Butthole Surfers- Classic or dud?

The guitar part at the end of "22 Going on 23" is pretty damn righteous ....

They seem like actual bad ppl not just nerds acting toughl like big black or Jesus lizard. Like they would probably steal from you if let them stay at your place

― "If you like the Byrds, try Depeche Mode" (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, July 10, 2013 10:14 PM (Yesterday)

this comment is a great testament to the quality of their art tbh. albini's ooh-I-said-a-dirty-word steez always struck me as more weirdly conservative in bent than these filth-bathers, who were pro-gay and pro-woman in their actions (frequently playing gay bars, one of the few early T&G mixed gender bands which was a very dude-ly label), if not their art, which to my mind was an exorcism of america's fecal id and not necessarily a reflection of their own point of view. yes, there's an openly savage nihilism running through their best work, and a v real scariness, but you could say the same about throbbing gristle or the birthday party or flag-era rollins or hunter s thompson or w/e. plus I was an unfortunate witness to the moment when the abyss dumped back on them - when teresa was assaulted by the crowd at the ritz in '89 - and in retrospect their backing away from the edge during the 90s makes perfect sense.

that said, what they did to T&G was unconscionable, and I coined the phrase "the buttholes are assholes" after a run-in w/ their organization circa '91. but the 80s underground is littered with great, great music made by ruthless assholes and/or prejudiced jerks, i.e. greg ginn, bad brains etc.

ps rembrandt pussyhorse rules

hate that song. would always skip it, still do. back in the day, i figured the caller for a voice-modulated band member or friend making a prank call, but that didn't make it seem any funnier to me. whether or not we believe the story, there's something seriously ugly about the joke, moreso than gibby's usual "touch me doctor" grotesquerie.

too weak for the butthole surfers i guess...

albini's ooh-I-said-a-dirty-word steez always struck me as more weirdly conservative in bent

otm

i was looking online earlier to remind myself of the details of the butthole surfers-touch and go falling out and this is a really balanced look at what happened: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/touch-and-go-v-the-buttholes/Content?oid=898923

...I was an unfortunate witness to the moment when the abyss dumped back on them - when teresa was assaulted by the crowd at the ritz in '89 - and in retrospect their backing away from the edge during the 90s makes perfect sense.

― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Thursday, July 11, 2013 12:08 PM (21 minutes ago)

jfc, never heard that story :(

Yeah wau!

I've never read anybody in the band talk about it, for pretty obvious reasons. that was the last show she played with them. she took an ill-advised leap into the pit, actually landed on me and knocked me to the floor. I don't want anybody's imagination running away with them, at the same time I don't really want to go into details. but it was ugly. not woodstock 99 korn ugly, but ugh why am I still even typing this

so uh change of subject - contenderizer is yr ilx hooked up to yr email?

listening to hairway to steven now

on the 2nd half of "Jimi"....dudes basically just talking over a Meat Puppets outtake at this point

"i saw an x-ray of a girl passing gas" is a really amazing song

always preferred the demo version of "jimi" from the texas trip comp... nb this may be a substance-related opinion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeJBl7xrwqE

hairway is kinda like the butthole's "up on the sun" i guess

iirc hairway was the first record they planned out and recorded in a studio instead of making it up as they went along at home. I like it fine but def something lost, it's more wacky hijinks than out of control crazy.

are you doing the EPs too? cream corn from the socket of davis is great (actually inseparable from rembrandt for me since my cassette had both), post-hairway widowermaker is pretty good too.

cream corn is the only thing that's not on spotify for some reason

just started widowmaker (it's thrown on the end of pioughed but i'm listening to things chronologically)

i guess grooveshark might have cream corn

Cream Corn is on Spotify, just not labeled. Last 4 songs on Rembrandt. No idea why it's called "TP Parter" instead of "To Parter", though I think they'd appreciate it.

haha ok well i already heard it then and it was good!

inseparable on spotify as on cassette world without end

xxp yeah hairway's songs had been written and honed while touring and then recorded quickly. on the previous albums the songs were mostly worked out as they recorded.

pioughed:

revolution pt. 2 - them chanting gary shandling over guitar soloing, etc you can definitely feel the self parody beginning

sounds like you moved on but this is essential hairway-era viewing

http://www.youtube.com?v=pVusQjMv114

er
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVusQjMv114

and yeah when they went from goofy badasses to just plain goofy is when the going gets tough

be sure to check out their career rarities comp humpty dumpty LSD, there are some truffles worth rooting from that trough

xp

"lonesome bulldog" - if there is one thing in music i would erase from history it would be punk/underground/indie/alt rock bands' "funny" country songs. a pox on humanity.

here's another classic hairway-era track, don't think this ever got an official release?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3l-wS5thl8

oh and this is one of my all time favorite buttholes tracks, it was on a giorno poetry systems comp from '87 or '88

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

pioughed kinda sucks so far

"hi, I'm gibby, and I play the soul of a dog trapped in the body of a man wrapped around the candy cane of reality"

you are in for a rough stretch of road dude

xp

maybe you should delay the inevitable by listening to the 89 double live alb, it's free to download from their site

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

contenderizer is yr ilx hooked up to yr email?

― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Thursday, July 11, 2013 1:36 PM (4 hours ago)

well, it is hooked up to an e-mail account, but it's one i don't very often. will check in.

P.S.Y. is the only good song on pioughed IMO

on to Independent Worm Saloon

btw guys there's something on Spotify called "Humpty Dumpty LSD" but I can't tell what it is...album is dated 2005 but spotify is kinda weird w/dates

i forgot about "who was in my room last night"! first butthole surfers song i heard, 120 minutes whaddup

the wooden song is pretty good, god a pirate sea chanty vibe

Humpty Dumpty is a career spanning rarities set. Actually pretty solid.

P.S.Y. is the only good song on pioughed IMO

yeah, that's the best bit anyway. i do like the donovan cover & "barking dogs" (a bonus track), "blindman" is okay-ish.

"strawberry" is my favorite indie worm track. like "P.S.Y.", it had been floating around as a live staple for quite a while before they finally got around to recording it.

also i take back saying "i might even prefer IWS" to piouhgd. had a very hard time getting through the latter earlier today. IWS at least has energy, focus and a bunch of memorable tracks.

All the best stuff from the Piouhgd era is on Widowmaker and The Jackofficers Digital Dump.

be sure to check out their career rarities comp humpty dumpty LSD, there are some truffles worth rooting from that trough

xp

― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Thursday, July 11, 2013 8:03 PM (2 hours ago)

who was in my room, dust devil and tongue are all keepers from IWS

My copy of Psychic, Powerless... has Cream Corn EP tacked on the end of it, and the song To Parter is called Two Part on that version.

A lot of Google sites call it "To Partner" as well. And then there's the case of "Lou Reed" sometimes being known as "Comb", except that BOTH titles appear separately on "Double Live" so I guess they're separate songs after all.

Side A
"Moving To Florida" – 4:32
"Comb" 1 – 4:57
Side B
"To Parter" 2 – 4:20
"Tornadoes" – 2:36

1 Titled "Lou Reed" on UK editions.
2 Titled "Two Part" on UK editions.

"pioughd" rules precisely because of the verse chorus verse songs, the DI guitar sound, the alesis drum noises, the shitty casio strings. it's a "fuck you" to buttrock "extremity". reunion shows tragic.

it's WACK AS FUCK

and therein lies the beauty of it.

And then there's the case of "Lou Reed" sometimes being known as "Comb", except that BOTH titles appear separately on "Double Live" so I guess they're separate songs after all.

― Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, July 12, 2013 1:40 PM (5 hours ago)

they're the same song

lou reed works in a beehive

"pioughd" was the first buttholes album i ever heard. put me off them for quite a while tbh. i like "revolution", "psy" and "hurdy gurdy man" though. isnt there some lame JAMC pisstake on that album too?

jeez watching the Buttholes do their cymbal fire thing (and any of their 80s party tricks) on TV shows in the 90s is depressingly lame in a way I can't describe

Maybe slightly more palatable at Lollapolloza or whatever