More than any other single band, Seattle’s Green River (named after a local serial killer) was responsible for the rise of long-haired dudes in Sub Pop T-shirts standing around in clubs, shaking their manes like so many lost Status Quo guitarists. It’s tough to hold that existence-as-a-bad-influence against the group though since, in its prime, Green River was a commanding and awesome unit, and one of the first post-punk units to recapitalize the word ROCK. The combination of Mark Arm’s full-throated Ig-chunk vocals and the band’s powerful downer-punk-blues-shit still sound mighty nice.
Rehab Doll (the CD and cassette of which add Dry as a Bone) is the best example of Green River’s neck-twitching meta-bunk, and even includes a few guest moans by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. The band dissolved when Arm rejoined original guitarist Steve Turner (who appears on the six-song Come on Down) to form Mudhoney. Green River is less formalist and fuzz-specific than Mudhoney, but it’s easy to discern the latter’s roots on this earlier vinyl scuzz.