Alice Donut - Mule

Label: Alternative Tentacles
Year: 1990

Another, like Flipper below, milestone in underground music that has cast a long shadow but remained out of the NPR retrospective crush of "important releases of your youth...real or imagined".
But listen to hear where Nirvana might have lifted that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" riff on the song "Roaches In The Sink" prior to giving it their own Pixies punch.
Listen to "Crawlpappy" to hear Alice Donut turn down a more muscular (if not tongue-in-cheek) alleyway and give birth to the band Crawlpappy (thank you, by the way).
Listen to them clean up some of the junk-punk clutter of the first two albums in favor of a leaner, meaner sound that hones in on a messy, heavier melodic focus.
This is the version of Alice Donut that I get excited about, and frankly, you would probably love to be around when I'm excited. It's a real hoot. So, let's hope this one excites you as well (not a boner joke, unless you think that's funny).
Jello Biafra calls them "the missing link between REM and Butthole Surfers". FYI.

DL