What do we think of The Butthole Surfers here?
A band that sadly, do not get much recognition on this forum - which is strange seeing that Ministry / Butthole Surfers always used to be muttered in the same breath back in the day.
I know that they’ve resumed gigging in the last fews years - with favourable results. Anyone here catch any of these gigs?
Anyone see them live back in their heyday?
Favourite albums for anyone??
Anyone here dislike them?
Good band. Wish they would do another album though. That last one was so-so. Independent worm saloon is a pretty cool one. But I mostly just pick favorites from each album.
Locust Abortion Technician and Independent Worm Saloon are fuck awesome records. Suppose i ought to get some of their other stuff at some point.
Locust Abortion Technician and Independent Worm Saloon are fuck awesome records. Suppose i ought to get some of their other stuff at some point.
those two are their best efforts IMHO.
I think IWS is one of my favorite records of all time. I have been into them since like 94 or something. Saw them in like 2004 in chicago or something, and again in madison a few years back. great great great fucking show, awesome backing vids. gibby stands next to a box of fx for his vocals and just goes nuts. last tour i saw them had all original members and two drummers. great stuff.
LOVE THIS BAND
Love the Buttholes early and middle-era material, even their last couple of albums were okay, not that great, but not as bad as everyone made them out to be.
People call them sellouts based on their last couple of records being more accessible then their earlier material, something I disagree with… nothing wrong with trying to make some catchy pop tunes. What I and many other people are pissed off at the Butthole Surfers for though is how they fucked over Touch and Go records and in the process created a culture of distrust among indie record labels. (That story can be found here http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/touch-and-go-v-the-buttholes/Content?oid=898923) Kind of makes me not want to give them my money, but that does not downplay their musical achievements.
Love the BH era from 82 - 89, all after that is like Psalm 69 for them…cool, but not weird.
Didn’t care much for Weird Revolution, by the time Pepper hit the radio I think it was a great move to kind of split.
Their old live shows were fucking insane, go buy Blind Eye Sees All their concert DVD
I was a Butthole Surfers “tragic” from about 89 - 93. I absolutely worshipped those guys. Saw them live 3 times during that period and they never disappointed.
Kind of stopped following them after Independant Worm Saloon. Didn’t agree with the “Beck-ish” pop direction they went in.
I think I’ve still got my Locust Abortion Technician poster folded up in the garage somewhere. That poster was massive. Covered most of the wall behind my bed. My favourite poster of my favourite BH Surfers album.
Too cool.
Anybody here who hasn’t heard Locust Abortion, then please do so right now.
They are probably my favorite band. The last two gigs they played recently were very good, just amazing shows. The backing videos consist of mostly of gore and porn with Gibby manipulating his vox with the Gibbytronix, Paul just nailing the guitar bits perfect, King pounding away on the drums, Pinkus in the zone on the bass. The band just nails the material live, it sounds sooooo fucking good…wish I could’ve seen them back in the day though.
Favorite albums…that is tough. Probably Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac but Locust Abortion Technician (on mushrooms) can never be left out as well as Hairway to Steven (Fucking Jimi!). I remember reading a funny/grim story about a guy who took acid at a Hairway to Steven era Butthole Surfers show and has never been found since…not sure if true or not but it is fun to say that he took the Hairway to another dimension.
Huge fan.
Love the Buttholes early and middle-era material, even their last couple of albums were okay, not that great, but not as bad as everyone made them out to be.
People call them sellouts based on their last couple of records being more accessible then their earlier material, something I disagree with… nothing wrong with trying to make some catchy pop tunes. What I and many other people are pissed off at the Butthole Surfers for though is how they fucked over Touch and Go records and in the process created a culture of distrust among indie record labels. (That story can be found here http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/touch-and-go-v-the-buttholes/Content?oid=898923) Kind of makes me not want to give them my money, but that does not downplay their musical achievements.
thanks for the good read. i’m guessing verbal contracts are dead now a days? fucking greedy buttholes.
I like some of their stuff but their shitty “garage” production technique that I’ve heard doesn’t appeal to me. I probably need to listen more, or had to be there. I generally like stuff to be noisey in a polished way.
I should clarify that what I’ve heard is ‘Locust Abortion Technician’ and ‘Hairway to Steven’, on a treadmill, at a New York Sports Club on Wall Street, whilst watching the quivering buttcheeks of an obese woman on a treadmill in front of me, straining to break free from her abused spandex leggings.
This to me is more psychedelic than tripping out, and the music still failed to entrance me.
Thoughts?
I like some of their stuff but their shitty “garage” production technique that I’ve heard doesn’t appeal to me. I probably need to listen more, or had to be there. I generally like stuff to be noisey in a polished way.
First record I bought was LTA, and about the only thing I hated was how flat the volume was - even cranked up it’s tinny. The remaster is great, but I think they just simply bumped up the decibals by 3-4dB. Something I could’ve done myself. Heh.
The rest of it…well…it’s messy but it’s a nice mess. I think it’s best to hear on vinyl, on any speed (33 or 45) because let’s face it - it doesn’t matter how you hear it, it still is awesome.
thanks for the good read. i’m guessing verbal contracts are dead now a days?
I think so… I know Touch and Go doesn’t do them anymore, not sure about some of the other indies… I think only the really big independent labels are still in operation anyway, with the slow death of the music industry and all.
fucking greedy buttholes.
[laugh]
It is a good read. Reminds me of Albini’s rant on how record labels operate.
Business is business, never think otherwise - even orally
(That story can be found here http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/touch-and-go-v-the-buttholes/Content?oid=898923)
I didn’t understand any of that. Who was in the right and who was in the wrong? What did Touch’n’Go do wrong? What did The Buttholes do wrong.
I’m lost.
[reply] (That story can be found here http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/touch-and-go-v-the-buttholes/Content?oid=898923)
I didn’t understand any of that. Who was in the right and who was in the wrong? What did Touch’n’Go do wrong? What did The Buttholes do wrong.
I’m lost.[/reply]
Well, basically rather than having legal written contracts Touch and Go and other independent labels transacted their business with their recording artists through an oral agreement and a handshake. The Butthole Surfers violated that trust by suing the guy for the rights to their back catalogue, and won. And it wasn’t like Touch and Go was hoarding money from them, Touch and Go “pays the bands 50 percent of the net profit on their records–about four times the industry’s standard royalty rate.” The Buttholes got greedy and violated their oral agreement and legally got away with it, because of course there were no written legal documents. To many fans of independent record labels this was seen as a slap in the face to indie music as a whole, and a triumph of cold capitalism over the punk rock ethos. Not on par with Metallica suing their Napster fans, but still pretty sleazy, especially when they were making all that money at the time from Electriclarryland and the Pepper single. To many this killed their indie/artistic cred 100x more than Electriclarry and Weird Revolution ever would.
I
I should clarify that what I’ve heard is ‘Locust Abortion Technician’ and ‘Hairway to Steven’, on a treadmill, at a New York Sports Club on Wall Street, whilst watching the quivering buttcheeks of an obese woman on a treadmill in front of me, straining to break free from her abused spandex leggings.
It must be hard running on a treadmill with a boner.
Basically the same thing (sans lawsuits) happened with Wax Trax and quite a few bands. It’s funny that so many artists complain about labels’ contracts exploiting them, yet so many bands take advantage of labels that try to respect the artists after they become established acts.
Hairway To Steven is the coolest name for an album ever.
Not on par with Metallica suing their Napster fans,
to be completely fair here, metallica became aware of this because someone had STOLEN a take of the song ‘i disappear’ before it was done being worked on and leaked it, they then publicly asked for people to stop sharing their work before it was finished/they were happy with it, people didnt listen, and then they sued the people sharing THAT song. and even then, it wasnt them as much as them attacking people sharing a song they didnt want to have out yet. the owner of napster, meanwhikle, had been making money off of the website and other people’s music. so once metallica did that, suddenly every other label jumped on it and started to crack down left and right. i still hold that what Metallica did was perfectly fine… they are all about tape trading, but that wasnt what this was, this was someone stealing and leaking a song, and then a bunch of people sending it around who werent supposed to even have heard the song yet.
[reply] Not on par with Metallica suing their Napster fans,
to be completely fair here, metallica became aware of this because someone had STOLEN a take of the song ‘i disappear’ before it was done being worked on and leaked it, they then publicly asked for people to stop sharing their work before it was finished/they were happy with it, people didnt listen, and then they sued the people sharing THAT song. and even then, it wasnt them as much as them attacking people sharing a song they didnt want to have out yet. the owner of napster, meanwhikle, had been making money off of the website and other people’s music. so once metallica did that, suddenly every other label jumped on it and started to crack down left and right. i still hold that what Metallica did was perfectly fine… they are all about tape trading, but that wasnt what this was, this was someone stealing and leaking a song, and then a bunch of people sending it around who werent supposed to even have heard the song yet.[/reply]
the person who stole it is to blame, NOT napster and NOT the people sharing it. come on, would you have stopped sharing an unreleased ministry song just because Al said so? i doubt it.