Up on the Sun is the third album by the Meat Puppets, released on March 21, 1985, by SST Records. The album features a cleaner and more technical sound with a more psychedelic rock feel, in contrast to the sloppy punk approach of their first album (1982), while continuing with the mystical, poetic lyrics and country-inflected songwriting of Meat Puppets II (1984). Brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood were interested in psychedelic rock. The pair often indulged in recreational drug use with Derrick Bostrom, who came from an affluent, politically liberal family in Arizona and who introduced them to punk rock. During a trip to Los Angeles, the group became interested the underground post-punk scene there. Joe Carducci invited the group to join SST Records, a record label associated with the early hardcore punk scene and home to Black Flag. The Meat Puppets' first EP In a Car (1981) and first seven albums appeared through SST. The release of Meat Puppets II was delayed until 1984, a peak year for SST which also saw the release of Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime, and numerous albums by Black Flag, who due to legal issues, had not been able to release an album since 1981's Damaged. The Meat Puppets supported Meat Puppets II with a tour along with Black Flag and The Nig-Heist, where the band's long hair and jam band approach displeased audiences. According to Bostrom, the band had originally intended Up On the Sun to be a "psychedelic epic," and for it t