Puddle of Mudd is an American rock band formed in Kansas City, Missouri in 1992.

Their major-label debut, Come Clean (2001), spawned the single "Blurry", which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remains their signature song.

[1] Vocalist and guitarist Wes Scantlin has served as the only consistent member throughout the band's history.

[5] Minus Jimmy Allen, the group released an eleven-song indie album, Abrasive, in 1997 on the Madison-based label Hardknocks Records.

[6] Scantlin's big break in the music business came after a copy of his demo tape was delivered to Fred Durst.

[7] One of the first people Scantlin met upon arriving in California was Doug Ardito, an intern at Interscope Records.

Fred Durst decided to contact a guitarist he knew from his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, Paul Phillips, who had formerly played in a local band there called Happy Hour.

After getting the call from Durst, Paul decided to try out for Puddle of Mudd and was accepted, choosing to leave college in order to join.

The band held auditions for a new drummer and selected Greg Upchurch, who was an ex-member of Eleven and had also toured with Chris Cornell.

Puddle of Mudd entered the studio in 2000 and released its major-label debut album Come Clean on August 28, 2001.

8 in the UK Singles Chart, and also winning an ASCAP song of the year award for Ardito, Allen and Scantlin.

The album was certified triple platinum in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 31, 2003, and as of late 2006, total sales worldwide were in excess of five million copies.

Puddle of Mudd's follow up, Life on Display, spawned three singles "Away from Me", "Heel Over Head", and "Spin You Around".

In 2009, former guitarist Paul Phillips rejoined the band after replacement Christian Stone was let go on good terms.

[13] Later in the year bassist Doug Ardito left the band and was replaced by Jacksonville Burn Season frontman, Damien Starkey.

They played at the Download Festival,[14] and released their first best of collection, titled Icon, featuring the singles from their first four albums.

The release featured covers of songs originally by The Rolling Stones, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and others.

According to original bassist Sean Sammon, it was confirmed that the band's first two albums, Stuck and Abrasive, would be re-released sometime in late 2011.

[23] The following year they took part in the Make America Rock Again super tour with other artists who had success throughout the 2000s including Trapt, Saving Abel, Alien Ant Farm, Crazy Town, 12 Stones, Tantric, Drowning Pool, P.O.D.

[27] The session went largely unnoticed until April 2020, when the Instagram music meme account @catatonicyouths posted edited clips of the band's cover of Nirvana's "About a Girl".

The cover has been widely criticised and ridiculed, with most of the focus being placed upon Scantlin's strained, uncomfortable, and off-key vocals.

[29][30] The original video, which has now received over one million views and has since gone unlisted, currently sits at 24,000 dislikes against 9,800 likes.

[32][33] With the release of Ubiquitous marked Puddle of Mudd's first album not to include newly recorded material, the tracklist is composed of demos throughout Puddle of Mudd's career, including their 1994 track Poke Out My Eyes, as well as Dance With Me and U Wrekd Me, both songs originally recorded during the sessions for their 2007 release Famous, other tracks such as My Baby, Running Out of Time, Candy, Complication and California were recorded with former members Doug Ardito and Christian Stone[34][35] in 2012 in anticipation of a scrapped 6th album.

[50] On June 20, 2015, the band was booed off stage at a show in Versailles, Ohio, after Scantlin was spotted lip-syncing to the songs.