Butthole Surfers- Classic or dud?

Wow, that's the most insulting thing I've ever heard said about the Butthole Surfers. Better hope Gibby doesn't track you down! I think I get where you're coming from, but the Buttholes were there first, and they were truly insane instead of just wasted brats. Nothing in the world prepared me for the live version of "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave", the first thing I heard from them--it scared the bejeezus out of me at the time. Later on it became a bit more cartoony and easier to take. And by the way, if you see your mom this weekend, be sure and tell her: SATAN! SATAN! SATAN!

http://thebigtrip.hypermart.net/images/danceman.gif

Weeehaaa! I wish I just changed the background to black, but I know I didn't. Still, you can't blame me for tryin.

My favorite recordings are: Hairway to Steven, Rembrandt Pussyhorse/Cream Corn, Locust Abortion Technician, and Psychic Powerless Another Mans Sac. Haven't bought their last couple. Whatever happened to the album Brown Reason for Living? I remember seeing it on vinyl but I don't believe it was ever evacuated onto CD.

"Psychic Powerless", "Cream Corn", and"Rembrandt Pussyhorse" being the ones to search for.. always liked "Locust", but it's a tad overrated. "Hairway" and "Widowermaker" were great and quite underrated.

The Butts were also an underrated influence on a lot of current damaged/complex rock.. like Terminal Cheesecake, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, etc... (Sonic Youth were influential in the same way too, but they seem to get more of credit for it...)

(Idea for Butthole Surfers album title: All Things Must Pass Gas.)

I was supposed to see them again, but it was an all ages show, and the person I was going with kept saying we would have plenty of time, that it couldn't possibly start as early as I was thinking it might start. So we hung around my apartment getting stoned. We showed up at the door, and the guy at the door said, "Dude, the butts are playing their encore now," or something like that.

This thread inspired me to get out some of the CDs and listen to them again, and a lot of this stuff still sounds good to me. At the same time, it's not really what I want to listen to these days, though "I Saw An X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas" should be a more widely acknowledged classic. I remember being very dubious about that song based on its title, but when I finally heard it, I had to give in.

I'm tired of celebrations of weirdness, too.

The really interesting thing about this band, for me, is the consistent in-joke referencing from album to album. They repeat the same phrases or explore the same subject matter as previous for a line or two. It's an on-going thing and it's the thin line that keeps it all "the same". Just a quick example offa WR: "Shit Like That" he says "I need another DOCTOR!" and "doctor" is sung/screamed the exact same way as off the Widowermaker e.p. where he goes "DOCTOR don't toucha me there, DOCTOR" etc. There's a whole bunch of these references/phrases if you go back and play your albums, you'll see it clearly. It's funny. Other phrases: "empty parking lot" (found in Negro Observer and Golden Showers) and "get down", a phrase which finally gets it's own song on WR. Anyway, there's a bunch.

-Boredoms fan

(I know this is just more of an indie cred/protest issue, but if you can find the used Touch & Go copies, you're a better man/woman for it (and slightly more rich). The Butts kinda did to that label what the ex Dead Kennedys did to Jello Biafra...)

The jump-cut at the beginning for one thing.

samklasvegas
samklasvegas
4 years ago
I want to love you where ever you are ... You are my candle lights in my holidays . Awesome!!

Exactly.

lock thread

so far off from the topic of butthole surfers and moved to a place of free association

if this is a veiled cry for help, i hope you can be alright man

Oh, for pete's sake. No veiled cry for help. Thanks for your concern. Moving elsewhere.

If you don't think Azar Habib's songs are a little bit coterminous with the aesthetic of the Butthole Surfers, you haven't got ears.

Plus it's a Butthole Surfers thread.

The Butthole Surfers thread is too chaotic! Shut it down!

Really.

I am so not me OMG. I mean, NORMALLY, not now.

<3 you rudipherous

You have not lived until you've read Kramer's in-depth story of the Butthole Surfers and Norway (in toto). Third of the three questions here:

https://believermag.com/logger/three-questions-for-kramer/

“He has told me that he has all ten of your records.”

“We only have two. Believe me.”

“Well, then maybe he is now dreaming. The Swedes are big dreamers."

Fucking hell.

A great read, thanks Ned!

"Of the ten or so times in my nearly sixty years that I have witnessed my life flashing before my eyes, Gibby was right there for eight or nine of them."

Incredible. There needs to be a book.

All 3 answers were just fantastic. I have had to revise my near life long idea of what Daevid Allen was really like.

But that Stavanger gig, OMG!

Thanks for the link.

Whoa. Why is this thread purple. Is this a flashback.

As good a time as any to note that there's a Kickstarter for a documentary happening -- already reached its goal and seven days to go, seems like it'll be good fare based on the people behind it:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theholetruth/the-butthole-surfers-movie/

i have everything by them!

Thank you! xp

and also thanks for linking those three questions to Kramer! what a story teller.

just something from 2017 I didn't know: https://superiorshit.blogspot.com/2017/06/how-artwork-fo-butthole-surfers-ended.html

on Kickstarter--Pledge $250 or more
"What Does Regret Mean?" Book
Get a special edition Melodic Virtue/Aaron Tanner's Butthole Surfers coffee table book, "What Does Regret Mean?" - the first 100 donors who will pledge $300 or more for this reward will receive a book signed by Gibby Haynes, Paul Leary, and King Coffey!

Anyone hear Leary's new album yet?

Born Stupid? Yeah, I thought it was surprisingly enjoyable.

Just leaving this here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj38l9n98aE

there are several clips with Gibby Haynes with The Paul Green Rock Academy on YT, from last Summer. All quite hectic.

crucial chunks of the Butthole Surfers catalog are now available via Matador on digital services ; LP reissues coming down the road (please look both ways). Stream / download : https://t.co/6uSVENanQq
more detail : https://t.co/mhmcRvgwwB@buttholesurfers pic.twitter.com/XeKtLQz9Ld

— Matador Records (@matadorrecords) May 24, 2023

crucial chunks of the butthole

No bonus material? It's just a (bowel) movement then

haha they removed Negro Observer

https://store.matadorrecords.com/psychic-powerless-another-man-s-sac

I just had a good look at the images of the vinyl, and it looks the the record covers all have a logo in the upper left hand corner now?

I just cancelled my order, these seemed like a good deal but not if they're messing around with the music and art.

I think that's just a sticker maybe?

I assumed that at first, but since when do they show stickers on the mockups with the record coming out of it?

Maybe it is, but messing with the music is my main problem with it. Part of the appeal was getting proper versions of these but I can't say that's the case now. And if they're willing to cut a song, who knows what other alterations there may be. I get being... embarrassed, maybe the Surfers themselves wanted the song removed. But for a B.S. song that has the word "negro" in the title, it could be a lot worse. Why not just change the title to "Observer?"

"I Wanna Be Black" isn't the best Lou Reed song but I'm not buying a version of Street Hassle that doesn't have it.

the remasters are very good though, heard the download versions and they're definitely improvements over the 1999 (?) reissues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQ8p5A_jWc

the kids are alright

Bummer news about the director of the forthcoming documentary — while it sounds like some last parts of it had yet to be filmed and were affected by the loss, at least the overall film appears to be okay.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-tom-rebuild-after-eaton-fire

Per this story, sounds like some of that last footage was saved at least:

https://www.newsweek.com/filmmaker-tom-stern-recounts-losing-home-eaton-fire-just-gone-2013451

Have been meaning to get cds of the run of lps up to Hairway or maybe just before since i have that one. Did other tracks than Negro Observer disappear?
I think I just saw massive prices on previous versions which put me off.
& it is something I had been meaning to do for ages. Probably put on something of a backburner by being semi aware of shenanigans with Touch & Go though not having the complete picture.

I have the Forcedexposure article which told their history up to that point in some depth. Did mean to get the oral history cos those tend to be pretty great. Have one on the Meat Puppets and now one on MC5.I'm aware of there being a good one on Dinosaur Jr too.

I think prices I'd seen for that oral history seemed high from time of release.
I think it was an oral history anyway.

No other songs have disappeared on the new reissues, but there have been some edits and changes. I had preordered the first round of reissues and when I heard about Negro Observer being cut I immediately cancelled.

I guess the song was removed because it was thought to be racist. Speaking as a half Kenyan half English person mainly brought up in white suburban culture I used to quite like the song.
Is that me being under sensitive.

The purple background to this thread seems appropriate but is still freaking me out.

Leary has said that it was Matador's decision to remove the song.

"Matador was concerned that it was racist. Which it is not. It breaks my heart that the song was excluded from the reissue, as it is one of our prettiest songs. Sigh."

What are the other edits and changes?

Matador already fucked up the Gang of Four reissues. Awful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNWm-ntRocw
Not sure I caught it right but I think Pinkus said he and Leary do some of their would-be Butthole songs on Grow A Pear?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI5YdycnKXI

oh, it IS the kickstarter one - good.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theholetruth/the-butthole-surfers-movie

the trailer, and presumably also the doc, appears to be suggesting that Gibby is, to use an archaic coinage, a wastoid. I was around him fairly often in the 2010s in NYC, and he is (or was 10 years ago, I doubt he would have deteriorated since) absolutely on top of it. He might be a little chastened by his former depravity, but he's not at all roky erickson-ed out, which is what this trailer is implying.

What I think is much more pertinent is Albini's castigation of the band as "bad people," which very obviously is a reference to the lawsuit against Touch and Go. What those guys say about the problem now would be interesting, as it was initiated when they had further prospects as a major label band and were surely advised by industry lawyers and management. and since that state of affairs evaporated and they were left with a reputation as sellout pariahs, what do they think of the lawsuit now?

the trailer, and presumably also the doc, appears to be suggesting that Gibby is, to use an archaic coinage, a wastoid. I was around him fairly often in the 2010s in NYC, and he is (or was 10 years ago, I doubt he would have deteriorated since) absolutely on top of it. He might be a little chastened by his former depravity, but he's not at all roky erickson-ed out, which is what this trailer is implying.

That wasn't the impression I got. I can easily believe that he's sharp and on his game, as you describe, but he also seems like someone with a lot of secrets and an ugly history he doesn't feel like sharing with interviewers, camera crews, or anybody else, and he may have quite a bad temper if/when pushed. I found his presence very scary and intimidating when I saw them live (more in a cramped club setting than on the giant Lollapalooza stage, to be fair) and I suspect he'd be scarier and more intimidating one on one.

well yeah, see the Kramer interview linked above

he's not at all scary and intimidating; he's very pleasant and friendly, and I think he would be to anyone. Fatherhood contributed to his comportment, surely… I was around him due to mutual friends in NYC ten years ago, and it was clear that being in Brooklyn with his wife and son, or more importantly away from Texas was very very helpful in that regard… I interviewed him and the band in the 90s, and he was very quiet and withdrawn, maybe Roky Erickson/Syd-ish in his demeanor at this time, but this was down to his recent experiences in recovery.

So there's that new archival live album from 1992 and I had some thoughts:

https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/reissue-of-the-week/the-butthole-surfers-live-review/