Grunge trailblazers Mudhoney came roaring out of the traps with their 1988 debut single Touch Me I’m Sick, a song that so perfectly captured the amped-up thrills of early grunge that director Cameron Crowe re-appropriated it for his Seattle-set, grunge-themed romantic comedy Singles. In the film, it’s turned into Touch Me I’m Dick, a song by the Matt Dillon-led fictional band Citizen Dick.
Whilst Mudhoney could’ve had no idea of the song’s cultural impact, helping to kickstart a musical movement that would become a worldwide phenomenon, frontman Mark Arm explained that, coming out of the ashes of his former group Green River, they did have a clear musical vision in mind from the off. “We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do from the beginning,” he told The New Cue last year. “I wanted to do simpler, more punk rock kind of stuff. Steve [Turner, guitarist who was also in Green River] and I, in particular, were very into some of the contemporary Australian bands that were happening at the time, as well as a lot of the underground US bands, scummy scuzzy shit as well as 60s garage rock, and some blues-influenced stuff and punk rock through the ages. It was a creative time in Seattle, but there’s always been a lot of bands here… A lot of cool, weird people trying different things.”
“With Touch Me I’m Sick,” Arm continued, “Steve had a riff that was inspired by a local band called The Nights And Days. They were a local garage punk band that had a fast choppy riffing sort of thing. That riff was out of The Yardbirds happening 10 years’ time ago and also The Stooges’ I’m Sick Of You, the fast part. I had a line, “touch me I’m sick”, which I thought was funny and I just filled in the verses around it. We might have blown our wad on our first single!”
Arm reckons that the electrifying rawness that makes the recording stand out might have something to do with where they made it. “We recorded it in Reciprocal Recording and it was on an eight- track machine,” he explained. “Something about the way that everything went to tape made it extra gnarly. The next recording we did in Reciprocal, they’d upgraded to a 16-track machine… it didn’t sound quite as gnarly.”
Arm and the band weren’t involved in the Singles Touch Me I’m Dick re-recording, but he joked he did have some queries he’d like to get checked out about it. “The song being redone for Singles was a funny weird thing. I’m not even sure who recorded that. I guess I should ask [Pearl Jam bassist and Singles cast member] Jeff Ament sometime. I’m sure he was involved. I wonder if Matt Dillon actually sang on that.”
If you’re reading Matt, do get in touch – is that you evoking some Arm-style attitude on the Singles soundtrack? If so, it’s a job well done. You can compare the two versions below for yourself:
