Melvins have spent decades building a wall between themselves and the world, and Electroretard (2001) is the sound of that wall being deliberately smashed down — and then rebuilt with a few more bricks. This is an album of covers and rerecordings, mostly of songs the band wrote themselves, and it wants to be both a joke and a serious statement about how the music industry treats its own history.
The joke is on everyone else. The statement is on the band’s own stubbornness.
Covering the Wipers
The centerpiece is “Youth of America,” a cover of the Wipers song that functions as the album’s thesis. It is a deliberate parody of the poseur hard rock clichés that Melvins have spent their career mocking. The band plays it slow, sludgy and unhurried, letting the irony sit in the room rather than rushing it out. It is the best track here, and it earns every minute of its nine-and-a-half-minute runtime.
The Old Material
The other seven tracks are all songs the band originally recorded on their self-titled debut. They are presented here as new versions, but they are clearly the same songs with a fresh coat of fuzz. Some of them hold up better than others.
“Shit Storm” opens the album with a familiar grind that feels less like a reinvention and more like a reminder. It is solid, but it does not need the rerecord. “Gluey Porch Treatments” is barely a minute long and functions as a palate cleanser rather than a statement. “Revolve” and “Missing” both get a second life here, but neither improves on the originals. They are competent, unremarkable and easy to skip.
“Lovely Butterflies” is a six-minute epic that gets the most attention from critics, and it is the most interesting of the bunch. The band stretches the riff until it nearly collapses, which is exactly the point. “Tipping the Lion” is the shortest track on the record and the least essential, a brief detour that passes quickly.
The Long Goodbye
“Interstellar Overdrive” closes the album and runs over nine minutes, the longest track after “Youth of America.” It is a slow, heavy crawl that sums up everything the band has done here: take a song you have already played, make it heavier, and let it breathe. It is not a bad way to end the record, but it is not a statement either.
Verdict
Electroretard is a record about nostalgia dressed up as novelty. The covers are sharp, the originals are competent, and the whole thing is held together by a sense of humor that never lets the band take itself too seriously. It is not a great album, but it is a smart one, and it knows exactly what it is doing.
| Track | Original Album | Role |
|---|---|---|
| “Youth of America” | Wipers | Statement |
| “Shit Storm” | Self-titled | Reminder |
| “Gluey Porch Treatments” | Self-titled | Palate Cleanser |
| “Lovely Butterflies” | Self-titled | Stretch |
- “Youth of America” — the standout, a deliberate parody that works.
- “Shit Storm” — solid but unnecessary.
- “Lovely Butterflies” — the most interesting of the rerecordings.
- Everything else — competent filler that gets by on familiarity.
- Shit Storm4:07
- Youth of America9:17
- Gluey Porch Treatments0:47
- Revolve4:21
- Missing4:10
- Lovely Butterflies6:03
- Tipping the Lion3:48
- Interstellar Overdrive9:50
