So No music blog,especially one done by me would be complete without a Melvins post! Here's my story of how i came to love Melvins.... I have been a fan of Melvins since I got their debut album "Gluey Porch Treatments" in 1987. at that time I was 16 and I was very strictly into hardcore, I bought the Melvins album based on great previous releases on the label it was originally released on Alchemy Records (who had released records by Poison Idea, The Grim, Sacrilege B.C., and Neurosis 1st album) that coupled with the fact it had 18 tracks on it which for the time was quite a lot so i was sold! I rushed home thinking I'd unearthed a new fast hardcore gem! How wrong can you be?.... The sides of the album were entitled "This Side" and "That Side" on the Alchemy vinyl version so I ended up playing side 2 first by mistake but what a glorious mistake! Opening instrumental "Glow God" kicked in and it was so slow and sludgy and fuck off heavy (And I mean HEAVY even by today's standards) I just went whhhooooooooaaahhh I had never heard anything that heavy at the time, bear in mind this was before all the grindcore and death metal downtuning of guitars etc, but I was still expecting them to burst into hardcore at any moment, then next track"Big As A Mountain" kicked in yeah maybe a little more uptempo but this was not hardcore in any shape or form, the next track was a real slow crawler called "Heavyness Of The Load" and the title which pretty much sums up the Melvins sound!!! that super thick heavy guitar and bass Dale Crovers' unique, brilliant and insanely good drumming and Buzzos' unusual voice I didn't know what to make of it but I did know that I was fucking mezmerised!!! I have been utterly hooked ever since! and continued to play "Gluey.."side 2 first then side 1 right up until i got it on CD!
So as Melvins are one of my all time favourite bands (I own countless CD's and my Melvins file on my hard drive is 3.67 GB not bragging in any way I'm just trying to illustrate that if you get into the Melvins which you well should, that you will be hooked) I decided to do something a bit special for this post!
I am not even gonna attempt any kind of blurb on Melvins sound,but try this... the 1st 6 Black Sabbath albums crashing head on into Black Flag circa 84-86 add a healthy dose of noise rock ala' Jesus Lizard and you're about there! I'm also not gonna attempt any breaking down of their VAAAAST and complex back catalogue either with at least 33 albums and 70 singles and numerous collaborations to their credit over their almost 30 year career (fuck i just realised this year makes 30 years of Melvins and that I bought "Gluey Porch Treatments" 26 years ago!!! WOW!) It would be impossible to do you a discography and pointless to try and pick favourites so what can I give you that would be interesting to you, the discerning music blogger??...
...Well a few years ago when the internet became widely available and file sharing became a bit easier I decided it was long overdue to do a bit of research into what Melvins stuff i didn't have as they are absolute vinyl maniacs and have had a slew of crazily packaged and insanely limited releases over the years, this is when i discovered they had a load of singles that I'd never heard of or owned and due to their slavish devotion to limited vinyl and Melvins being one of the most collectable bands ever i was never going to be able to own any of those reords but as I've said i'm all about the music not the collecting records so over the years of my file sharing i have compiled a fair bit of Melvins rarities and obscurities!
As I've said before about other vinyl only releases, much as i respect the Melvins i do think that releasing ultra limited vinyls and not making them available for download (Tho this is not always the case they did offer their recent "Endless Residency" 8 LP/4CD boxset available to download for $10) It kinda leaves a lot of GREAT Melvins material out of print and unavailable to all but the richest collector scum!!! For example their latest in the "Sugar Daddy Live" Series of Split 12's with Fucked Up was released a mere 6 weeks ago and is already selling for £26/$40 online for 1 Melvins and 1 Fucked Up Track! Ridiculous! And because none of the music in the first 2 links here has been compiled on CD or otherwise available and is completely out of print I do feel I'm not "hurting" Melvins in anyway by putting this up.
So as the post title says this is a Melvins Singles Overload! I have spent a lot of time slaving over my computer to put this together over the years and I've compiled it here so you don't have to! However if you expected it broken down into separate links so you could have the individual singles you want....UNLUCKY! I have neither the time nor the inclination to upload around 30 short files when i can give you this bonanza!
Firstly I have put together a 4 part collection of some of the rarest and hardest to find stuff, I've done the files in chronological order I've included pretty much everything there is. Now when i say "Everything" it is just simply impossible to collect "Everything" unless you have had the time to keep up to date with Melvins on a daily basis since 1986 but according to what research i have done on the excellent Melvins endorsed wikipedia Discography (go look here Melvins Discography ) and other resources online this is near as damnit a Melvins singles discography as you're likely to get! Covering 1987 to early 2012, I have been unable to locate some of the more recent releases like the aforementioned "Sugar daddy live series" 12"'s and a few other bits they have done of late.Also some releases are intentionally missed due to the fact they are just Melvins fucking with you ("Shit Sandwich" 7" for example is 2 sides of silence apparently a tribute to John Cage's "4,33" and their side of the split 7" with Plainfield is just cut ups of in between song banter of an unnamed classic rock band)
Below is a list of whats in the file links titled PT's 1, 2, 3 & 4 at the bottom of the post you decide if it's good enough for you!! :-)
PT 1 Contains...
1983 EP (4 tracks recorded in 1983 not on "Mangled Demos")
Live 8" Flexi (Slap-a-ham records)
Split 7" W/ Steel Pole Bathtub
With Yo Heart Not Yo Hands 7"
Split 7" W/ Nirvana
Night Goat 7"
Flipper Covers 5"
Lizzy 7"
Porn 2 7" (Split 7" W/ Guv'ner)
Split 7" W/ Cosmic Psychos
PT 2 Contains...
Hostile Ambient Takeover 7" collection
(The Hostile... Album over 7 x 7" singles each with a non album B-side mostly covers)
Tanx 7" (John Peel Session EP unofficial)
PT 3 Contains...
Untitled 7" Given free with comic "Barbaraal" #2
Message Saved/Thank You 7"
Pigskin/Starve Already 7"
Split 7" W/ Patton Oswalt from Chunklet magazine
Smash the State EP
Split Tour EP W/ Halo of Flies
Star Spangled Banner 7"
Split 12" W/ Isis
Horray For Me Fuk You! 12"
"God Of Thunder" from "Hard To Believe" a Kiss trbute comp.
"God Of Thunder" from "Hard To Believe" a Kiss trbute comp.
And the Sawed Off 7" a Melvins side project feat feat King Buzzo & Dale Crover
PT 4 Contains...
Sludge Glamorous 12"
PT 4 Contains...
Sludge Glamorous 12"
Black Betty 7" (Split with JSBX)
Amphetamine Reptile Cage Match split 7" W/ Unsane
The Bulls & The Bees EP
The Bulls & The Bees EP
Apart from "Tanx" EP these are all official Melvins releases.I do not own any of these myself these are all taken from the internet and almost all are vinyl rips they are of varying bitrates from 128kbps to 320kbps but I guarantee that none of it is unlistenable quality otherwise they would have been ommited from the post,except for side 2 of the Flipper 5" which seems to waver in speed but i used to own it and as i recall this is cos it's a 5" single and some record players can't cope with it sorry nowt i can do! they are all in separate folders within the files,correctly tagged and dated and include cover art. These were easily available to find online but due to rapidshare and mediafire killing off a MAMMOTH amount of links recently you'd be unlikely to find them now which is another reason I'm doing this post all links presented in this post are my links and will remain alive for as long as this blog does.
So that's your first 2 links covered but of course this being OCDave I couldn't leave it at that, as you may be aware Melvins are absolute KISS fanatatics and apeing KISS in 1992 they did a set of Solo EP's with both artwork and lettering aping the Kiss members solo albums from 1978 for example....
So being the nice guy i am I have also uploaded all 3 Melvins solo EP's for you as well and considering that at the time Melvins line up was Dale Crover, King Buzzo and Joe Preston (aka Thrones) these are some mighty fucked up recordings!!!
But it does not end there.... in 1997 Melvins also did a series of 12 x 7" singles for Amphetamine Reptile 1 a month for a year, all with variations on the same theme for their covers(see CD cover above) these vary from live tracks and covers to noise experiments & re-workings of older tracks to just plain weird but hey that's Melvins! However Amphetamine Reptile kindly collected all these 12 singles on a double CD so as i did call this post MELVINS SINGLES OVERLOAD!! I have uploaded the CD for you because thats 12 x 7" singles and a years worth of single releases that would be missing from this post if I didn't!
So there you go a Melvins singles overload as promised The Solo EP's and the AmRep Singles 1-12 are out of print but easily available to find on CD used (tho very expensive) but I felt as this was a singles post that they were an essential part of it.
The 4 part link listed first those are some rare singles for example the split 7" with Nirvana sells for £120! as I've said already prices of Melvins singles and EP's are beyond ridiculous and why should it only be available to those with a large disposable income ? I would like to thank the more generous of collectors who were good enough to rip and upload the original files that i have compiled in this post unfortunately most of the blogs and links are long gone so i can't name the people but if you uploaded it then a major thanks from me you made a Melvins fan very happy!
PT 1 - Mediafire
PT 2 - Mediafire
PT 3 - Mediafire
PT 4 - Mediafire
SOLO EP'S - Mediafire
AMREP SINGLES 1-12 (Disc 1) - Mediafire
AMREP SINGLES 1-12 (Disc 2) - Mediafire
So That's it folks go OVERLOAD on Melvins!
UPDATE (JUN 2019)
PT.5 Contains...
Chaos As Usual (Split EP W/ Le Butcherettes)
Everybody Loves Sausages (Supplemental)
Hot Fish EP (Collaboration with Flipper)
Rebel Girl (Feat. Terri Gender Bender)
Sabbath EP
Steven Macdonald EP
So I guess some of these need a little explanation
Everybody loves Sausages (Siupplemental) This rounds up ALL the B-sides and extras from the various limited "A Tribute to... 7"'s and includes 9 tracks of covers by various artists from Venom to Throbbing Gristle that did NOT appear on the album.
Rebel Girl was a 1-sided 7" in collaboration with Terri Gender Bender I've no idea who that is but the 7" was very limited.
Sabbath EP is a 10" of Melvins with Al Cisneros of Sleep guesting on bass & vocals covering 2 Classic Black Sabbath tunes!
Steven Mcdonald is a very limited 12" supplemental to the Melvins Solo EP's from 1992 Featuring current (at time of Writing) Melvins bassist Steve Mcdonald who is more well known for being a founding member of Hardcore pioneers and later psychedelic rockers Red Kross.
Hot Fish is a the latest 10" from this year (2019) and features 2 songs of Melvins and Flipper together in the studio and a further 2 Flipper covers by Melvins
Split with Le Butcherettes - nothing interesting just 2 new Melvins tracks from a split 10"
There you go folks a bit of a catch up to what those "Limited to 5 copies silk screened one sided lathe cut made from dinosaur eggs blink and you miss it " Peddling bastards the Melvins have been up to in the last 7 years or at least in part! I've said it before I'll say it again if this isn't enough for you go away and do your own damn research/blog for the rest of you lovely appreciative souls who say nice things here's some new Melvins... ENJOY!
PT5 - Mediafire
