Validation / The Maze / Definitions / Sickles And Hammers
Fascist / Joe McCarthy’s Ghost / Paranoid Chant
Mentioned them in the Rondo’s post, so thought I would stick The Minutemen on, because they are awesome. Debut single on SST Records, a label affiliated with Black Flag, clocking in at seven minutes. The second single on New Alliance Records, a label that also put out early Husker Du and The Descendants material clocking in at just over three minutes. From San Pedro in California, the band were certainly out of sorts with the local community. Influenced by English bands like Wire, and also a healthy interest in Pere Ubu and Zappa, the band mixed it all up and spat in out in one minute (or less) bursts of energy. Most of the bands output including the debut single was released on SST Records. The Minutemen were a 17th century Militia outfit from around Boston, Massachusetts, this band I think took the name not so much to celebrate the historical bunch, but because the songs almost always lasted a minute, with a guitar solo, a minute fifteen seconds!
D Boon was killed in 1985, Hurley and Watt went on to form Firehose and continued recording for SST Records.
Nic
February 23, 2008 at 11:37 amGreat, great, great…
I love this EP!
Fast, energetic, focused, direct, expressive…
(and great Raymond Pettibon cover art, as always with most of the early SST releases)…
‘Paranoid Chant’ – “I try to talk to girls…I keep thinking of World War 3!”
Hooray for New Alliance for putting out the classic ‘Land Speed Record’ by Husker Du…
Check out the ‘We Jam Econo’ documentary for an interesting look at the band (and some great live footage)…
Mike Watt is the current bass-player for The Stooges and doing it well…