Paradise: Land of the Meat Puppets
CURT KIRKWOOD'S GREATEST HITS
Taken from the old official website on nando.net
Fans of Arizona's Meat Puppets have always derived inspiration from the elliptical wordplay of Curt Kirkwood, the band's guitarist, vocalist, and main songwriter. But some of Curt's most quixotic ideas can't be found on any of his albums; they appear hidden within the hundreds of interviews he's given over the last fifteen years. Here's a sample.
1. "When I go to the grocery store, I'm on an artistic mission."
-New Times Weekly (2/15/94)
2. "The two things that playing the guitar always reminded me of the most is riding motorcycles and shooting guns, my other two favorite things to do."
-Breakfast Without Meat #8
3. "I want a real fucking explanation of why we're so different form White Lion. We both shit purple, although I probably use a little less mousse."
-Alternative Press (March, 1990)
4. "The more simple we are, especially as complex people, the more grandeur we can achieve."
-Minneapolis Request Monthly (September, 1991)
5. "I'm trying to deflate the idea that somebody like Bruce Springsteen isn't incredibly avant-garde. I may not listen to his music very much, but it sure is weird to me."
-Tempe Daily News (9/5/85)
6. "I wasn't put on this earth to make friends with myself."
-Shepherd Express (12/13/87)
7. "The first step is to make sure your perception is accurate. I tend to open up my perception as wide as I can. Then I arrange the results of what has become stuck in my mind in whatever way I think is the most beautiful. That's where my ego comes in. I'll change a perception if it's not delicious enough -- and that becomes almost as real to me as the original perception. I trust myself."
-(publication unknown, 1985)
8. "The concept of life itself is a prostitution."
-Notes From Underground (Summer, 1983)
9. "Music is the last refuge of the nihilst."
-Solid Magazine (1986)
10. "I'm into baffling people. It leaves me with a sense of having gained something."
-Morning Call (Allentown, PA; Spring, 1983)
-compiled by Derrick Bostrom