Butthole Surfers- Classic or dud?

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Eternal classic, no matter how increasingly irrelevent their post-Touch & Go output. No band in history combined punk and psychedelia, the '60s and the '80s, sheer sonic fuckedup-ness and songcraft (a near unthinkable combo) as brashly as these sickos. Add innovation, humour, repulsiveness, big drumbeats, hilarious interviews, nontraditional guitar-wank, etc. and you get the band that created Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac, my favourite rec of the '80s and one of my top five alltime. On a personal note, I almost didn't get the cushy job at which I am working this very minute, because my interview was scheduled for the morning after a Surfers concert! It still woulda been worth it...

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 19:25 (nineteen years ago) link

The widowermaker! ep is after hairway to steven, and is still prime era stuff. thats total classic ep

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 20:21 (nineteen years ago) link

Okay, tell me about the piss-wand wiffle ball bats.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 20:25 (nineteen years ago) link

I didn't realise Widowermaker was later than HTS. Okay, Classic up to that, then.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 20:27 (nineteen years ago) link

I have a Butthole Surfers 10" that you can have if you want, JON.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 20:29 (nineteen years ago) link

h, is that the one with Mr. Photonegative Elephantitus on the cover with the vomit colored vinyl?

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 23:53 (nineteen years ago) link

I loved the mid 80s stuff but for some reason my fave track was off a comp called Smack my crack it was called Boiled Dove and ruled.

I remember geting super wasted driving around austin with my best friend who was a stripper at the time singing their version of American Woman over and over again.

Saw gibby around in his hot rod a few times too. The austin scene was kinda tight and we shared dealers from what i remember.

― hector (hector), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 04:10 (nineteen years ago) link

This is a dangerous thread to even poke the tip of my cork into (steer clear of purple precipices), but they were a dangerous band so what the hell. They were an amazing renunciation of punk politics through self-centered erratic living. Always a cynical and therefore evil meltdown. "Boiled Dove" is one of their best five songs. My favorite likely false story is that Gibby wiped his dick on Jimmy Carter's satchel when they played Brown University and Amy Carter brought them over. My favorite misconception is that their drum triggers were drum machines. Their vibe explained in three minutes of cinema is the hitchhiker scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where the burnface greasehair takes a polaroid, lights it on fire, and then slits his palm with a knife after saying "I got a knife" -- also a lyric in Buttholes' "Gary Floyd." Classic until midway Pioughd (the album that broke Rough Trade), and I'm glad they got to play Letterman after they went out to pasture.

Locust Abortion Technician is a way of life = LSDmo.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 05:09 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...

Revive! this pretty purple thread. Why? Cos Pioughd just popped into my head for no reason, and I haven't heard it since 1992, and I was wondering if I should locate it and buy it and listen to it again til my head explodes again like it did all those years ago.

But Amazon UK says it's been deleted. Should I just get Hairway To Steven and have done with it? (I've never heard HTS btw)

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Sunday, 28 August 2005 11:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Hairway to Steven, Locust Abortion Technician, Rembrandt Pussyhorse = the trinity of BHS records for most people.

― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 28 August 2005 12:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Where the FUCK is the love for "Pepper"???

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 28 August 2005 13:42 (eighteen years ago) link

HTS is essential, ians triumverate is probably right, though i think psychic powerless...another mans sac squeezes in there also (and the widowermaker ep is overlooked from this period)

but the pcpep/brown reason to live period stuff is just as good, in a different way.

just get hairway to steven, you can't go wrong with that. then get rembrambt pussyhorse after that, i reckon

― charltonlido (gareth), Sunday, 28 August 2005 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link

pepper's a good jam.
my friend phil used to have the psychic...powerless and widowermaker CDs. we'd drive around in the suburbs burning a j and listening to them.

oh, high school.

― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 28 August 2005 13:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Pioughd is worth three bucks.. I'll give it that much. I don't think even the band would say that.

― donut gon' nut (donut), Sunday, 28 August 2005 18:35 (eighteen years ago) link

"And has anyone seen that "family style barbeque" video Touch & Go made where gibby greases the frying pan with his trouser snake juice that oozes into letter formations spelling "SATAN"? What the hell????"

Stupidity? Annoyingness?

Zoogz Rift >>>>>> Butthole Surfers

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 18:55 (eighteen years ago) link

you miss
the point

― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:12 (eighteen years ago) link

what is
this point
?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, as far as my point goes anyway, w/ the Zoogz comparison, is that Zoogz can be stupid and annoying, too, but he is also often genuinely funny whereas the Butthole Surfers are ... what ... supposed to be funny?

Also, Zoogz's music is vastly better than the BH Surfers' music and this counts because this is music that we are talking about.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:47 (eighteen years ago) link

"Zoogz's music is vastly better than the BH Surfers' music"

QUALIFY THIS STATEMENT

― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:52 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, I don't know, Ian. I mean, I can't imagine that you're THAT impressed with the BH Surfers, musically speaking, right? They were OK, but like a lot of '80s indie bands, they weren't very tight, they didn't have that great of a sound, etc. Songwriting-wise, I think they were OK, you know, but not great, really. Better than a lot of Shimmy Disc bands, probably?

Zoogz, on the other hand, is seriously talented at a Zappa-type level. And that doesn't just mean goofy complexity all the time. Like Zappa, he was also just plain talented at writing good tunes (plus arranging, having a really tight band that sounded good, etc.).

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Nothing per se against Zoogz but the Surfers over him anyday of the week. Far more, shall we say, erratic in intent while more direct in terms of song.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link

I mostly agree with Ian and charlton on this, although I almost never listen to the Butthole Surfers any more, and find them a little depressing for a couple different reasons. I've always thought they did get to be a pretty tight band, but I don't have a musicianly perspective.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Ned, complexity isn't the antithesis of directness, though.

And what could be more direct than some of Zoogz's pronoucements???

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Consider this: there are fourteen tracks on Zoogz's Looser Than Clams compilation LP record. Average time length: just over three minutes.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:43 (eighteen years ago) link

amateurist + Aaron Zanders = Tim Ellison

― the food has a top snake of 1 (ex machina), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Someone arguing somewhat passionately about stuff + arguing a point that doesn't resonate with Jon Williams well = Jon Williams equates person with Aaron

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:51 (eighteen years ago) link

And if Aaron were to agree w/ me that Zoogz is better than the BH Surfers, then bully for him, ya dick!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:04 (eighteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

I've never heard Zoogz Rift. Butthole Surfers are one of my favorite bands, though.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 17 July 2006 04:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Zoogz is looser than clams.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 17 July 2006 04:34 (seventeen years ago) link

I'll check him out.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Monday, 17 July 2006 04:36 (seventeen years ago) link

http://static.flickr.com/2/2038201_c81a37f3e6_m.jpg

― less-than three's Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Monday, 17 July 2006 04:50 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2006/07/05/slacker/story.jpg

― less-than three's Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Monday, 17 July 2006 04:57 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...

On August 18 2006, Gibby announced a new Butthole Surfers record is in the making.

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 15 September 2006 22:29 (seventeen years ago) link

They were OK, but like a lot of '80s indie bands, they weren't very tight, they didn't have that great of a sound, etc. Songwriting-wise, I think they were OK, you know, but not great, really. Better than a lot of Shimmy Disc bands, probably?

No sound! What? The oscilating, slow burn of two drummers and a million layers of psych feedback with super low pitch vocals, swirling around the audience -- are you kidding me? They were loose in the best possible sense.

― Period period period (Period period period), Saturday, 16 September 2006 05:16 (seventeen years ago) link

They could be incredibly tight as well (large parts of Psychedelic Jam and John E. Smoke, for instance)

― StanM (StanM), Saturday, 16 September 2006 05:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man come singing songs...of life...

Purple people eater!

― I am not Ted Nugent (Bimble...), Saturday, 16 September 2006 07:22 (seventeen years ago) link

There's a time to shit and a time for God,the last shit that I took was pretty fuckin' odd!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 16 September 2006 08:41 (seventeen years ago) link

They've put up all of "Double Live" as MP3s:

http://www.buttholesurfers.com/DoubleLiveMP3.html

Though you can still order the LP from them.

It's from the era when they had two drummers, the topless dancer with glasses and king tut beard, an out-of-control smoke machine, and were projecting car accident and sex change operation films into said smoke. So you miss the visuals. But it gets point across pretty well.

― bendy (bendy), Saturday, 16 September 2006 10:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Fixed link

― bendy (bendy), Saturday, 16 September 2006 10:43 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.buttholesurfers.com/hairwaytrack/hairwaytrack_htmlpane3_1_.gif

― Mike Dixn (Mike Dixon), Saturday, 16 September 2006 12:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Ooops. That didn't come out the way I expected.

― Mike Dixn (Mike Dixon), Saturday, 16 September 2006 12:04 (seventeen years ago) link

So I finally got around to downloading Double Live thanks to this thread revival. This is good Saturday night music.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 17 September 2006 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, I got that a while back. Maybe if the new one sells anything (fat chance, probably) LBV will put it and Pioughd back into print.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Sunday, 17 September 2006 01:18 (seventeen years ago) link

I suspect we'll have to dream further on that front.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 17 September 2006 01:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I downloaded the mp3s and found a sealed copy of pioughd on amazon, I'm good for now.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Sunday, 17 September 2006 01:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Can we talk about how underrated pioughd is? I really don't see the drop off in quality until IWS, which bores the pants off of me. I might just be partial to it since it was the first BHS I heard (I bought the Rough Trade LP of it back in the early 90s). Revolution, P.S.Y., Hurdy Gurdy, Blindman, Golden Showers, the goofy JAMC verson of Something...I even think the endless reprises of Lonesome Bulldog are pretty funny.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Sunday, 17 September 2006 01:43 (seventeen years ago) link

So I finally got around to downloading Double Live thanks to this thread revival. This is good Saturday night music.

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), September 17th, 2006.

On behalf of naked vulcans everywhere, thanks, but what the fuck took you so long?

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 17 September 2006 02:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Can we talk about how underrated pioughd is? I really don't see the drop off in quality until IWS, which bores the pants off of me.

Agreed. That's the one I really hate. The follow-up is almost as bad. But the follow-follow-up many years later (Weird Revolution) is at least fun again. Pioughd is a great album. Totally fucking stupid BUT it has PSY studio version and that "You always get to be Iron Man" song, which is the most hilarious thing they ever did, except for Gibby drunk in the studio.

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 17 September 2006 02:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, "No, I'm Iron Man" haha.
As of right now, I still need Widowermaker, Electriclarryland, Weird Revolution and Humpty Dumpty LSD. Maybe someone can tell me the order of necessity (I'll take your word on Weird > Larry BD, I heard Larry a couple times when it cam out and hated it). I'm pretty curious about Weird, really. I don't think I ever heard one song off it.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Sunday, 17 September 2006 02:20 (seventeen years ago) link

The order is:

Humpty Dumpty LSD, Widowermaker, Electriclarryland (not that good at all; practically IWS)

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Sunday, 17 September 2006 02:44 (seventeen years ago) link

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