Butthole Surfers: Classic or Dud

Wahey!

So where should I start with these guys?

If you have to pick just one, Locust Abortion Technician.

Really, everything through Hairway to Steven is pretty bitchin'. Can't go wrong with their 80's stuff.

start here:

Butthole Surfers- Classic or dud?

seriously, though, any of the first five are fab, my faves are Psychic/Powerless, the 1st one, and Hairway To Steven.

(xpost with latebloomer)

a brown reason to live - the first ep is actually a perfect place to start. their rawest, punkiest record, it has some of their prettiest/poppiest moments as well, and also provides a clear + straight-eyed view of their sleazy fucked up brilliance. it is completely appropriate if "the shah sleeps in lee harvey's grave" is the first thing you ever hear by them. "I am the ultimate god! God is second to me! I am number one, motherfucker!"

one of my favorite experiences was a concert in nyc where they came out, opened with "the shah sleeps in lee harvey's grave", lit their guitars on fire, and smashed them to bits. and then the show started.

live PCPPEP - unecessary cash-in record, skip it

psychic... powerless... another man's sac - the album that put them on another level, demonstrating they weren't just some fried out texan punkers, but fathers to some new form of seriously disturbing + delightful art-punk psychedelic mayhem.

ach, gotta run, will continue later...

I agree with this thread.
Faves are Psychic, Powerless and Rembrandt Pussyhorse, but it's all good to a point.

Hoos, I feel for you, man. I'd like to know where to start as well. The only record I actually owned of these guys was Hairway To Steven, which was okay, but...I always thought I probably would have been better off with their early releases that included classics like "Lady Sniff" and "Concubine" and whatever the hell else I used to hear on college radio in those days.

As noted on the other thread, it's really worth reading their chapter in Our Band Could Be Your Life. It's laugh out loud funny and will convince you to track down all their 80s stuff (the only stuff that matters in their catalog unless you're counting royalties).

Also, cliche or not, Locust Abortion Technician is simultaneously one of the most accessible and fucked up aural atrocities ever. SO SO SO GOOD. From the moment the needle hits the groove, it will warp your mind.

fucking love this band so much

amazing vid here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2h6TU1kFDQ

This was from Snub TV - an awesome BBC TV Music series from the late 80's early 90's...

There pretty much.

such a fucking jam. never seen that vid, either. thanks, LG!

still mystified by the sudden, massive drop-off after widowermaker. :/

I still think that the album after that has a handful of good tracks on it in the form of Revolution 1 and 2 and PSY. But their cover of Hurdy Gurdy Man was an obvious attempt to score a hit... which they eventually did with Pepper. I wonder if it was hanging out with Ministry while making 'Jesus Built My Hotrod' that made Gibby think, 'I could have some of this.' Whatever 'this' was... better guns, cars or drugs maybe.

If my house was burning down, I'd still risk going back in to rescue Rembrandt Pussy Horse and Locust Abortion Technician.

Their Hurdy Gurdy Man cover is one of my favorite songs of the 90s. If you want to figure out why Piouhgd seemed a little (but only a little) like a lame Hairway to Steven retread I think you'll have to look elsewhere.

Independent Worm Saloon is a sweet album. i dont know what yall r thinkin

everything up through IWS is great, to varying degrees

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

I don't think Hurdy Gurdy Man is a bad song but I do think the writing was on the cards for them as soon as they started chasing any kind of 'mainstream' success.

"writing was on the cards"? Is that even a real phrase?

everything up through IWS is great, to varying degrees

okay, indie worm is lots of fun and has some great tunes, i won't deny. it's weirdly triangulated in between proper butthole surfers, ministry, and i dunno, a methhead version of zz top or something? i give it short shrift because it lacks the visionary WTF weirdness of their early albums. for what it is, though, it's well done. good rock & roll party record.

but pioughed is such a fucking misfire, especially after hairway and widowermaker, both great from front to back. "revolution", "hurdy gurdy man" and "PSY" are potentially worth keeping, but only the latter really hits home as a proper dose of brain medicine - and it'd been kicking around for six or seven years by that point. "revolution" eventually becomes more annoying than mind-expanding, with the endless "gary shandling" chanting at the end. the pop cultural namedropping rubs me the wrong way, undercutting the vibe, much more so than on HtS's "julio iglesias". the "hurdy gurdy" man cover is fine, i guess, but faithful to the point of being useless. some nice guitar work from leary, but that's about it (leary's in top form throughout, by far the best thing about the record). and what else? "golden showers" and "blindman" are trivial but entertaining, while "no, i'm iron man" and "barking dogs" feel like 2nd rate leftovers from the r. pussyhorse/locust abo tech era. the rest is junk. was SO bummed by this record at the time, and still haven't ever quite warmed to it.

see I approve of any and all Garry Shandling references

that's a weird thing to complain about, they were always dropping pop culture effluvia into their stuff. Movin to Florida namedrops Ray Bolger

yeah, but "movin to florida" doesn't rub it in your face, and ray bolger wasn't a cultural touchstone in that particular moment. it's like if animal collective devoted half of an epic jam to saying "simon cowell" over and over again. it would be annoying.

but i'm not evangelical. i'm glad other people dig pioughd. hell, i wish i did, cuz they were one of my favorite bands in the world at the time.

I'm unaware of Garry Shandling ever achieving "cultural touchstone" status but ymmv obviously

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b92qLCYxwAY&feature=player_embedded

if animal collective devoted half of an epic jam to saying "simon cowell" over and over again. it would be annoying.

also I would totally crack up if they did this. but then AC does not seem like a band whose intentions are to make me laugh

I'm unaware of Garry Shandling ever achieving "cultural touchstone" status but ymmv obviously

well, during the heyday of it's gary shandling's show it seemed to me that he was, briefly, everywhere. on magazines like EW, in think pieces about "the new irony" (or whatever), on late night TV, in bar and dorm room conversation, etc. and on this one damn butthole surfers record. but yeah, anecdotal.

Yeah, there was always an element of this to the Buttholes. They were so obsessed with R.E.M. that they used to cover 'The One I Love' live and apparently went and camped on Stipe's front lawn. I love that psychotic element to them. I don't think their short lived Garry Shandling thing was much different. And it led to their memorable appearance on the show as well.

wait waht

when were they on the show

That You Tube just above is from the show I think.

oh. that's the LARRY SANDERS show

They were so obsessed with R.E.M. that they used to cover 'The One I Love' live

i remember this! gibby would replace the shouted "fire!" with "michael!" the version preserved on double live is fantastic. for whatever reason, this act of pop cult pillaging bothers me not at all. [shrug]

I don't mean to seem

SIMON COWELL

Like I care about material things

SIMON COWELL

Like our social status

SIMON COWELL

I just want four walls and adobe slats

SIMON COWELL

For my girls

SIMON COWELL
SIMON COWELL
SIMON COWELL
Sharon Osbourne
SIMON COWELL

[ad lib to fade]

XP: I've just done some googling and I don't think I've ever seen or heard of the Garry Shandling Show. Just Larry Sanders. It's the same dude right?

(I suppose it was too much to expect him to start screaming Larry Grayson at the end of one their songs.)

the Garry Shandling Show was awesome but it was not a huge hit afaict. it is a very weird deconstruction of yr standard sitcom.

It has been added to the DVD wish list, cheers.

i managed to torrent it, not quite got into it yet tho despite a few attempts to watch.

it's gary shandling's show always creeped me out. similar to curb your enthusiasm, but way more twitchy and dry.

Just came across one of those "What song defines the 1980s for you?" posts on my FB wall. I always have to resist the temptation to go on and give some stupid answer meant to ruin everybody's fun--I didn't know the person, though, so the temptation was minimal. Anyway, that led me to listen to "Witchita Cathedral" for the first time in a million years, and I immediately started wondering if it was intended as a some kind of sideways remake of "Radar Love."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_WbWy9YVbw

Apparently Teresa has terminal cancer and is now in hospice.

Legend.

Fair sailing to her.

Teresha 4evr

-h

:-(

Oh no

i think it's time to watch this again

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

She held on for a good while, but Teresa has now passed.

Teresa Taylor passed away peacefully this weekend after a long battle with lung disease. She will live in our hearts forever. RIP, dear friend.

Pictured here with Mark Farner. Photo by @PatBlashill #TeresaTaylor #TeresaNervosa pic.twitter.com/Mn74aqzeK1

— Butthole Surfers (@buttholesurfers) June 19, 2023

I wish I was able to see them back in the day - RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpRhYQxlzl8

aw no. teresa RULED.

RIP. Only 60

How can bands even exist with only one drummer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUCPKu8iw8

Thank you for that! I love double drum teams (Buttholes were down to one by the time I saw them a few months after this)

Cream Corn EP is incredible

def one of my favourites yeah

"Moving to Florida" kind of reminds me of Mark McKinney's blackface old bluesman character

the absence of a purple background here threw me until I realized there are two Butthole Surfers: Classic or Dud threads

Yeah that background was a bit much