Pork Soda is the third studio album by the rock band Primus, released on April 20, 1993, certified Gold in September 1993 and certified Platinum in May 1997. The 2005 reissue comes in a digipak and contains a booklet with lyrics printed to nine songs, omitting (Pork Soda) which consists of a series of unintelligible rants.
The album was performed in its entirety for the first time at the Fox Oakland Theatre on December 31, 2015. The album contains darker content than previous Primus efforts, featuring lyrics dealing with murder (My Name Is Mud), suicide (Bob), and alienation (Nature Boy).
The band has commented that prior to recording, they had been touring for nearly two solid years and were thus in a somber mood, although in a 2015 interview frontman Les Claypool described the era surrounding the album as “Good times, happy times. It’s not like we were reflecting any personal drama or anything.”
Regarding the song “Wounded Knee” drummer Tim Alexander said:
“I needed a name. I was reading this book called Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It was something I never really thought about before… I mean how this country came to be. We are taught to be so proud. But a lot of what we have is based on lies and deceit. They only teach you what they want you to know. I hope people will see the title and check it out. Next time you listen to ‘Wounded Knee’, try and put the story and the music together. The rhythm and the pulse, there is an element of it that is angry then peaceful.”
Tracklist:
- Pork Chop’s Little Ditty (instrumental)
- My Name Is Mud
- Welcome to This World
- Bob
- DMV
- The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Part 3)
- Nature Boy
- Wounded Knee (instrumental)
- Pork Soda
- The Pressman
- Mr. Krinkle
- The Air Is Getting Slippery
- Hamburger Train (instrumental; beginning sample is audio of Paul Reubens from the film Nice Dreams)
- Pork Chop’s Little Ditty (instrumental)
- Hail Santa (instrumental)
Primus
Les Claypool: vocals, bass guitar, mandolin (tracks 1 & 14), double bass
Larry LaLonde: electric guitar, banjo (tracks 12 & 15)
Tim “Herb” Alexander: drums, percussion, marimba, bicycle bell (track 15)
Production
Derek Featherstone: engineer
Leslie Gerard-Smith: project coordinator
John Golden, K-Disk: mastering
Manny LaCarrubba, Neil King, Kent Matchke: second engineers
Ron Rigler: engineer
Tom Whalley: A&R direction
Visual art
Jay Blakesburg: front cover and background photography
Paul “Bosco” Haggard: cover layout
Lance “Link” Montoya: sculpture
Snap: airbrushing
