Ah, the Butthole Surfers. Technically my 11th most listened to band of the last 18 years… But oh so much more than that.
In my teens, I was a metal guy… I primarily listed to metal (mainly Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Saxon) and Hard Rock (mainly AC/DC, Van Halen, Def Leppard). But by 1983-85 all of those band’s started to suck, releasing lame album in attempts to become more commercial (well, not Mercyful Fate) and I needed a new musical direction. Cut to a fateful trip to our beachhouse with my sister and her “punk rock” boyfriend. The hearing of one song specifically led me down a whole new musical direction. Not only in terms of the style of music that I listened to, but also in terms of having “expectations of intent” in terms of what I think that musician’s should be expected to uphold. The Surfers provided a “purity” of non-commercial “we’re doing just what the hell we want, just because we want to” ethic that I have generally looked for ever since.
First up, Butthole Surfers (1983), S/T (often erroneously called “Brown Reason to Live”.
Their “punk” album. They got off to an exciting start with this assortment of crazy songs. Technically considered to be an EP but I think of it as just a short and fast album.
Standout tracks are:
Secondly, Psychic Powerless (1984). Their “noisy weird” album.
A lot of changes in sound from their earlier release, preparing us for their habit of changing up their sound quite a lot on each album. This is my first, my favorite, and what I consider to be their most “Butthole Surfers”-sounding album to me. Maybe because it was where I found them, due to my sister’s boyfriend playing Lady Sniff in 1985 (the song referred to in the intro of this post).
Standout tracks are
Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis (1985).
An odd little EP, but it was probably their newest release when I discovered them and it’s pretty fun, varied, and interesting so I did listen to it a lot back in the day.
Since then, there is really just one song that has stuck with me so…
Standout track:
Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986). The “quiet weird” album. While Psychic Powerless may be my favorite, back in the day I did really enjoy frequently listening to this album for it’s more mellow feel.
Calming, like an album of whale songs, and some songs that were pretty interesting.
Standout Tracks
Locust Abortion Technician (1987).
Their “everything comes together amazingly” album. The one that really put them on the map.
While not as weird as Psychic and Rembrandt, it was a stellar combination of noise and speed and weirdness and pretty much every track has something interesting going for it.
Standout tracks:
Hairway to Steven (1988).
Sometimes feeling like their “we’ve run out of ideas” album, and certainly is not one of my favorites as it felt like they had started losing their way. However, the first three times I saw them live were between the release of this album and their next. And they did have a nice speed to some of their songs and I appreciated the great Family Style BBQ video that came out in this era.
Standout Tracks:
piouhgd (1991). Hmmm…
I consider this to be their “joke” album, a’la Van Halen’s Diver Down. They weren’t doing anything but farting around, trying to be lame and annoying, sometimes to the point of too annoying… And not in a good way.
However, I do occasionally enjoy listening to Lonesome Bulldog
Independent Worm Saloon (1993).
I’d call this their “rock” album. It was their major label debut, so I was scared off at first, but it is a fast and fun album and, while cleaned up a bit and somewhat silly, it still was interesting enough to be one of the ones I listened to the most. Plus is was a relief after the hogwash that was pioughd.
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I lost interest by 1996 when their second major label release came out and so I’ve never heard Electriclarryland. I feared that it may have been too dull and commercial. And I’ve continued on not having heard it, or anything that they’ve release since… Aside from some side projects of their main members, primarily the always productive Jeff Pinkus..
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