My fave from 1981:
The Wipers whose founding members had been cleaning floors hail from Portland, Oregon. A place far away from the centres of American punk and post-punk rock. Their mastermind, the guitarist Greg Sage is one of the ingenious outsiders of modern rock. His approach to music is relentlessly non-commercial:
The idea behind the Wipers started off as only a recording project.The plan was to record 15 LP's in 10 years without touring or promotion of any type.
Nevertheless he hoped that his band would get their audience through hear-say which kind of worked. But only in Europe where they reached insider status in France and Germany. In the U.S. they were more or less ignored.
It is quite hard to pin down the influences of the Wipers. Their gloomy hard-rocking post-punk which is dominated by layers of guitar with the occasional controlled feedback outburst sounds more British than American (maybe because of the dull rainy weather on the North-West coast). It evokes the oppressive atmosphere of Joy Division mixed with the noisy Velvet Underground of White Light/White Heat. There is also a psychedelic jam component which goes back to The Doors. In a way their tunefulness and punk speed make me think of the Buzzcocks. But altogether Greg Sage had his own vision of mesmerising fierce music with trance-inducing drones describing the state of the U.S. in the early eighties.
Unfortunately this is not really the music for the season (it is winter night road music). And I prefer to listen to it on my own as it is too dense as background music. But the god of chance decided that 1981 was the year to cover. I knew from the beginning without listening to anything else that this would be my album of 1981.
Somewhen during my student years in Munich in the mid-eighties I taped a track from the radio (Bayern 2 Zündfunk) called When It's Over. It was mainly an instrumental involving guitar, bass and drums building up and up and up until it does not seem to go up anymore. And then reaching a plateau when the piano sets in on low notes and replaces the guitar. The singer utters some words. After that it goes further up. Like a spiral turning towards the sky. The guitar layers are distorted by now. I listened to this song on headphones at night in my small room on repeat. And got totally taken away by the undescribable sadness which permeates this track. Till now this was the closest I have ever come to an enlightenment when listening to music. A transcendental trip into someone else's mind. It was like a maelstroem turned upside down. I felt being pulled towards the sky until my head exploded. I had been looking for the Wipers album containing that song for a long time and had bought all of their 80's releases except one on which I didn't expect it somehow. Youth of America which I finally got in Brussels in 1996. And listened to on my trips back from Bruxelles to Luxemburg on Sunday evenings in the rainy winter of 1996/97.
The song Youth of America (tabs and lyrics) is based on a dream by Greg Sage about the future where
people "over breed" themselvesto the point that even the most simple thing had become the highest level of competition.
It is an apocalyptic ten minute punk statement with distorted guitars, a rhythm section moving ahead of its time and bellowing vocals on the pity state the U.S. are in. When Sage barks Youth repeatedly it sounds like a reproach and a call for action at the same time. He doesn't care about conventional punk song length and delivers a dense piece of revolutionary music which is even more relevant today than 24 years ago:
Youth of AmericaIs living in the jungleFighting for survivalBut there's no place to go
Youth of AmericaThere's pressure all aroundThe walls are crumbling downThe walls are coming down on you
It is time we rectify this now
By the way both the Melvins and Mission of Burma (last year on tour) covered this song.
The other four songs on the album are excellent as well though they don't reach the heights of the two I tried to describe a little.
When Kurt Cobain asked Greg Sage to open for Nirvana on one of their tours, Sage said no. It has been speculated that this refuse was one of the reasons leading to Cobain's self-destruction. He was a big fan. Probably the most fervent fan of the Wipers in the U.S. together with Dennis Hopper who insisted on including them on the soundtrack of River's Edge.
The band most blatantly influenced by the Wipers are Dinosaur Jr. I cannot imagine Freak Scene's melodic guitar-fuzz bliss without Youth of America. Other bands which probably got some inspirations from Greg Sage: Sonic Youth, Spacemen 3, Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus Lizard, Dandy Warhols, Brian Jonestown Massacre.
My LP features the black and white cover with the photographs of the band members. I don't like the goth cover which was used later. Though the motif, a skull instead of the stars on the mutated stripes of the American flag is rather fitting. The strange original do-it-yourself cover with the degenerated comic stars Batman, Popeye, Mickey Mouse et al. around a map of the U.S. which has not been accepted by their record company has been recycled for the box set (including alternate versions and bonus tracks) with the first three albums. The price used to be the price for one CD (Greg Sage being nice to his fans) but today it seems to be more expensive.
Reviews:
Band:
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)
Not when I picked up the set late last year. And mighty, MIGHTY fine stuff, this album.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)
YoA being a very prime one.
absolutely classic...
― eedd, Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)
― I.M. (I.M.), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)
― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)
http://musik.antville.org/static/musik/images/wipers-youth%20of%20america%20original.jpghttp://musik.antville.org/static/musik/images/wipers-youth%20of%20america.jpghttp://musik.antville.org/static/musik/images/wipers-youth%20of%20america%20last.jpg
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)
― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)
On the 'fervent' scale, how do you rate that? Relax, the Wipers had more good fans than you know. Nevertheless he hoped that his band would get their audience through hear-say which kind of worked.
Not kind of. It did work. Wipers records had fair to good distribution for indie product at the time of their release.
It is an apocalyptic ten minute punk statement with distorted guitars, a
What's punk rock about it? I saw the Wipers perform this live in Philly to an audience of about six and there weren't no punks there.From the Wipers' box pamphlet, "The trend in punk in 1980 was to have very short songs. I took this opportunity to record two extremely long songs with the title song hitting the ten minute mark. For the period of time and trend of the day this was considered very uncool..."
Dig Sage's Beauregard LP, too, which is fair-to-great Brownsville Station-esque biker classic rock.
Other than that, I'm with you on Wipers appreciation.
― George Smith, Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)
no, i MUST.
― eedd, Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)
and there weren't no punks there...long songs with the title song hitting the ten minute mark... this was considered very uncoolthat's exactly what i tried to say. they were punk but they were not punk in the traditional way. post-punk, if you want.
and i am with you concerning the quality of their musical output as well.
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Sunday, 24 April 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)
Kind of well ahead of the curve. It took awhile for an indie audience to catch up with them, as for instance the records later on Restless or whatever. When I saw the Wipers there wasn't much of an audience in eastern Pennsy for anything independent -- metal, art, any college radio fodder or punk.
― George Smith, Sunday, 24 April 2005 20:03 (twenty years ago)
― The Sensational Sulk (sexyDancer), Sunday, 24 April 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)
(DO IT! if you haven't.)
― babyalive (babyalive), Sunday, 24 April 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)
― babyalive (babyalive), Sunday, 24 April 2005 20:38 (twenty years ago)
― my friend flicka (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 24 April 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)
― jack cole (jackcole), Sunday, 24 April 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)
Greg Sage reminds me of a frazzled, back-alley Jimi Hendrix stripped of the obsequious and gaudy frills that made his guitar sermons slightly unappealing to me. The Wipers guitar freakout moments are so much more intense and direct.
― ath, Sunday, 24 April 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)
as they apparently were not covered (they are not in the discography) in simon reynolds extensive post-punk book this is even more true than i thought. when will this band get finally the recognition it merits? i consider them on par with the cure in the dark wave genre.
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)
― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)
― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)
― The Sensational Sulk (sexyDancer), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)
Didn't Kurt Cobain talk them/him up a lot? And cover "D-7" and "Return of the Rat"? Seemed like his pushing did good for the Raincoats, Vaselines, Meat Puppets--and was he responsible for DGC reissuing the Pere Ubu stuff? Wonder why it didn't have the same effect (in terms of recognition) for the Wipers. . .
― I.M. (I.M.), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:54 (twenty years ago)
― The Sensational Sulk (sexyDancer), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)
― Zeno, Sunday, 1 April 2007 05:25 (nineteen years ago)
― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Sunday, 1 April 2007 08:22 (nineteen years ago)
― scott seward, Sunday, 1 April 2007 13:44 (nineteen years ago)
― Colonel Poo, Sunday, 1 April 2007 15:23 (nineteen years ago)
"Is there anything that sounds like "youth of amrica"? it's like post punk meets post rock in a very original way,and ahead of it's time.one og the greatest albums ever."
Anything, anything at all ?
― oscar, Wednesday, 9 July 2008 22:20 (seventeen years ago)
Hot Snakes still a totally sensible post-Wipers purchase.
― bear, bear, bear, Wednesday, 9 July 2008 23:10 (seventeen years ago)
http://musik.antville.org/static/musik/images/wipers-youth%20of%20america%20original.jpg
http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/artd/amg/music/cover/2975643_hs_200.jpg
― circa1916, Wednesday, 9 July 2008 23:30 (seventeen years ago)
eh? eh?
not really
― Zeno, Thursday, 10 July 2008 00:41 (seventeen years ago)
hot snakes do have a bit of an audible wipers influence tho
― latebloomer, Thursday, 10 July 2008 01:20 (seventeen years ago)
wipers are the bestest
― latebloomer, Thursday, 10 July 2008 01:21 (seventeen years ago)
A Very Pronounced Bit
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 10 July 2008 01:25 (seventeen years ago)
ALIEN BOY ROCKS MY WORLD RIGHT NOW
― oscar, Thursday, 10 July 2008 01:55 (seventeen years ago)
Pronounced and admitted. I think John Reis said he sent all of the Hot Snakes albums to Greg Sage (for some reason).
I think the covers share some similarities. Those two little guys on the top center/right of the Wipers album look like stock Froberg characters.
― circa1916, Thursday, 10 July 2008 01:59 (seventeen years ago)
I've opened up this thread for three days now, but every time I try to contribute, I feel like a laconic meathead who begins his wedding vows with the words "I'm...not very good at words, so..."
I first heard Youth of America a few weeks ago, and my mind is blown. The title track is impressive enough on it, but the other 20 minutes of the record more than carry their own weight. The drumming on "Youth of America" is so simple and powerful.
― scourge of cords (Z S), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 22:10 (seventeen years ago)
I always feel like playing the Wipers on my radio show, usually the track "Mystery." Z, you should definitely check out their other records, especially "Is This Real" and "Over The Edge."
― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 22:26 (seventeen years ago)
One of my very favorite records. Didn't like it when I first heard it, twenty-some years ago, though I have no idea why. Was at some party, and a hippie girl played it for me, was horrified by my blase reaction. Guess it wasn't "punk" enough for me (though the Lime Spiders were, WTF). A couple years later I picked up Is This Real? and it became THE BEST RECORD IN THEE GODDAM UNIVERSE. Loved it to death, and pushed it on everyone I thought deserved it, but for some reason continued to steer clear of YOA, which I had filed under "boring doomy jackoff music". Fuckin moron...
When I finally broke down and listened to it again, I was converted instantly and forever. Is This Real? is a fantastic fucking punk (pop) record, but Youth of America is from other planets. Nothing sounds like it, not even in the rest of the Wipers catalog. The recording, playing, arrangements, TONE, vibe: it's unique but still accessible all the way through. I wonder why this is? Sage & The Wipers touch on the spirit of this record all the time in other recording, but he/they never again stretched out to the same extent, or (seemingly) paid such close attention to sculpting distinct sounds for each song. Follow Blind is maybe as close as they ever got, but it's so subdued in comparison.
Not that it's comparable to YOA, but the debut Raxola LP has a very distinct Wipers feel here and there, kinda similar to Hot Snakes. A year before Is This Real, too.
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 22:29 (seventeen years ago)
The Wipers prime period (all on the box set) have matured so well over the years.
Greg Sage's wonderfully blended lead/rhythm guitar and the simple,hypnotic perfect tempo drumming.
As 'dark'as say, Joy Divison, but more tangible and tuneful
One of the best three pieces ever
― Fer Ark, Wednesday, 14 January 2009 23:50 (seventeen years ago)
God, "No Fair" just wipes me out. LOVE how the drummer takes a measure to get his hi-hat back into the action on the choruses after the cymbal hit.
PS Trip Maker I took your recommendation on Is This Real? and it rules. It's hitting me a little less immediately than Youth of America, but every time I listen I love it more, and "Mystery" rocks as advertised.
― the maximum value that ZS obtains given its constraint is 8 (Z S), Sunday, 25 January 2009 01:55 (seventeen years ago)
Man, I just downloaded this bitch after about 15 years of waffling. I highlighted all the tracks and hit open-apple-O and as the first track started playing (When It's Over) I was like "Oh, I see!"
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 22:54 (sixteen years ago)
Man, those "best-of" tracks on itunes just aren't. Though "Messenger" has always been a minor classic for me. Otherwise, pretty much every track is wrong. OK, I'll give you "Romeo."
If you can find "Nothing to Prove" from the Sub Pop 100 comp LP, grab it. A two-minute epic. Fluid and joyful.
― Michael Train, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 23:34 (sixteen years ago)
i want to praise the wipers' second ep, Alien Boy. i know this isn't the best thread, but since search is still down and the google search "the wipers cd -acura" only brings up this thread, it'll have to do. (i can't believe i only heard youth of america 8 years ago. it feels like such an old favorite now!)
the song 'alien boy' rules of course, but it's already familiar from Is This Real? but the rest of the ep is great as well. "voices in the rain" sounds like it's rocking so hard that the tape deck can't handle it, and telepathic is just perfect power pop, short and sweet.
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 5 April 2017 04:37 (nine years ago)
I just discovered Youth of America in the last couple months!
― ...and DON'T *bleeep* IT UP! (Leee), Wednesday, 5 April 2017 05:00 (nine years ago)
fuck. yes. my favorite wipers album by far. 'can this be' and 'pushing the extreme' are two of my favorite songs ever
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 5 April 2017 05:03 (nine years ago)