Dopes To Infinity - Monster Magnet (1995)
I’ve never found a bright shining line to differentiate stoner rock from, say, sludge or doom metal or heavy psych or California desert rock. It’s a small territory the small audience for it has very strong opinions.
I would argue that the best journeyman-years work from Alice In Chains and Soundgarden are firmly inside stoner rock territory, but having a Seattle-area zip code always lands them in the grunge category and anyway, that’s a good way to get blasted on a message board.
Of the bands that stonerdom seems to generally agree on as stoner rock, Monster Magnet is one of the kings.
Dopes To Infinity is a prime example of both the band and the style: sludgy, sticky, distorted guitar riffs, emphatic drumming, fuzzy vocal treatments, and plenty of humor mixed with the angst in the lyrics.
I’m not going to be the one to start an argument about it, but I do love to occasionally grab some of that confidently nihilistic “fuck you” rock energy.
Tracks I Liked
Negasonic Teenage Warhead - The only 90s rock song that’s the namesake of an X-Men character? Maybe.
Look To Your Orb For The Warning - The tightest riff and the best straight-up backbeat on the record.
Third Alternative - deteriorates into a gloriously squelchy dumpster fire
King Of Mars - makes it worth staying through the second side.
