Various Artists — Deep Six (Green River, Malfunkshun, The Melvins, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, U-Men)

Author: tracysigler | Posted: September 28th, 2007 | | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »
Various Artists -- Deep Six (Green River, Malfunkshun, The Melvins, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, U-Men)

Various Artists -- Deep Six (Green River, Malfunkshun, The Melvins, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, U-Men)

  • Artist: Various Artists
  • Title: Deep Six (Green River, Malfunkshun, The Melvins, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, U-Men)
  • Year: 1985
  • Format: Vinyl 12 in.
  • Rating (1-10): 8
  • Owner: Tracy
  • Acquired: 1985 – Where?
  • Keeper: Yes

This summary from the C/Z Records site pretty much says it all:

“1985 – C/Z is born (a year prior to the launching of the Sub Pop label) with the release of the DEEP SIX compilation featuring the first available recordings from Soundgarden, Melvins, and Green River (who later spawned Mother Love Bone & Pearl Jam). The record marked the earliest beginnings of grunge. In time these bands are signed and successful.”

The six bands are: Green River, Malfunkshun, The Melvins, Skin Yard, Soundgarden and U-Men. The most noteworthy descendant band not mentioned above is Mudhoney. Singer Mark Arm was first in Green River. Many would consider this the first significant record from the burgeoning 1980s Seattle scene. Some would call it “grunge”, but I’ve read that many of the bands didn’t like being lumped into a single category.

Wikipedia has a good article about Deep Six where you see the song list and the band rosters. Scan the list and you’ll see a lot familiar names sometimes under less familiar bands. These guys moved around a lot.

I was very excited about this music because it was essentially guitar-based rock that wasn’t, for the most part, stupid mainstream stuff from guys with teased up hair and makeup. I suppose it was punk in its own way, but with better riffs.

There were only 2000 copies of Deep Six made. It’s supposedly collectible, and tonight I saw a copy on eBay for $75.