Buzz Osborne lists a selection of his favourite songs
As Melvins’ lead vocalist and guitarist, Buzz Osborne has played a pivotal role in shaping the grunge and sludge metal genres. Known for his distinctive guitar sound, characterised by heavy distortion and unconventional tunings, the aptly nicknamed musician inspired the likes of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Green River and more as a primal, generation-defining force.
Melvins’ style has flitted through the subgenres admirably over the past three decades, reflecting the group’s eclectic tastes in music. Beyond his immediate and most apparent inspirations in punk and 1980s noise rock, Osborne began a thorough education in classic rock music from a young age, despite his parents’ ignorance.
“My parents never bought me records and never cared about that sort of thing at all,” the frontman said in a 2019 interview. “They had no interest in my love of music at all, and I think they thought it was a waste of time. Years and years later, when I was about 18, and I started playing music […] they had zero – and I mean absolutely zero – interest in it”.
“They weren’t in any way encouraging as far as, like, ‘Oh yeah, you should do it’, not in the least,” he added. “They viewed it as a waste of time. I tried to make a career out of making a living by wasting time, you know, but it worked out.”
Fortunately, Osborne found the music of The Who, David Bowie and Bob Dylan in his early teens and never looked back. “When I was getting into music when I was about twelve, I had no friends whatsoever,” Osborne noted of his early introduction to music. “Nobody that I knew, young or old, liked music. I didn’t have people that I hung out with at all. I was pretty much on my own until about tenth grade until I met [Mike] Dillard and the guys that ended up being in the Melvins. Dillard especially got it, but I introduced the guys to all that stuff, whether it was Bowie or whatever.”
Like most music geeks, Osborne finds it exceedingly difficult to pick out categorical lists of his favourite albums and songs of all time; there are simply too many to remember, and tides change from day to day. That said, the singer and guitarist usually manages to pull a discerning playlist from his cranial library.
In 2021, Loudwire challenged Osborne to pick out his nine favourite acoustic songs of all time. As a big Bob Dylan fan, he selected two from the legendary troubadour but also included several other classic rock songs from Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and more. Although most of the selections are acoustic-tinged, Osborne made the rules fit his erratic whim with a couple of selections that can’t be considered acoustic in the slightest.
Buzz Osborne’s favourite songs:
- ‘Sister Morphine’ – The Rolling Stones
- ‘It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘Girl From the North Country’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘That’s the Way’ – Led Zeppelin
- ‘All I Have to Do Is Dream’ – The Everly Brothers
- ‘Why Baby Why’ – George Jones
- ‘Streets of Laredo’ – Buck Owens
- ‘El Paso’ – Marty Robbins
- ‘Sock It To Me Baby’ – Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
