Overblown

Album: Singles Soundtrack (1992)
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Songfacts®:

  • The song's lyrical meaning deals with the intense mainstream attention Seattle Rock bands experienced during the early '90s. Mudhoney lead singer/guitarist Mark Arm told us, "There was a certain amount of frustration in terms of the changes that had happened locally to shows in the '80s. There was a small group of people, maybe a couple hundred, that went to shows and you maybe didn't know everyone, but you knew them by sight. And all of a sudden, you'd go to a show and none of those people were around anymore. All you saw was this new group of people who got turned on to local music by MTV or something. It was really weird. So it was just a reaction to that. I was trying to keep it funny and light as well. I wasn't really going to move out of town."
  • Mudhoney never got the big payday, but they were an influential and credible band deserving of a spot on the soundtrack of Singles. Directed by Cameron Crowe, the film featured a bizarro version of Pearl Jam (Citizen Dick in the movie) fronted by Matt Dillon and with Eddie Vedder on drums. The movie wasn't specifically about the music scene in the area, but that culture was part of the backdrop. By the time the film was released in 1992, Grunge music was everywhere and flannel was in fashion.

    Mudhoney never bought into the hype, but they did cash in on the $20,000 budget they were given to record this song for the Singles soundtrack. Mark Arm tells us they spent about $164 to record the song, and pocketed the rest.

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