Imagine our solar system as a barnyard dance. You sneak off for a cold beer and you stand there on Pluto, the last planet, as the ritual unfolds before you. A great fire burns from the center. Planets circle the fire, one ring outside the next, nine deep with moons to spare. Solar flares and asteroids pass between the dancers like drunken kids. Distant pulsars roar like warring cousins. You listen and each planet's sound is unique. Some rotate slowly others are fast. Some drift in harmony and others wage sonic battle. The cosmic rotations emit notes, beats, and songs. Humphrey Bogart's voice booms across deep space: Stop it, you know what I want to hear." The celestial hoedown is renewed " a new Clutch record is born.

Clutch has officially released six studio records, assorted e.p.s, outtakes, 7-inches, and a live record over its long career, and the band's discography includes hundreds of songs, extends to other projects such as the Bakerton Group, and includes guest appearances on other records, one-off cover songs and side projects, and the thousands of bootlegs that circulate from their live concerts. Clutch is less a band than a vast compendium of styles and experiments. Attentive listeners will sometimes hear Led Zeppelin in their songs and instrumentations, while others will recognize the dynamics of John Coltrane, the eccentricity of Frank Zappa, the blues-soul of Elmore James, or the lyrical invention of Chuck D. But the Clutch sound is never derivative; Clutch is an encyclopedia of musical styles, and they burn every page down into gold. It's sonic alchemy.