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It Came From the Cracks |
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Minutemen |
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FEATURESIt Came from the Cracks: Forgotten Albums and Fringe Classics |
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by Hayden Childs American punk and post-punk flaunted a grab bag of influences that brought a do-it-yourself aesthetic to a wild combination of musical forms. The peak of American punk/post-punk innovation was in 1984, when the pioneers released album after album of inspired weirdness, including Husker Du's Zen Arcade, The Replacements' Let It Be, Black Flag's Slip It In, and especially the Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime. In retrospect, Double Nickels is the logical culmination of the Minutemen's terse forays into uncharted musical territory. Their previous albums run from hardcore to funk and jazz, sometimes within the same minute-long song. Although earlier albums tend to be self-indulgent, Double Nickels cuts loose the fluff. In 43 songs, over 73 minutes (on CD, that is--there are more songs on the vinyl release), the band delivers a singular angry political vision that sounds like the writings of Eugene Debs as interpreted by George Clinton, Gang of Four, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Ornette Coleman all at once.
And what a sound! Boon's guitar scratches and vocal howls are sometimes James-Brown-funky, sometimes mellow and acoustic, sometimes bluesy, but they always manage to simultaneously float over the rhythm section and provide enough weight to free Watt for his melodic bass work. Watt's lack of formal training is apparent in this bass work. Never content to rest on a note, he centers the songs by providing melody and counterpoint to Boon's guitar blasts. Hurley careens flawlessly through time signatures and changes in intensity, his drumming an exercise in polyrhythmic control. The music is so complete that you forget you're listening to a three-piece.
This album belongs in the collection of every serious rock music fan. Highly recommended. It changed my life, and it could change yours. |
MINUTEMEN - 
Hailing
from San Pedro, California, the Minutemen were composed of D. Boon on guitar
and vocals, Mike Watt on bass and vocals, and George Hurley on drums. According
to Watt, Boon's mother bought a guitar for Boon and a bass for Watt when
they were teenagers to keep them out of trouble. Watt, unaware of
the way he was "supposed" to play his bass, treated it like a guitar and
the Minutemen's unique sound was born.
Double
Nickels starts with the sound of a car engine and Boon shouting "Serious
as a heart attack!" Then, we're off. The songs, while short
and angular, are both masterpieces and manifestos, capturing the disaffection
and anger of working class kids in Reagan's pastry-puff morning in America.
"Let the products sell themselves/f**k advertising and commercial psychology,"
sings Boon at one point. Watt hollers, "Man's law: man creates Hitler!"
Through songs with titles such as "Political Song For Michael Jackson To
Sing," "This Ain't No Picnic," and "The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts,"
the Minutemen convey the urgency of their message about modern politics
and society with smoldering fury and black comedy. Eleven years after
Reagan left office, Double Nickels still has a bitter relevance
that leaves Rage Against the Machine's histrionics sounding hollow.
