The early Talking Heads comment is interesting, because in a way early TH was very into the idea of re-using bubblegum structures and pop music in a different context... and maybe that's also in the DNA of Meat Puppets? not only the clean tones and bluegrass and country, but kind of a connection to schmaltz, to the pop music not being fanned by the critics. Didn't the first drummer had a zine that was famous for trying to rediscover Tiny Tim and AOR/Soft Rock or something similar? https://fanzinehemorrhage.com/2023/06/12/breakfast-without-meat-13/ yep
You can see some of that attitude when they're talking about Bee Gees in this What's in my bag:
― fpsa, Tuesday, 12 September 2023 16:02 (eight months ago) link