Double Nickels on the Dime

I had a busy night tonight, so sinfully I will keep this post short.

"Why a sin?", you ask? Because it is theMinutemen, and they deserve much praise, and much fanfare, shit, they deserve a freaking firework show. Besides having had a hand in writing punk rock history they have remained as one of Punk Rocks most distinctive and unique voices.

D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley were geniuses, and not just that, they partied. The Minutemen had a sense of humour and they had well thought out opinions. You can tell that from the cover of Mike Watt driving in his beetle, the title of the record which makes fun of a Sammy Hagar song about driving fast, the tracklist, with songs like "Anxious Mo-Fo", "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing" and "The Roar of the Masses Could be Farts". Each member of the trio contributed songs to the album which gives the album an almost experimental sense, with lyrics ranging from the blue-collar politics of D. Boon to the non-linear poetry of Mike Watt. Songs rarely last more than 2 minutes if even passing the minute mark, and swerve from punk rock, to folk to jam to funk and more, so the album retains a sense of playfulness and manages to make its points in a lighthearted manner. Double Nickels is easily one of the most ambitious and succesful albums in American underground history, right next to Husker Du's Zen Arcade.



The Paranoid Time 7" which was the Minutemen's first release for the SST label displays a more restless and energetic band, though still relying heavily on the experimentation that would become their trademark. Songs like "Joe MacCarthy's Ghost" and "Sickles and Hammers" bristle with intense California Econo Punk. It is a fitting example of a band that knew what they were getting into. And its really fun to listen to so you should check it out.

I guess I managed to do D. Boon (R.I.P) and the Minutemen more justice than I anticipated. You could write a book about them, but there are many such books already written, and recently there was a documentary released called We Jam Econo which features the story of the Minutemen, Videos, Interviews and Lots of live footage. You can buy it from their webpage and many other fine stores across the World.