Butthole Surfers- Classic or dud?

I loved them long before I got them. They're way more Texan than I understood before moving here.

Psychic Powerless, Rembrandt Pussyhorse and Locust Abortion are all unimpeachably all time for me. OPO: ''Cherub"

When Boredoms came along they kind of made me forget the surfers for a good 10 years, so thorough was their weaponizing/transcendence of their basic style. Also, the surfers drove their good name into the fucking dirt with that unbearable 90s shit. But yeah. They were once titans.

of all bands i don't really get where these guys were coming from

rlly? to me, buttholes = classic rock + punk + drugs + being "weird" (they saw themselves as outsiders and were damn proud of it). all that framed by a cruel sense of humor and an taste for extremes. kind of the quintessential late 80s/proto 90s indie-alt sensibility, imo.

edit: and yeah, texas-style, like ez says

Also: the surfers taught me to love Sabbath.

ums I envy you, you are in for a freaky treat

Bloody LeRoy: Barbecue sauce replacing tomato juice, garnish with rib bone. Invented by the Reverend Horton Heat and Gibby Haynes during the recording of The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat, which Haynes was producing.[16]

"She [amy carter] was wearing a psychedelic furs t shirt"

[longest sustained laughter of the interview]

Blind Eye Sees All might be the perfect introduction to the Surfers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW0mXU2mkgo

no i get it....just...i dunno...sort of a mystery like how did these crazed ppl get together and do this stuff? i just find them fascinating as ppl i guess, but i don't relate to them at all. at all.

but it's sort of morbidly compelling...not many bands were this art damaged in a idgaf kinda way.

basically the Butthole Surfers are jocks on drugs. I think Gibby was a frat dude but yeah "Texan" comment from EZ snappin kinda pegs it....like did these guys ever turn into Republicans? I could kinda see that....just a sort of amoral do what thou wilt kinda acid libertarianism run amok, ransacking the corpse of classic rock and psych shit

on rembrandt pussyhorse now

man "whirling hall of knives" is a fucking amazing trip

Way underrated lp tbrr.

This thread made me listen to Rembrandt Pussyhorse (through speakers, so my coworkers could enjoy it too) at lunchtime today. It really holds up.

It's the peak of the first evolution. The next few records got poppier, then they went into a demented butt rock stage most everyone deplores.

man this record is TRIPPING BALLS

they really stood on the edge and took a dump into the abyss

make shit like ween seem so cowardly

"Whirling Hall of Knives" is the best. Love that song so much.

they really stood on the edge and took a dump into the abyss

This is the best description of the Surfers ethos I've ever read. Kudos.

otm

hard for me to call a champ between rembrandt pussyhorse and locust abortion technician. while the former's more experimental and the latter more greasy, they're both about equally anticommercial. and trippy as fuck.

psychic powerless is getting slighted a little. it's uneven, but "cherub" and "concubine" might be my two favorite butthole surfers tracks.

My favorite is still LIve PCPPEP. First I heard, and I played it on the wrong speed without knowing it for months.

i understand why people don't like the 90s stuff but i think independent worm saloon is pretty good, i think this was one of the first ten CDs i ever bought

me too! though it didn't take me that long to figure it out. several of my friends have mentioned the same thing.

xp to ez

i'm okay with independent worm saloon. it's p great for what it is, but not really my kinda thing.

Whoa, is this thread on acid?!

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, July 10, 2013 12:21 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's so great this thread has gone all purple, cuz yeah, Buttholes = Drugs.

There's good tunes on the 90s stuff, but it's a different vibe to the 80s work. I don't mind it, but given a choice I never take them out to listen.

And I do think most fans of the band denigrate those records, maybe a bit unjustly, but in my experience most think they're pretty crap.

Hairway is great imo. Something a bit Thin White Ropeish about some of those songs eg X-Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas.

Late 80s New Years Eve gig I saw in DC: Cramps, Butthole Surfers and Dead Milkmen.

Wow.

Amazing how popular they were back in the late 80s, considering the vast uncommerciality of records like RemPuHo and LoAbTech (as I'm going to start calling them).

I only ever saw them once and that was at the Reading Festival, sandwiched somewhat incongruously between the Voice of the Beehive and the Wonderstuff iirc.

Only once for me too, at first ave mpls on the locust tour. This was before there was always automatically a mosh pit for every show. But there was certainly a huge pit for this one and it felt unhinged and dangerous to my health. The naked stage dancer was present and accounted for.

Haynes was a star on his high school's basketball team, and he attended Trinity University to study accounting. While at Trinity, Gibby was the captain of the basketball team, president of his fraternity, and was named the Accounting Student of the Year. After graduating, he went to work as an auditor for the accounting firm Peat Marwick.

Love the story of the dancer (Kathleen?) going to see a doctor for seizures after she had left the band and being asked "have you ever been exposed to strobe lights?" Her mental response - "you have no idea"

i remember the buttholes chapter in "our band could be your life" being pretty great.

buttholes = classic rock + punk + drugs + being "weird"

also: chrome

yes, that's where that story comes from xp

13the Floor Elevators + Chrome + The Residents + Dead Kennedys really. Shame the acid-fried craziness descended into fart jokes and Al Jourgensen collaborations, but that's the way it goes with most drug cases innit.

re: their politics, there's some open ridiculing of their peers leftist "principles" in Our Band Could Be Your Life as well that make it pretty clear their politics tended more toward the libertarian. factoring in their anti-pc-ness only makes this more apparent.

nonetheless, amazing band, occupied a bizarre space that doesn't really exist anymore.

the Ween comparison is apt to a point - these dudes were more evil, hostile, and generally unpredictable than Ween ever were. the jamband crowd was never gonna go for these guys, too many "bad vibes". They totally befuddled audiences at Lollapalooza (firing off shotguns onstage etc)

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

Most definitely. I always love when this thread gets bumped.

I think sleeve's strobe light story is actually Teresa, the 2nd drummer's? From what I remember of OBCBYL, the dancer wasnt much of a talker and refused to shower, so it seems kind of contrary to her character...? Just a Just how I remember it; sorry for bein nitpicky.

Ums i remember you saying something about Flaming Lips bein classic rock frat dudes who stumbled into a cult audiencr; I def feel this is in sone ways even more true for the Surfers.. Except that they were total music nerd/performance artist freaks at the same time. EZ came up with a great term for fratboy/avid rock strain of pigfuck tho: 'bro-hemian'

Anywats RPH is the only one of the 1st 4 LPs thst I havent spent much time with, and now I feel like,I really need ti rectify this, but I am p much a big fan. Also I dont hate Piouhgd...

piouhgd is tough. i don't hate it, but it's definitely the weakest of their indie albums, might even prefer IWS. for one thing, the production is horrendous, completely stripped of detail and intensity. worse, it sounds forced, like they're trying so hard to be all "hey, the butthole surfers, we're so wacky!" instead of just being themselves and doing it.

i made an edit while back, re-glued the jams arbitrarily broken into separate tracks (the 2 parts of "revolution", "blindman" + "ironman"). included just those two plus "hurdy gurdy man", "something", "P.S.Y." and "barking bogs". sounded pretty good to me, but still a low water mark.

Wasn't Pioughd their fuck-off to Rough Trade? I seem to remember it being a contract-filler so they could get started with Capitol.

Haha brohemian is perfect

The whole SST crew fits that too

Haynes: Nixon was a good president.

Coffey: Yeah, but he had a potty mouth.

Haynes: LBJ had a potty mouth.

Leary: He used to bark his orders to his aides from the toilet. I used to work for a guy like that at the lumber yard.

Is that from the forced exposure interview? I'd love to read that again...

starting off again halfway thru Locust Abortion Technician

got kind of exhausted yesterday!

this is good...i think i might slightly prefer Psychic Powerless but it's close...

it's from this, Jon: http://ngro_obsrvr.tripod.com/articles/pachuco.html