Sub Pop Records
Rating: 35 out of 35
By Tom Smith
Contributing Writer
The Vinyl Word has been an easy and enjoyable review to write every month this year because the albums being released in 2023 is a Murderers’ Row of contenders for album of the year.
This month’s subject of the Vinyl Word is no exception — and no rookie sensation either — but before I review an album by an artist I have loved for 35 years, I have to quickly write about a resident of Green Bay who I have loved for 20 years.
I first met THom E. BHoy at the late great venue called the MainStage Bar & Grill on Main St. (it’s now a parking lot for CVS) at the weekly hip hop night hosted by Willie Dubceez Jones.
Those weekly hip hop nights were one of the greatest things in the history of the Green Bay music scene.
I remember the first time I walked into one and was welcomed by a legit Green Bay Godfather on the mic (Dubceez) with, “Hey everyone, it’s Eddie Van Halen.” I instantly got the vibe that this was the place to hang.
During the course of the run of hip hop night at the MainStage, I met many wonderful fellow music lovers that I still call friends.
I saw an amazing collection of talent from Green Bay and the Fox Valley performing.
It really was an incredibly vibrant hip hop scene and one of the performers who always stood out was THom E. BHoy.
How happening was that scene? Well, so happening that one time I was confused for Rick Rubin and I could not convince this dude that I wasn’t at the MainStage to sign artists. True Story!
THom E. BHoy was a customer of The Exclusive Company, so we always kept up over the years.
Unfortunately, I saw recently that THom E. BHoy passed and that news was crushing not just for me or anyone who knew him or his family and friends, but the entire Green Bay community.
THom E. BHoy was super active and a big part of the Urban Cultural Arts & Event Center 906 E. Walnut st Green Bay.
I was at the Remembrance Gathering at the Center for THom E. BHoy and the love, power, and positive energy in the room for him was one of the most beautiful and powerful experiences I have had in my entire life.
Green Bay will miss THom E. BHoy something terrible, but Green Bay won’t forget him because legends never die.
Speaking of legends that won’t die, Mudhoney is celebrating their 35th year of existence with a world tour that kicked off in Australia recently and will hit Wisconsin on October 19 in Milwaukee, and also by releasing a new album called Plastic Eternity.
35 years in and I’m at a loss to name artists still releasing albums as great as Plastic Eternity this long into their career.
The Rolling Stones, in their 35th year of existence, released Bridges to Babylon. Your honor, I rest my case.
Do I put The Rolling Stones and Mudhoney on the same level of rock greatness? Oh heck yeah I do.
Mudhoney is also on the short list of greatest American rock‘n’roll bands ever.
Plastic Eternity, as with all Mudhoney albums, has its own distinctive texture and flavor to it.
The previous Mudhoney album Digital Garbage was the full-on sonic protest album that the times dictated and demanded.
Plastic Eternity is a different direction which you could say is more laid back, but I would say more ethereal — not that the album doesn’t have screaming rockers.
I would definitely play this pre-gaming for a seance.
Don’t worry, we still have what I consider protest songs on Plastic Eternity, just presented differently.
So many songs on this album I hope will be played in Milwaukee, such as “Move Under,” “Almost Everything,” “Here Comes the Flood” and, of course, “Little Dogs.”
If you haven’t seen the music video for “Little Dogs,” please look it up. It is easily the most adorable music video ever and should force America into a love affair with Mudhoney singer Mark Arm.
I’m predicting that Weird Al will be parodying this video with “Big Dogs.”
35 years of Mudhoney and albums like this make me excited for the next.
Thank you Mudhoney and THom E. BHoy for your service.