Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3, 1996-2008

This is the first post since I wrote about the Monkees in which an influential group was American.  Around the turn of the millennium, I realized that my British music outnumbered my American music by nearly a factor of two.  When I first heard Mr. Bungle in 1996, I was blown away.   At that period in my life, I was really into experimental music, but most of it was from the 1960s and 70s.  When I heard some of my colleagues in my dorm listening to Mr. Bungle's Disco Volante, I thought that this was what John Lennon predicted as music of the future.  I was thinking about something I may have read when he was referring to The Beatles' "Revolution 9."

I was really intrigued by Mr. Bungle because it mixed so many genres and the band was very professional.  The music sounded chaotic yet controlled at the same time, and perhaps that's the type of music I like best.  I guess that's how some people describe jazz, but this controlled chaos was also done using techniques beyond improvisation.  I like innovation in the mixing room as well.

Mr. Bungle also hit the nail on the head for me with providing music that seemed to be the something a conservative Christian and patriotic American would think was evil or anti-American as there is a lot of Middle Eastern music mixed in with death metal among a lot of other genres.  But the Middle Eastern sounds hooked me the most.

When Mr. Bungle came out with their last album, California, I was a bit disappointed that they were a lot less experimental with a lot less Middle Eastern influence.  However, this album carries strong memories of my solo vacation to Kyoto.  I bought the album about a week before my 4 days and 3 nights in Kyoto, so I listened it on the way there.  And I listened it when I was done touring the city.  I thought it wasn't appropriate to listen to that type of music while admiring the cultural capital of Japan.

My Mr. Bungle phase soon ended when I returned to the States in 2001 as California reminded me too much of that 3-4 month period where I intensely listened to the album in Japan and Disco Volante just reminded me of my college years.  Fortunately, I discovered the Secret Chiefs 3, who were a side band to Mr. Bungle.  I bought their first album before I left Japan, but they quickly became one of my favorite groups during my years in Baltimore and Korea.

One of my favorite albums to this day is the Secret Chiefs 3's Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws as it provides my ideal Middle Eastern music that would anger most jingoistic Americans following 9/11, which was around the time I bought the album.  At first I liked it as an antithesis to the Bush Administration's rhetoric of the day, but now I like it because it's musically well done.

When their fourth album, Book of Horizons, came out in 2004, I declared it one of my favorite albums of all time.  And it was probably so for about two years, but it got old quickly.  I still like a few songs from that album, but it's not as creative or experimental as Mr. Bungle's Disco Volante and the Middle Eastern music isn't as fun as that on Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws.  I think the sound quality was superior to their previous albums.  And they seemed to be heading towards more authenticity than the exotic cliche of their previous albums, but I'm fascinated by American exotica.

The appeal to both Mr. Bungle and the Secret Chiefs 3 wore out when I got to know more people from the Middle East.  At first, I felt embarrassed that I was listening to this fake (mis)representation of their culture.  I'm more comfortable now as I understand it as an American interpretation of Middle Eastern mysticism, but it's rare now for me to need an emotional catharsis to America's foreign policies toward the Middle East through music.