Every winter since 2010 (excluding 2021 and 2022 on account of the pandemic), All Messed Up has brought a refreshing dash of unpredictability to Milwaukee’s music scene. The annual “random band experiment” is set to celebrate its 14th installment this weekend—Friday, February 13, and Saturday, February 14—at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn. Once again, things are going to get delightfully weird.
So what’s All Messed Up all about? Late last year, 64 people converged upon Linneman’s and were randomly split into 16 bands that each consist of four members. No prior musical experience is required. Now, approximately two months after their formation, each band will play a set consisting of about 20 minutes of original material and one cover song they’ve rehearsed in the interim.
Though we know it’s going to be super fun, we honestly have no idea what any of the randomly assembled bands are going to sound like. So in an effort to bestow some level of critical evaluation upon this unique recurring event (and more so to remind you it’s happening this weekend), we went ahead and ranked the names of every band that’s scheduled to take part in All Messed Up XIV.
16. Bluesy Floozy
15. The Deadlights
14. Bev The Giant Wrench
13. Tasty Beets
12. Crystal Code
11. Sequin Pleasure Crisis
10. The Mid-Waste Revival
9. Gassy Charlie And The Crabby Trapezoid
8. The Schlitz Itch
7. Robot Disco Annihilation
6. Cat Shaped Hole
5. Cannibal Sand Witches
4. Jenna St. Quoi
3. Top Half Fish
2. Just A Bunch Of Normal Turtles
1. Al Gore Rhythm
