Mr. Bungle
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Mr. Bungle
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">California, USA</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Various, Experimental rock</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1984–2000</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Warner Bros. |
Mr. Bungle was an avant-garde, experimental musical group that cycled through several musical genres, often within the course of a single song, fusing radically different styles together. While it would be impossible to list all of the genres incorporated into their music, some notable ones include heavy metal, rock music, funk, surf rock, ska, free jazz, hardcore punk, reggae, hip hop, noise rock, funkcore, pop, prog rock, dub music, funk metal, folk music, contemporary art music, psychedelic rock, avant-jazz, ambient music, electronica, space age pop, soul music, doo-wop, death metal, rockabilly, bossa nova, video game and cartoon music. Mr. Bungle released three full-length albums between 1991 and 1999 and has not been active since then.
Contents |
[edit] Major Releases
Their self-titled debut Mr. Bungle, recorded a year after Mike Patton was recruited into Faith No More, was produced by jazz experimentalist John Zorn. The content is very hard to pin down using specific genres, and the structure and musical style of any single track can dramatically alter anywhere in a song.
Disco Volante, their second major release, has a completely different tone. It is the most experimental of Mr. Bungle's albums as the music ventures into more complex and formal sonic territory. Extreme shifts of musical style are constant throughout the album, arguably making it Mr. Bungle's most difficult and inaccessible release. While the debut album focused on mixing styles that teenagers are likely to encounter in high school, such as rap, metal, and funk, Disco Volante included influences from contemporary classical music, electronic music pioneers such as Pierre Henry, Morton Subotnick and Dick Hyman, avant-garde jazz, and European film music of the 1960s and 1970s (Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Peter Thomas, etc.). In doing so, the album constituted a marriage of formal, academic avant-garde with informal pop culture, and as such is an excellent representation of the synthesis of high art and low art.
The band's third album, California, is their most accessible. While the genre shifts are still present, they are less frequent, giving the album a less chaotic and more stable feel. While Disco Volante was a dark, brooding work, California has a much lighter tone, and shows influences of exotica and The Beach Boys, while still incorporating even more diverse styles, including Kecak, Klezmer and Roma music.
[edit] Stage Antics
More so than other Mike Patton related projects, Mr. Bungle was known for their terrifying stage shows, where Patton would wear a gimp mask and Trevor Dunn would donn a blue dress and pigtails while headbanging maniacally. The presentation of the band on stage has sometimes been close to a realization of Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty in the musical domain. This was particularly felt at the live shows during the Disco Volante era. The shows for the California tours, while still involving various members wearing masks and dressing up, were no longer showing evidence of Artaud's influence.
[edit] Anthony Kiedis and Mr. Bungle Feud
Mr. Bungle is also known to have had a bad relationship with the Red Hot Chili Peppers' frontman Anthony Kiedis,<ref name="MrBungleFAQ">Negele S, Don S, Scott H, Fogel C, Wall Sl, Kennedy HL. Mr. Bungle FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-09-23.</ref> and it is no coincidence that the album titles of Mr. Bungle's 1999 album California and the Chili's 1999 album Californication are similar. In fact, California was supposed to be released in 1998 also, but their label Warner Bros pushed it back so as not to coincide with the Red Hot Chili Peppers album. Both Patton and Kiedis have denied this was true, with Patton stating that because the Chili Peppers and Mr. Bungle have two entirely different fan bases, delaying the release was absolutely unnecessary. The bad relationship started when Kiedis saw singer Mike Patton's other band Faith No More and accused Patton of ripping off his style.<ref name="MrBungleFAQ"/> Patton (and Mr. Bungle) took great offense to this, threatening Kiedis with bodily harm in the press.<ref name="MrBungleFAQ"/>
After Kiedis was responsible for getting Mr. Bungle kicked off a series of summer festivals in Europe, Australia and New Zealand (as being the headlining act at the said festivals they had final word on the bands that would appear).<ref name="MrBungleFAQ"/> Mr. Bungle covered the songs Give It Away, Around The World, Under the Bridge and Scar Tissue (deliberately using incorrect lyrics) on Halloween 1999 where Patton introduced each band member with the name of one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (including Trey Spruance as "the Ghost of Hillel Slovak"). They proceeded to imitate many of the mannerisms of the band, including their tattoos, frequent heroin injections, and on-stage antics.[1] Kiedis responded by having them removed from festivals in 2000 (or rather, threatening to pull the Chili Peppers from them unless Mr. Bungle were removed).<ref name="MrBungleFAQ">Negele S, Don S, Scott H, Fogel C, Wall Sl, Kennedy HL. Mr. Bungle FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-09-23.</ref>
The rest of the Chili Peppers seem to have no problems with Mr. Bungle, though Flea and Trevor Dunn have a public dislike of one another.[2]
[edit] Mr. Bungle's End
Mr. Bungle is currently disbanded. When asked about a possible reunion, Mike Patton stated, "It could happen, but I won’t be singing. Some bridges have definitely been burned. It was a fun time and sometimes you just have to move on. I’ve got a lot on my plate now." Trevor Dunn adds, on his website, "Bungle is dead. Please realize that..." Spruance, Heifetz and McKinnon have been more optimistic; to quote Spruance, in response to the standard 'Mr. Bungle regrouping' question: "“I hope so because that band could take over the fucking universe if it wanted to."
Trey Spruance is now part of the band Secret Chiefs 3. Trevor Dunn occasionally steps in to play bass. Danny Heifetz now resides in Sydney, Australia and plays in outfits such as The Tango Saloon and Munkle. Clinton McKinnon resides in Melbourne, Australia and plays with The Ribbon Device. Mike Patton has also kept busy with numerous musical projects and acting.
[edit] Band lineup
Regular members of Mr. Bungle included:
- Mike Patton - vocals
- Trey Spruance - guitar, keyboards
- Trevor Dunn - bass
- Danny Heifetz - drums
- Clinton "Bär" McKinnon - reeds
- Theo Lengyel - saxophone, keyboards (till 1996, left the band due to creative differences)
Additional musicians often performed and recorded with them, including percussionist William Winant.
[edit] Discography
| Album Cover | Date of Release | Title | Label |
 | 1986 | The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny | Ladd-Firth Productions |
| 1987 | Bowel of Chiley | ? | |
 | 1988 | Goddammit I Love America | The Works |
 | 1989 | OU818 | "B" Productions |
 | August 13, 1991 | Mr. Bungle | Warner Bros Records |
 | October 10, 1995 | Disco Volante | Warner Bros Records |
 | July 13, 1999 | California | Warner Bros Records |
The four early pre-Warner Bros cassettes are not part of the band's official catalogue, and are considered nearly unfindable today. They are quite valued on eBay, with auctions ending in the triple digits. They are, however, downloadable from a semi-official ftp-server.
[edit] Footnotes
<references />
[edit] References
- [3] Huge FAQ on Mr. Bungle.
[edit] External links
- Bungle Fever fan-site
- Bungle Fever fan-site BBS
- Caca Volante news and archives
- Mr. Bungle at All Music Guide
- Mr. Bungle FAQ
- Mr. Bungle Lyrics
- Rolling Stone article on the band's split
- [4]: Archive.org hosts the Coronet educational film "Lunchroom Manners," in which a puppet named Mr. Bungle teaches children how to behave at lunch. The first two minutes of audio are featured on Mr. Bungle's self-titled CD.bg:Мr.Bungle
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