Bongwater

I first learned about Bongwater from an issue of High Times that featured a list of bands worth checking out. Incidentally, I think it may have been the same issue that first introduced me to GWAR and Mudhoney.

I rushed to the local record store, picked up Too Much Sleep on cassette, popped it into my Walkman, and had absolutely no idea what I had stumbled into.

It took a little “experimentation” and perhaps the right “frame of mind,” but once my mind had expanded enough to catch up, the strange combination of psychedelic music, spoken-word storytelling, humor, and Ann Magnuson’s vocals quickly grew on me. Bongwater sounded unlike anything else I had ever heard. I don’t think there has been another band even remotely like them since, nor do I think there ever could be.