Favourite SST Release of... 1985

pop fan that i am, it took me forever to "get" double nickels whereas project: mersh and 3-way tieimmediately clobbered me over the head with their catchiness, their smarts, their strange ambition, their greatness. both perfect records in my book. i count double nickels as pretty much perfect, too, but that took a lot longer for me and it's a different year anyway.

new day rising has so many jaw-dropping songs on it, but it's never been my favorite husker du album the way the two 1985 minutemen releases are my favorite minutemen records. which probably makes me minutemenly incorrect. but whatever.

still deciding which one of em gets my vote. leaning toward mersh since i have a strong feeling that's all it's gonna get.

(also, i realize mersh ends with 5 minutes of "filler" but i kinda love it.)

(also also, i love how watt corrects/updates the line "i dreamed i was e. bloom but i woke up joe bouchard" in the printed lyrics.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUJ8dcLxFVg

otm - Mersh and 3-Way were far from disappointing but More Minutemen! esp. after D's death

two thoughts on that video.

d. boon rolls himself down that hill for quite some time. impressive!

the silhouette-like shot at the end makes it fairly clear that george hurley was actually sideshow bob.

def new day rising

d. boon rolls himself down that hill for quite some time. impressive!

Especially when you're stuffed full of shite off the barbecue.

um people

My First Bells is the fucking elephant in the room, good christ it's EVERYTHING BEFORE DBL NCKLS ON 1 CASSETTE ppl! So unfair that I don't think I can conscientiously even vote for it.

I CAN AND WILL

1. Flip Your Wig, 2. "Makes No Sense at All," 3. New Day Rising. Then all those other bands.

if that's your prediction, then I'm sure it's gonna be way off :)

Choosing The Process of Weeding Out was somewhat automatic of me--it's my favorite Black Flag record, and my favorite Black Flag record is inherently prized over my favorite Husker Du or Minutemen or Meat Puppets record for reasons wholly personal and insane.

The insane reasons: I'm partial to post-Damaged Black Flag already--the records are all uneven (except for In My Head, which I almost voted for) and are either abominably produced or recorded, but it's riveting to hear them expand beyond hardcore (as it is with most of the SST bands represented here), whether engaging with thick metal structures or letting Greg Ginn indulge his Ornette Coleman obsession for a whole side. Which is something that Family Man had, these weird, half-formed instrumentals that circled with menace! But there was also that pretty awful Henry Rollins spoken-word side.

The Process of Weeding Out has no Henry at all. Thus, perfect! All Kira drawing bass circles, Greg Ginn eradicating the residual with his onslaught of pink noise and awful soloing that I like to construe as "free."

But there was also that pretty awful Henry Rollins spoken-word side.

Let your fingers do the walkin' let your fingers do the walkin' let your fingers do the walkin'

She ate the chocolates and watched TV. He... BLEW HIS BRAINS OUT.

While someone on a bus PUKES ON AN OLD LADY
PUKES ON AN OLD LADY!!!

Oh wait that was Kickboy Face.

Who will get 0 votes this time out?

"Up on the Sun"... voted for it, I mean

... only time I've voted (or will vote) in any of these SST polls

can I just

My First Bells 1980-83
1985

Cassette-only.

CT: 1985 US SST SST 032

Paranoid Time:
Validation
The Maze
Definitions
Sickles and Hammers
Fascist
Joe McCarthy's Ghost
Paranoid Chant

Cracks in the Sidewalk:
9:30 May 2

Chunks:
Clocks

Joy:
Joy
Black Sheep
More Joy

The Punch Line:
Search
Tension
Games
Boiling
Disguises
The Struggle
Monuments
Ruins
Issued
The Punch Line
Song for El Salvador
History Lesson
Fanatics
No Parade
Straight Jacket
Gravity
Warfare
Static

“bean-spill” e.p.:
Split Red
If Reagan Played Disco
Case Closed
Afternoons
Futurism Restated

Life is Beautiful, So Why Not Eat Health Foods?:
Prelude (Bolan)

What Makes a Man Start Fires?:
Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
One Chapter In The Book
Beacon Sighted Through Fog
Fake Contest
Mutiny in Jonestown
Pure Joy
Faith/East Wind
'99
The Anchor
Sell or Be Sold
The Only Minority
Split Red
Colors
Plight
This Road
The Tin Roof
Life As a Rehearsal
Polarity

Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat:
Self-Referenced
Cut
Dream Told By Moto
Dreams are Free, Motherfucker!
The Toe Jam
I Felt Like a Gringo
The Product
Little Man With a Gun in His Hand

this would be a good place to confess I never liked any husker du album before or after zen arcade

this would be a good place to confess I never liked any meat puppets album before or after zen arcade

(ok, ii is good)

OOPS!

this would be a good place to confess I never liked any meat puppets album before or after up on the sun

(ok, ii is good)

want to vote for worldbroken, can't

also want to vote for in my head, fu jjjusten

so do you pronounce Troccoli like Broccoli or Spicoli?

^ asking the tough questions

Minus the compilation tracks and other extras (some still not available at Corndogs.org), CDs served that body of Minutemen work much better, IMO. My First Bells was an essential two-year stopgap, though, during which I mostly listened to my copy of the WORT New Needles special on the Minutemen until somebody stole it out of my locker (along with my An-Aesthetic zine with a Minutemen interview). I hope it changed their life.

that sucks

Who will get 0 votes this time out?

D.C.3 - my favourite Black Flag singer, with Paul Roessler and guys from the Stains to boot, but I can't fucking stand them. I've tried, the dog knows I've tried.

'In A Car' was from about 1967.

Surely?

still deciding which one of em gets my vote. leaning toward mersh since i have a strong feeling that's all it's gonna get.

mersh it is.

Mersh isn't bad at all. I love it more than Three Way Tie. 'The Cheerleaders' is a jam.

every song on it is a jam! even "more spiel" in its trance-like way.

i loved that album when it came out. i probably listened to it more than any of their other stuff.

Flip Your Wig is the album out of all these I listen to most these days.

I cant find a meat puppets albums poll, so unless a board lawyer prick can find one, shall we do a meat puppets album poll?

There's been a thread debating the subject but no poll I don't think. If you do it be sure to include Out My Way EP, b/c jeez if MP I is an album then Out My Way is also long enough to be one.

but is it classed as an lp or ep?

It's classed as an EP. But it's such an underdog and no one ever talks about it ever. It's a midpoint between Up On The Sun golden-psych-thicket and the more mersh Mirage sound.

Out My Way is a jam. Probably my top SST from 1986. Better than Evol? Yeah.

But with all my love for Up On The Sun I'm voting here for My First Bells because I mean come on.

vote

please

done

Voted Hallow's Victim, no surprise.

I dont think St Vitus will do as well this time. Next poll it might though.

Finally tipped for Up On The Sun b/c My First Bells no longer exists in that form, and New Day Rising i've so internalized that I never really play it anymore.

And bc Up On The Sun still seems to paint a picture of an escapist oasis I would gladly live in if I knew where to find it.

My First Bells no longer exists in that form

my tape shelf disagrees w/ you

Oh you know what I mean! It was a dodgy rationalization that helped me come to a decision.

just don't dare vote in the best 78 release of 1929 poll

Geir wont poll inferior formats