

The Melvins with Lori Black in the foreground, some creepy guy named Kurt lurking in the back

Shirley Temple Black became famous so young that when she died late last night, she was only 85, even though she seemed like a figure from the era of silent movies, practically. It’s well known that Temple represented a case of a child star not flaming out in adulthood. She became a prominent Republican and served as U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia as well as Chief of Protocol of the United States, whatever that is—it sounds impressive.

Credit the metal website Metal Sucks (whose tagline is “Mustaine: Australian for Putz”) with a great scoop on the breaking story of Temple’s death: her daughter spent several years as bassist for The Melvins, the legendary sludge-rock band from the Pacific Northwest. She played on three Melvins albums: Ozma, Bullhead and Houdini, as well as the Eggnog EP. According to Metal Sucks, she went by “Lorax” Black during that time and was probably dating Buzz Osbourne.







Here’s The Melvins—with Lori—playing “Heater/At a Crawl” at Seattle’s Central Tavern in 1989:



Here’s The Melvins—with Lori—covering Pink Floyd’s “The Nile Song” at UCLA in 1993:



Thank you Jarrod Zickefoose!

Previously on Dangerous Minds:

‘Wavelength’ live score with members of Jesus Lizard, The Melvins & LCD Soundsystem

