Plateau

Album: Meat Puppets II (1984)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was popularized when Kurt Cobain personally invited Curt Kirkwood and his brother Kris to perform three of their tunes with Nirvana during the Grunge band's famous 1993 MTV Unplugged appearance. Their version of this tune appears on Nirvana's 1994 album MTV Unplugged in New York. "I've talked to Krist Novoselic and other people," Curt Kirkwood recalled to Mojo magazine January 1995, "and it seems they listened to us a lot before they started the band. I guess they liked our stuff 'cos we took a step away from formulaic hardcore in the early '80s but still had the attitude. Also, both Kurt and I have that high and lonesome country thing in our voices, the way he'd purposely let his voice break, like Jimmie Rodgers or something. The idea of the Unplugged covers came about when we toured with Nirvana a year ago. It was clear that we were on the same trip - Kurt wanted to extend the end part of 'Plateau' for half an hour, and I'd written that song to be cyclical, so you could just space out."
  • Music writer Stephen M. Deusner noted in the book, The Pitchfork 500, that this song is "a tricky, ambiguous metaphor about consumerism, or religion, or the afterlife. If you buy into the last of those" he continued, "then all that awaits you once you die are, allegedly, 'a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds.'"
  • The title of UK rapper/singer Plan B's 2006 debut album, Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, was taken from one of this song's lyrics.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And Scandals

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And ScandalsSong Writing

Surprise exits, a catfight and some very memorable performances make our list of the most memorable Idol moments.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys

Mike Scott of The WaterboysSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."

Dave Edmunds

Dave EdmundsSongwriter Interviews

A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."

Lip-Synch Rebels

Lip-Synch RebelsSong Writing

What happens when Kurt Cobain, Iron Maiden and Johnny Lydon are told to lip-synch? Some hilarious "performances."

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."