10 Greatest Forgotten Songs Of The 1990s
8. Backwater- Meat Puppets
The trio known as Meat Puppets weren’t exactly a household name before 1993. After performing on Nirvana’s episode of MTV Unplugged, Meat Puppets gained both notoriety and their biggest album to date.
Meat Puppets formed in 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. Brothers Cris and Curt Kirkwood met drummer Derrick Bostrum while in high school. The trio experimented with different sub-genres of punk and rock through the early days, gaining some notoriety on the west coast.
When Meat Puppets were touring with Black Flag in 1984, a young man named Kurt Cobain attended one of the shows. The band made such an impression that, nearly a decade later, he invited them to join Nirvana on Unplugged.
Surfing on the new wave of credibility, Meat Puppets recorded their eighth album, Too High to Die. The record’s single, Backwater, quickly became the biggest track of their biggest album.
Backwater embodies all that was great about 90s alternative: Strong guitar riffs, catchy lyrics and memorable hooks. The song reached No. 47 in Billboard Hot 100. After Kurt Cobain’s death, interest in Meat Puppets began to wane.
As of 2022, Meat Puppets are still together. They released their 15th album, Dusty Notes, in 2019. Credit is to be given for longevity, but for Meat Puppets, the backwater hasn’t swirled the same way since.