Editing Meat Puppets (section)

===Major label career (1991–1995)===
As numerous bands from the seminal SST label and other kindred punk-oriented indies had before them,  Meat Puppets grappled with the decision to switch to a major label.  Two years after their final studio recording for SST, 1989's ''[[Monsters (Meat Puppets album)|Monsters]]'', the trio released its major-label debut, ''[[Forbidden Places]]'', on the indie-friendly London Records. The band chose London Records because it was the first label that ZZ Top, one of their favorite bands, was signed to.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Giles|first=Jeff|date=January 16, 2016|title=How ZZ Top Arrived With Their 'First Album'|work=Ultimate Classic Rock|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/zz-top-first-album/|access-date=June 27, 2021}}</ref>

''Forbidden Places'' combined many elements of the band's sounds over the years (cowpunk, psychedelia, riffy heavier rock) while some songs had a more laid back early alternative sound. Songs include "Sam" and "Whirlpool", and the title track. Despite being a fan favorite, ''Forbidden Places'' is now out of print, and as such it remains a highly sought collectible online.

In 1992 following his departure from the [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]], guitarist [[John Frusciante]] auditioned for the band. Cris Kirkwood stated "He showed up with his guitar out of its case and barefoot. We were on a major label then, we just got signed, and those guys had blown up to where they were at and John needed to get out. John gets to our pad and we started getting ready to play and I said, 'You want to use my tuner?' He said, 'No, I'll bend it in.' It was so far out. Then we jammed but it didn't come to anything. Maybe he wasn't in the right place and we were a tight little unit. It just didn't quite happen but it could have worked."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news/2015-05-07/frusciante-wanted-meat-puppets-gig|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508134144/http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news/2015-05-07/frusciante-wanted-meat-puppets-gig|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 May 2015|title=Frusciante wanted Meat Puppets gig - Classic Rock|date=8 May 2015|access-date=9 March 2019}}</ref>
In late 1993, Meat Puppets achieved mainstream popularity when [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s [[Kurt Cobain]], who became a fan after seeing them open for [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]] in the '80s, invited Cris and Curt to join him on ''[[MTV Unplugged]]'' for acoustic performances of "[[Plateau (song)|Plateau]]", "Oh Me" and "[[Lake of Fire (song)|Lake of Fire]]" (all originally from ''[[Meat Puppets II]]''). The resulting album, ''[[MTV Unplugged in New York]],'' served as a [[swan song]] for Nirvana, as Cobain died less than 5 months after the concert. "Lake of Fire" became a cult favorite for its particularly wrenching vocal performance from Cobain. Subsequently, the Nirvana exposure and the strength of the single "Backwater" (their highest-charting single) helped lift Meat Puppets to new commercial heights. The band's studio return was 1994's ''[[Too High to Die]]'', produced by [[Butthole Surfers]] guitarist [[Paul Leary]].  The album featured "[[Backwater (song)|Backwater]]", which reached #47 on the Billboard Hot 100, and a hidden-track update of "Lake of Fire". This album features a more straightforward alternative rock style, with occasional moments of pop, country and neo-psychedelic moments. ''Too High To Die'' earned the band a gold record (500,000 sold), outselling their previous records combined.

1995's ''[[No Joke!]]'' was the final album recorded by the original Meat Puppets lineup. Stylistically it is very similar to ''Too High to Die'', although much heavier and with darker lyrics. Examples of this are the single "Scum" and "Eyeball", although the band's usual laid-back style is still heard on tracks like "Chemical Garden". Though the band's drug use had long included cocaine, heroin, LSD and many others, Cris' use of [[heroin]] and [[crack cocaine]] became so bad he rarely left his house except to obtain more drugs.<ref>{{cite web|author=David Holthouse |url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1998-11-12/news/shooting-star/5/ |title=Shooting Star article at the Phoenix Times |publisher=Phoenixnewtimes.com |date=1998-11-12 |access-date=2011-07-15}}</ref> At least two people (including his wife and one of his best friends) died of overdoses at his house in Tempe, AZ during this time.<ref>{{cite web |author=David Holthouse |url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1998-11-12/news/shooting-star/ |title=Shooting Star article at the Phoenix Times |publisher=Phoenixnewtimes.com |date=1998-11-12 |access-date=2011-07-15 |archive-date=2011-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617081730/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1998-11-12/news/shooting-star/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>  The Kirkwood brothers had always had a legendary appetite for illegal substances and during the tour to support ''Too High To Die'' with [[Stone Temple Pilots]], the easy availability of drugs was too much for Cris. When it was over, he was severely addicted to cocaine and heroin. When their record label discovered Cris' addictions, support for ''No Joke!'' was subsequently dropped and it was met with poor sales figures.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NaiDBQAAQBAJ&q=meat+puppets+no+Joke+guns&pg=PA227|title=The Meat Puppets and the Lyrics of Curt Kirkwood from Meat Puppets II to No Joke!|first=Matthew|last=Smith-Lahrman|date=30 October 2014|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810884137}}</ref>