Mudhoney, Melvins, Sonic Youth, Steel Pole Bathtub

As we’ve mentioned here before, we fondly recall the days when each new Sub Pop release spent a few weeks in the singles section at Cellophane Square before the managers “promoted” it to the wall behind the cash register and raised the price ten-fold. We can’t accuse Cellophane of fleecing the customers (well, I suppose we can), because they were dealing with simple supply and demand issues. People wanted these records, and they became scarce almost immediately upon release. Among the most coveted of those early records was the famous Sonic Youth/Mudhoney “Touch Me I’m Sick”/“Halloween” split. At one time—I’m not making this up—I read that it could fetch $400. (Apparently the demand still exists: somebody on eBay has a copy available for a mere $75).

This single (we have the 12”) still makes me feel warm with nostalgia. Mudhoney sneers and drones through the Sonic Youth song, and Kim Gordon completely embodies the sickness of the Mudhoney track: she vomits, not sings, the lyrics. It’s great stuff. Sub Pop released it in 1988, before Mudhoney had even celebrated its first birthday and just after Sonic Youth cemented their reputation with Daydream Nation. It was the second single in Sub Pop’s deeply lamented Singles of the Month Club.

Less than a year later, Matt Lukin’s ex-bandmates, the Melvins, responded in 1989 with a Mudhoney/Sonic Youth split of their own: the Melvins tackle the B-side to “Touch Me I’m Sick” (“Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More”), and Bay Area noisemakers Steel Pole Bathtub cover Sonic Youths “I Dreamed, I Dream.” Boner Records parodied the “Touch Me I’m Sick” cover and Sub Pop logo for the Melvins side and Sonic Youth’s Death Valley 69 EP for their side. Interestingly, Steel Pole Bathtub’s drummer, Darren Morey, formerly played in Mr. Epp and the Calculations with Mudhoney’s Mark Arm.

One web site claims that the Melvins recorded this record as a “diss” of Lukin’s new band. Although a Maximum Rock & Roll interview with Mudhoney indicates some tension between the two bands, I have a hard time believing that there was some Suge Knight/2-Pac shit goin’ down here. The Melvins seethe out the song, emphasizing how the song’s sinister undercurrent. Clearly, this is no pisstake.

We like Steel Pole Bathtub’s cover, too.

Mudhoney “Halloween”
Sonic Youth “Touch Me I’m Sick”
Melvins “Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More”
Steel Pole Bathtub “I Dreamed I Dream”

The tracks can also be obtained via .zip file here. Also, for your reading pleasure, here's an article from late 80s/early 90s NW music rag Backlash about early Mudhoney.

--Wm