing from "clowny", that ridiculed his tragic position from the eyes of molesters, to exquisitely subtle, tender and latino-passionate, where you can hear that mighty bass line of Trevor and a gentle Patton's singing accompanied delicate guitar, an energetic disco drums and melodic saxophones...😌It goes repeatedly until the middle of the song when it's just too late for this kid... The rest of it, that silent, but psychedelic part, full of bits and pieces of previous musical themes, both from Patton, bass or/and Sax, drifting around in that eerie jazzy-ambient fog with creepy keyboards too... simply describes the time of agony of this poor boy mixed with delayed pleasure right before his death...😑And here is the thing: that creepy sound, as you described it, which goes from one ear to another, is actually a sound of a hanging rope, waving left and right with the dead goon on it! 😵‍💫😟You had to ask, I had to answer. It's ok, it's artistic, but radical too... The song reaches one more crescendo with instruments when, with a final funny clown sound, the boy let go of his soul...And his soul goes to heaven, depicted with this old-timer, classical music being mixed funny by turn-tables !😀 Heaven that we don't know, how it could be and look like... "And that was the end of the puppet show."😌 Thanx for this final reaction of Mr.B's 1st, self titled album and hope hearing the rest of it soon, weather it's California or Disco Volante. Bye. 🙂

[@JigglyPuffRyan]

The best 35 minutes of my life and that's a stretch 🤣 and I'd aprove the best self-titled album from beginning to end! tho I'd dispute "The Beatles" self-titled (1968) on illustrious Abbey Road: Their self-titled album was released in 1991, just a month and some days before Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Soundgarden released albums in 1991, and helped alternative rock become mainstream. Classifying Mr. Bungle’s debut album is very hard cause it’s all over the place, Their ability to genre swap is present in all of the songs off of their self-titled debut album. The 1st song of the album quote-unquote(originally called Travolta) is an unnatural metal jazz fusion filled with weird sound effects that hits hard. For the first 0:32 seconds, you hear nothing but snoring but at 0:33 you hear some glass break and then the musical madness ensues! The 2nd song Slowly Growing Deaf starts with a short but happy sounding instrumental that lasts for 4 seconds in the beginning but comes backs 3 more times during the song. The bass tone, along with the drums and guitar sound so beautiful in the cheerful part of this song. After the four seconds of cheeriness, the mood changes to a dark and depressing tone and it’s spectacular. Mike’s vocal on this track is outstanding! The grimness ends around 1:33 and it goes back to that beautiful cheerful mood in the beginning and when the song reaches 1:44 the tone switches to a doo-wop beach boys vibe and I love it a lot! Then it goes back to “normal” with the beautiful cheerful tone again and then it stops. Then you will hear video game samples thrown in there and then it goes back to the weird type of metal part again and it ends with a sample of 2 individuals using the restroom! The meaning behind this one was very interesting. It was inspired by the ironic need to wear earplugs while listening to music and also people’s inability to listen according to their bassist Trevor Dunn. The 3rd song Squeeze Me Macaroni, is a funk metal masterpiece with some hardcore punk and metal vibes thrown in there with a sprinkle of horns saxophones, and weird groans. The music transitions on this song are fab! I’m pretty sure we can assure me what this song is about. The 4th song Carousel is circus music with lots of horns and saxophones that switches to surf music and back. This one is filled with lots of weird noises and a sample of an Announcer at some carnival tells people to hurry and ride the carousel. The song’s main focus is about a Carousel with some lyrics mentioning their record contract with Warner Brothers at the time and clowns. I find it pretty fascinating and funny. The 5th song Egg is 10 mins and 39 seconds long!! This one I consider to be one of the harder songs from this album to listen to cause its genre swaps every so often. Swapping from ska/funk/metal/surf it’s so in your face, I appreciate that about this band a lot :) There are some references about the Wizard of Oz and I find that very interesting. Also, Mike’s vocals on this track were all over the place and it’s beautiful. The 6th song Stubb A Dub is a song about guitarist Trey Spruance’s dog dying. When his dog died Spruance refused to believe his dog was dead which is shown in the lyrics and the music until at the end of the song the character of Trey and his dog who Mike were singing about finally comes to term with his dog being dead. It’s a sad realization. The beginning of the song reminds you of a funeral and then it Switches to some weird circus underground and the music gets harder and faster and then it calms down and sounds like something you would have heard at a jazz concert or something. The 7th song My Butt Is On Fire is another one of those “high on drugs” songs, with the metal and horns instrumental giving you something to wonder about. I can’t make heads or tails about the lyrics besides Mike singing about his butt on fire but it’s an outstanding song either way. The 8th Song is very descriptive about certain topics. I appreciate the music behind it though. It starts as hard rock then jazz and funk and the cycle starts all over again. The 9th song Love Is A Fist is a weird song about Domestic violence and the samples in this one are very annoying and funny. The music is just some metal and horns together. The 10th and final song Dead Goon is about asphyxiophilia. The music behind this song is very obscure and diverse but very hard to listen to and enjoy. I don’t know what the lyrics were about Mr. Bungle is probably one of the most daring rock bands to ever release a commercial album, and served as inspiration to metal bands as diverse as Korn, Dream Theater, and Avenged Sevenfold. This album is a cyclone of influences, all informing and reinforcing each other to create a collage of genres that is at once repulsively unnatural and admirably cohesive. Even for fans of experimental music, this can be a difficult album to digest, but its shallower moments are rewarding enough to warrant repeat listens, and it becomes more impressive the more layers you peel back. Though its many indulgences may wear thin for some, only a band operating at an extremely high level of skill and talent could have pulled off an album like this. As a band defined by a dizzying array of influences, from funk to ska to avant-garde jazz, Mr. Bungle’s choice of covers reflects their earliest influence: death metal. In place of the playful mix of horns and circus motifs that define their debut album, here they redo “The Stroke” in the style of Godflesh, with vocals like Carcass. And it’s this cover song’s loony originality that embodies everything that earned Bungle a cult following. It’s not just a funny experiment. It’s actually good. Every time I hear it, after decades of playing it, I still bang my head to those devious guitar riffs. If Bungle felt stroked, maybe they decided to make a statement by turning one of the early-80’s biggest commercial hits into the least commercial form they could. Bungle knew they were original but could not have thought they’d be huge. Listen to them. They played ska-funk-circus-metal on an album whose insert features a drunk clown wielding a whisky bottle at a children’s birthday party. Genre distinctions meant nothing to Bungle. They liked what they liked, and everything could potentially blend into the other. It’s that philosophy that came to define Bungle’s sound as Patton and Dunn found other people who shared their eclectic taste. When Bungle released OU818, Patton was officially Faith No More’s their singer. Two weeks after joining, he’d written all of the lyrics to their next album, The Real Thing. When the record came out in June of ’89, it became a huge hit. The FNM experience taught Bungle an important business lesson: The more bands you’re in, the more income you have, and the more visibility. Each band can feed the others, and the feedback loop feeds you. Bungle and Faith No More were very different entities with different fan bases. Later Patton expanded further, collaborating with different musicians to form other bands such as Tomahawk and Fantômas, producing albums and doing one-off projects and recording with artists like Bjork. He embodies the term workaholic, thankfully, because he has a lot to say. The thing about the early ’90s is that there were so many different types of bands, and as an alternative kid, you could like them all. You didn’t just have to be goth or punk or rock ’n roll the way people tried to make you in the early 1980s. You could like this weird circus music, and Beck, The Cure, De La Soul, and Mazzy Star, and still love some GN’R. You’d get shit for liking headbanger music, but you could still get away with it. Some record stores gave customers a free bottle of Mr. Bungle bubble bath when they bought the record. Along with a glossy band photo, Warner Brothers sent radio stations and record stores written publicity material where the label’s business folks struggle to describe the band and its appeal: “Featuring such apocalyptic anthems as ‘Slowly Growing Deaf,’ ‘Love Is A Fist,’ ‘The Girls Of Porn’ and the terrifyingly original ‘Quote Unquote,’ Mr. Bungle by Mr. Bungle makes hamburger out of every cherished cow within rifle range...and cooks up something compelling, totally committed music in the process. Before the internet, that press photo was about all you could find about the musicians. Their identities were a black hole, and in that vacuum, they played a wise game: create a whole entertaining universe while concealing the truth. They weren’t the first band to wear masks. Since the 1970s, The Residents had done this, too, wearing giant eyeball helmets and other costumes to preserve their anonymity and keep the focus on the music, but Bungle took the idea to the Alternative Era. The masks helped them try to avoid promoters capitalizing on Patton’s role in the more visible Faith No More and trying to sell Bungle as Patton’s other band-like, Look, come see the singer of Faith No More in Mr. Bungle! So on this album, Patton went by the name Vlad Drac, and for fun, Spruance went by Scummy. Their music and tours always challenged listeners. They didn’t write pop songs like Blur and Nirvana. You couldn’t dance or often sing to them. They confused you and demanded patience and openness to something strange and new. That’s why Bungle never got more popular in the ’90s and only became legendary later. Faith No More - Patton's main band, which he joined in 1988 and with whom he found major success in the early 1990s.