Their music is oppressively slow and heavy, only without any of the silly mystical lyrics or the indulgent guitar solos; it's just one massive, oozing pile of dark slime. The Melvins' first record was released in 1987; they've released many albums since then, but it wasn't until 1993 that they went to a major label, thanks to their protégé, Kurt Cobain. While some may find the Melvins dull and repetitious, their place in rock history is interesting, even if considered to be just a footnote.

The band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, the same town that produced Nirvana's Cobain and Krist Novoselic. For Nirvana and many other Seattle-area bands, the Melvins' sludge was inspirational; the younger bands took the Sabbath-styled heaviness of the Melvins, while adding an equally important pop song structure, which the group tended to lack. While all of their disciples became famous after Nirvana broke big in 1991 (including Mudhoney, which featured former Melvins bassist Matt Lukin), the Melvins only expanded their cult slightly. They did earn a major-label contract with Atlantic, but after releasing three records for the label, they were dropped in late 1996 and the group returned to indie status, landing with Amphetamine Reptile for 1998's Alive at the F*cker Club. The late '90s and early 2000s century saw a flurry of releases by the band: The Maggot, The Bootlicker, The Crybaby, Electroretard, The Colossus of Destiny, Hostile Ambient Takeover, Pigs of the Roman Empire, and Houdini Live 2005: A Live History of Gluttony and Lust, all of which (except for the fourth one) were issued on Mike Patton's Ipecac label.

In addition to their Melvins activities, singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne joined Patton (and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn) for the experimental outfit Fantômas, resulting in a number of releases (1999's self-titled debut, 2001's The Director's Cut, 2002's Millennium Monsterwork by "the Fantômas Melvins Big Band" (recorded live in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 2000 but not released until two years later), 2004's Delirium Cordia, and 2005's Suspended Animation), while the Melvins' latest bassist, Kevin Rutmanis, joined Patton in another side project, Tomahawk. In 2006, Big Business bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis joined the Melvins, appearing on that year's Senile Animal album. The follow-ups, 2008's Nude with Boots, 2010's The Bride Screamed Murder, and a live album titled Sugar Daddy Live, were recorded with the same lineup and released by Ipecac.

The band returned in 2012 with a stripped-down lineup, dubbed Melvins Lite, for Freak Puke, which found Crover and Osborne recording without the boys from Big Business, instead adding standup bassist Dunn to their roster to round out the band's already formidable bottom-end sound. Mixing things up even further, the band teamed up with a host of guests, including the likes of Jello Biafra and J.G. Thirlwell, for Everybody Loves Sausages, an album of covers that arrived in 2013. Another new album, Tres Cabrones, released in November of that same year, saw them reunited with original drummer Mike Dillard -- who had previously appeared only on their early demo tapes -- while usual drummer Dale Crover took over on bass duties. Another odd team-up occurred in 2014, as Crover and Osborne joined the Butthole Surfers' J.D. Pinkus and Paul Leary on the eclectic Hold It In. Two unusual releases from the Melvins arrived in 2016. An album the group began recording in 1999 with Mike Kunka of Godheadsilo was finally completed and released as Three Men and a Baby, credited to Mike & the Melvins. And in mid-2016 they issued Basses Loaded, where the group recruited a handful of favorite bass players to collaborate on songs. The guest artists included Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, Steve McDonald of Redd Kross and OFF!, Jeff Pinkus, Trevor Dunn, and Jared Warren. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato