Tuesday, October 13, 2009

butthole surfers - after the astronaut


made in 1998

i used the term "made" because the album was never actually released because their then record label (capitol) and the boys were having problems with one another

once they signed to a different label (the disney owned hollywood records) they re-recorded about 90% of the songs on this album and released them on the WEIRD REVOLUTION album

now...if you're a butthole surfers fan that enjoys "moving down to florida"...but doesn't really like "who was in my room last night?" all that much...well...you might not like most of this album

or maybe you will

"allah/buddah/god/zeus/gotta get me a red caboose"

that about sums it all up

DL: after the astronaut
at

4 comments:

  1. MarsOctober 13, 2009 at 8:28 AM

    I totally get it as to why Butthole Surfers were going for the brass ring. All you have to do is read 'Our Band Could Be Your Life'. These guys were dumpster diving, living communal style, practically starving and reaping little in the way of reward for what they loved to do.

    This in contrast to the privileged touring experience enjoyed by the monied characters in Sonic Youth, or Dinosaur J Mascis.

    So I get it - a bunch of aging wastoids realized that 'selling out' is the only option left.

    But when it's this cynical and stupid, it's hard not to feel insulted.

    Okay, it's not like they were amazing and suddenly Weird Revolution drops and it's a shocking pile - their last semi-okay record was Independent Worm Saloon and that was almost 20 years ago!

    But rather than become a Saturday Morning Cartoon version of themselves typified by 'The Shame of Life' and 'Pepper' before it, couldn't they have written more mature pop material like 'Strawberry', 'You Don't Know Me', 'PSY' etc.?

    I know I'm needlessly bitching here, but in some alternate universe they went in a smarter psychedelic rock / pop route rather than the reconstituted sub-Beck direction ours took. Ahhh, what could have been...

    CAPTCHA: 'coman' then 'derrosea' 'stmer'

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  2. AnonymousOctober 13, 2009 at 2:32 PM

    never understood the hate for Weird Revolution...sounds just about as awesome and stupid as rock music ought to be. anyhow, thanks for posting this; i've always wondered about it.

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  3. MarsOctober 14, 2009 at 12:26 AM

    Well, I think I explained myself pretty well, it's not like I just said 'it's sucks'.

    If you have to sing about how 'weird' you are, it's over.

    Look, like Black Sabbath, they get a pass - they spent plenty of time in the trenches and produced a fuck load of memories for us all and for that they'll have my undying respect. But bad music is bad music.

    Try this: talk about how awesome the Butthole Surfers are to a 20 something and watch them look at you like you're a fucking tool . That's the sum result of 'Pepper' and 'Shame of Life'. It's like 'Cherub' and 'Sweat Loaf' never existed - and that ain't right!

    CAPTCHA: 'spoutvtg'

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  4. Obscure ReferenceOctober 23, 2009 at 4:37 PM

    Thanks for posting this! I wondered about this too. I didn't hate "Weird Revolution" but I liked "Electric Larryland" too... the first album of theirs I picked up as a teenager was "Independent Worm Saloon" and I just went forwards & backwards from there.

    "Bob Dylan on a motor scooter"

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