Besides Black Flag's Greg Ginn, The Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood was one of the top guitarists to emerge from the 80's U.S. punk rock movement. But in truth, Kirkwood's playing and writing has little to do with punk (besides being full of punk's energy and unpredictability) - he's always listed such classic rockers as ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia as his biggest guitar influences, while his singing/songwriting contains elements of such country legends as George Jones. Born January 10, 1959 and raised in Phoenix, AZ, Curt formed The Meat Puppets in the early-80 's along with bass-playing brother Cris and drummer Derrick Bostrom, releasing a string of classic albums on Black Flag's SST label.

Whereas most punk bands frowned upon guitar solos, most of The Meat Puppets songs spotlighted Kirkwood's six-string talents, especially such tracks as "Enchanted Porkfist," "Magic Toy Missing," "Flight of the Fire Weasel," and the 1994 version of "Lake of Fire" (the latter included as an unlisted bonus track on Too High To Die). In addition to his music, Curt's other love is painting - many of his drawings have graced The Puppets' album covers (Meat Puppets II, Up On the Sun, Mirage, etc.), and he supplied the album cover art for the 1996 debut by friend's Dez Cadena and George Hurley's band, Vida.