The U-Men

The U-Men was an American rock band, formed in Seattle, Washington in 1981 and active until 1989. They toured extensively across the United States. Their musically "dirty" sound was a forerunner for the later grunge bands to come out of Seattle.

History

Fronted by the enigmatic vocalist John Bigley, the U-Men (whose members also included Tom Price, Charlie "Chaz" Ryan, Robin Buchan, Jim Tillman, Tom Hazelmyer and later Tony "Tone Deaf" Ransom) pioneered their own unique brand of alternative rock which could best be described as "swamp-o'-billy". Together with Northwest contemporaries Girl Trouble, the U-Men emerged to fill the void left some 16 years previous with the disappearance of Northwest garage rock legends The Sonics, The Wailers, and The Ventures. They updated this traditional Northwest sound with more modern punk rock and post-punk influences most notably The Cramps and Nick Cave's original group The Birthday Party.

The U-Men quickly acquired, through word of mouth, a dedicated cult following and well-deserved reputation for mayhem, both on and off the stage. Perhaps their most legendary antic was when Bigley set the front of the Seattle Center Mural Amphitheater stage on fire during a Bumbershoot festival performance, and the band played on.

U-Men (album)

U-Men is the first EP by the band The U-Men released in 1984.

The song "Gila" appears on a split with the Melvins for Sugar Daddy Live.

Track listing

References

U-Men (comics)

The U-Men are a fictional group of villains, appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, usually as adversaries of the X-Men.

Publication history

The U-Men are a collection of characters that first appeared in Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men. They believe in using mutant body parts to augment their human bodies as well as to grant themselves superhuman powers. They also live in specially designed environment suits to protect them from what they believe to be an imperfect world. Until his death, they were led by John Sublime.

Fictional history

A group of U-Men track down a young girl named Angel Salvadore, who manifested fly-related mutant powers. They are about to dissect her in a mobile-lab by the side of the road when Wolverine finds them and attacks, having been searching for Angel with the help of Jean Grey. All the soldiers are killed and Angel is taken into the care of the X-Men.

A little after Angel is rescued, a squadron of U-Men attack through the front gate of the X-Mansion. Jean Grey is the only X-Man on the premises, but with the help of several of the students, such as one who could manifest voices from any direction, she was able to keep the U-Men at bay. The U-Men have many counter-abilities to mutant powers, such as being able to shut down portions of their mind in order to escape telepathic control by the Stepford Cuckoos. Jean manages to both humiliate the U-Men with her telepathy and defeat them with her regrowing Phoenix powers. As Wolverine and Angel draw up to the mansion, the U-Men are seen running away, screaming into the night as Jean telekinetically destroys their suits and attacks them with psychic fire.