Primus

Primus is an American rock band formed in California in the mid-1980s. Their music has proven difficult to define; while usually considered by critics to be funk metal or alternative metal, Primus has been called everything from “thrash-funk meets Don Knotts, Jr.”[1] to “alternative rock” to “the Freak Brothers set to music.”[2] Les Claypool himself once described their music as “psychedelic polka.”[3] Primus is the only band with its own ID3v1 genre tag, as extended by Winamp.[4]

Due to the diversity of their sound, Primus have been able to gain a modest segment of fans from many different rock subgenres. They are characterized by their irreverent approach to music. Primus release their records on Claypool’s Prawn Song Records label, a parody of Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song. The band’s catchphrase was, for several years, “Primus Sucks!” but in 2003 the band dropped that catchphrase.