PUDDLE OF MUDD
Come Clean (Flawless/Geffen)
Reviewed by Melanie Campbell

---

Here's a Cinderella story if there ever was one. The band Puddle Of Mudd came together somewhere in the Midwest, not quite two years ago. Lead singer Wes Scantlin hunted down Fred Durst after a Family Values Tour stopover in Kansas, and handed him the band's last copy of their self-produced demo. Durst loved it, signed the band straightaway to his new Flawless Records label, and within a short time, voila! A new, familiar-yet-fresh rock-n-roll sound emerged on the band's debut release, Come Clean. Leading off the charge is the alt-radio smash, "Control." Also known as "The Smack My Ass Song," this tune picks up where grunge faltered in the late nineties: with a fresh coat of sonic-axe thrash and some badly-needed melody up-front. The next single, "Blurry," carries on in similar fashion, with its singsong chorus culminating in a blast of guitar that you can still dance to. And the hilarious "She Hates Me" will no doubt become the anthem for Men With No Chutzpah. Can't go wrong with the rest of this stellar debut either. No doubt you'll be hearing it on the radio well into the spring and summer, it's that chock-full of hits.

© 2002 - Melanie Campbell