- CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
- Minutemen "Project: Mersh" 1985 (USA)
- Mike Watt is coming to town this Sunday, on tour playing his newest album hyphenated-man, the third installment in a series of "punk rock operas" he has written. But what's particularly notable about this new project is that it is quite clearly a return to his roots as the bassist of Minutemen, one of the most beloved 1980's indie-punk bands -- which is to say, it consists of thirty songs written & recorded "econo" style, most of which are barely a minute long. Of the diverse pile of records Minutemen recorded 1980-1986, one of my favorites is Project: Mersh, which was a tongue-in-cheek attempt to make a more "commercial" record -- thus adding the "filler" of repeating choruses, instrumental solos, extended codas and fade-outs that Minutemen had always been famous for avoiding. The climax is Watt's two-song suite on the second side, "Tour Spiel" and "More Spiel", which starts off sounding like Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but then turns all psychedelic! Though it was deliberately not representative of the band's usual style, it is ironically one of their most enjoyable records.
- Minutemen made a few super-underground low budget music videos, most notably "This Ain't No Picnic" which depicts the group doing battle with their archnemesis Ronald Reagan, and "King Of The Hill" which comes from this week's classic album. However, their most well-known song is undoubtedly "Corona", because the opening riff is the theme to MTV's Jackass show. Since National Record Store Day is this weekend, here's clips of two 1970's groups whose vintage LP's are getting a spin on the show this week: the British prog band named after American baseball player Babe Ruth, and funk legends Kool & The Gang.