Up on the Sun

This song originated during a poorly received gig at the Ritz in New York City, when the Meat Puppets were opening up for Suicidal Tendencies. Lead singer and principal songwriter Curt Kirkwood recalled to us: "They had a big curtain, and as soon as they pulled the curtain up, that's what we kicked into. And people were being rowdy - they immediately didn't like us. So I started making fun of them. That song was an instrumental at first, and then I sang some stuff. "I was just trying to sing stuff that I thought would really piss them off," he continued. "I wasn't saying anything about them, really. I was just trying to be kind of 'mock tender.' And that's what came out. So then I finished that up later. I didn't have it all, but that's where the germ of that came from."

Curt told us about a peculiar encounter with Joey Ramone after the gig. "After everybody was gone, the club was empty, we were waiting for the van to come around from wherever it had got parked, and I was alone on the steps of the Ritz," he recalled. "And Joey Ramone got out of a cab and came up. He was totally wasted. "When does the Meat Puppets start?" It was like 1:00 in the morning! It was really awesome. And then he sort of passed out sitting on the steps there, and I went and got in the van, and we drove off. He was just sitting there. [Laughing]."