Butthole Surfers EP = The Best Debut Ever?
BUTTHOLE SURFERS (1983), aka A Brown Reason To Live or Brown Reasons To Live, burst onto the music scene like a herpes sore. It's rather difficult to describe the music on this record, let alone try to categorize it. If you were in a lab trying to invent the Butthole Surfers, I suppose you'd try a formula of some Captain Beefheart, Sex Pistols, Velvet Underground, Clash, Dead Kennedys, and I don't know what else. But, you'd still probably never quite get it just right.The record opens with feedback, distortion, and these lyrics: "There's a time to fuck and a time to crave/But the Shah sleeps in Lee Harvey's grave!". This is followed by an incredibly raucous, noisy, pounding muusical break, and then these lyrics: "There's a time to shit and a time for God/The last shit I took was pretty fuckin' odd!". And so it goes. "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave" is the 1st song on their 1st record. That's what I like to call "going for it". You might prefer to say "swinging for the fences". Regardless of your preferred cliche, when you hear this song, it is burned indelibly into your consciousness.
"Hey" follows, and is actually a very melodic, almost mellow song. Hell, if the world of 1983 would've been ready to hear a DJ announce that the next song was by the "Butthole Surfers", this song could've been a hit single! Of course, that's only because most people don't pay attention to the lyrics, which on this one are quite paranoid schizophrenic in nature. Nice tune though.
"Something" follows, and it's a bit more wicked again, being told from the point of view of a wifebeater ("She's been talking behind my back again/This time she`s gonna bleed/Something she said to me last night/Something she said to me/When I kick her in the knee she goes out the door/I just know she`ll be back for more").
Pushing the envelope takes on a whole new meaning with "Bar-B-Q Pope". It's a catchy little tune about the Pope being shot, and feeling "gooooooooood" about it. As you might be aware, Pope John Paul II was shot on 13 May 1981. Though he survived, this event was somewhat traumatic for more than a few folks around the world, and still fairly fresh in people's minds in 1983. On the daringness scale, I'd say this one makes "God Save The Queen" by the Sex Pistols sound like the Mickey Mouse Theme.
"Wichita Cathedral" is a little ditty about "the last time I'm in Wichita...". Good tune. Probably not as notable as some of the others, but still good. "Suicide" is about just that, a despondent individual considering the option ("I might try fucking suicide"). The last line says it all, "I'm not fucking kidding, man. It hurts".
And, the grand finale, "The Revenge Of Anus Presley". This is a sublime concoction of thundering noise overlayed with growling vocals about being so pissed at someone that you want to kill them, not quickly and cleanly either, but by tearing them limb from limb. "Your pain makes me hungry" is an interesting line, although my favorite is probably the even more primal "Shit, you're gonna die". Oh, wait. The absolute best is "My life is better/Don't fuck with me whatsoever". Hilarious. Surrounded by some potentially disturbing stuff, but hilarious nonetheless.
Bottom line: "The best debut ever" is a silly description. There've been a lot of cool debut records, and it's all subjective anyway. But, the next time someone tells you something like "Boston's 1st album is the best debut EVER", tell them "Hell no" and pull out this Butthole Surfers EP!
posted by haahnster at 6:20 AM
2 Comments:
Glad you wrote about this one. Nice job describing the indescribable!
To me, one way to back up the "best debut ever" (not that it matters) is that this is like 7 debuts in one. No two songs sound alike, to the point where it could be a different band on each song. Who exactly is debuting here is hard to tell since it keeps changing. As it turns out, that was appropriate for this band's debut, since they kept this up with every release (ok maybe not all the way to the end, but for many years they did). They certainly never made the same record twice, or you could say after listening to this, they never made the same record ONCE.
I remember when I first got this. It being an EP, I wasn't sure which speed at which to play it since some EPs were 45 and some 33 1/3. The label was no help as is only states 69rpm! I put "The Shah..." on at 33, and thought, no that can't be it; tried 45 and still wasn't sure! I eventually settled on 45 and have enjoyed it that way for many years. Don't tell me if I'm wrong. But if anyone can explain how the "Brown Reason" title came to be associated with this, I'd love to know.
I forgot to mention the "69 rpm" on the label. Also, the "Pee Pee the Sailor" illustration...
Great point about the unbelievable variation in the songs. And, you're right. They did keep it going for quite a few records without repeating the sound of their earlier work. I just had an almost irresistible urge to go home and listen to their proto-industrial cover version of The Guess Who's "American Woman"...what a tune!
I'm not sure on this, but I think there might've actually been printings of this record that had some version of the "Brown Reason" title on the cover. Seems like I've seen a picture of one somewhere, some time ago. I could be "hallucinating" though!!!
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