Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
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Free Music Notes for Double Nickels on the Dime
Free Music Review: San Pedro's Minutemen "jam econo."
Hit: 5 Stars
The American post-punk/indie scene of the 1980's sure produced some great bands. Most of the bands took the minimalist, expressive, to-the-point ethos of punk and ran in different directions with it. (Early) REM's trade was in obscure vocals and folky, jangly music. Husker Du took hardcore punk and added catchy melodies and quirky lyricism to it. The Meat Puppets had their own odd brand of messy bluegrass-punk, while The Replacements crafted funny, poignant and sloppy garage rock that appealed to adolescent America. Finally, there are The Minutemen, who were way beyond simple genre classification. It's easier to describe this San Pedro trio in terms of what they were than what they were not. The Minutemen experimented with punk, funk, jazz improv, folk/country and God knows what else. Their songs, while fully formed, are models of brevity being no more than 1-2 minutes long. Mike Watt's lyrics were strange bits of beat poetry that spoke out on pop culture, commercialism, politics, and war, among other things (yet without being heavy-handed at all). Sometimes the Minutemen were wonderfully anachronistic--who else would write Vietnam protest songs in '84, or cover CCR when it was way un-hip to do so? In short, these guys were totally different from any band before or since. The closest band I can think of that might be similar is Wire during their Pink Flag era, but only in the minimalist philosophy, and that band's sound would end up going in a very different direction. So, the Minutemen basically defy comparison.
Double Nickels On The Dime is one of punk's few double albums, a monument to intelligence and overflowing creativity. It is a platter of 43 (!) songs brimming with thought-provoking lyrics and great music that constantly shifts and jumps around, leaving the listener with little idea of what to expect. Some listeners would argue that Double Nickels On The Dime is uneven in places, and I agree, but in my opinion this adds to its charm. Guitarist D. Boon's (R.I.P.) unrefined yet expressive voice and stattaco leads and George Hurley's drums are accomplished, but the real show is bassist Mike Watt, who is one of my favorite bass players of all time. He just makes the instrument sound ALIVE--it pops, throbs, and dances under the music. No wonder why Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers emulates and admires him so.
Under all this, it's even more remarkable that the Minutemen were just average guys doing what they loved. "Our band could be your life," sings D. Boon on History Lesson Part 2, and there's no doubting his authenticity. The band's assertiveness and positive thinking makes all the whining of modern radio rawk seem even more contrived.
I'd like to go on, but my words really can't do Double Nickels On The Dime justice. Just get it, listen to it, and think. Then you will understand why this opus ranks up there with Blonde On Blonde, The White Album, Exile On Main Street and Quadrophenia.
Note: The CD version lacks Mr. Robot's Holy Orders and the Van Halen cover Ain't Talkin' Bout Love (to make a single CD). You can get both of these on the double vinyl, which is still in print and sounds great. But that won't work in the car, so now you have an excuse to buy TWO copies of this glorious album. Go for it.
Free Music Review: Maybe partyin will help....
Hit: 5 Stars
Strap this on and get yer brains blown back!! The hottest album of the 80's with absolutely no rivals. I found this as a young teen and thought it looked cool. I had no idea what it was. My first thought was that they were just bad musicians with bad haircuts. For some reason, I stuck with this record, though at the time it was way over my head. I could not stop listening to it nonetheless, and just figured I was a weird-o. Almost 20 years later, my lord does this stand up! This is an absolute must for anyone between the ages of 16-40. Gritty, heavy, and oh-so jazzy. PURE POWER!As an adult, the first thing that you notice about these cats is that they are smarter than you. They are also much, much braver. Minutemen fearlessly burn through country, folk, funk, punk, jazz, latin, rock, disco and will bust your as* in about 30 seconds flat. I still have no idea how a bunch of YOUNG(!) jitterbugs made this record. This is probably the greatest album ever recorded. 100% raw from tip-to-tail. All burners. One of the those seriously RARE records you can just put on, front to back, with no dry spots.
This D. Boon guy is so sensational words fail me. He wrote songs that shaped my life. His voice, lyrics and playing set a tone for my youth. I used to gaze at the album art all night doing shots of Popov. I couldnt figure out who this guy was. His voice was pretty awful, his guitar-work was sloppy as all get-out, and best of all, he was really fat & sweaty.....how did his sausge fingers play those blazing scales & leads?? Holmes would rock-out till the wheels fell off, and probably got paid about 50 bucks to make this masterpiece. What I am trying to say here is that this was the most righteous dude to ever play music. An unbelievable loss. Thank you, D. Boon. Words are not enough.
As young bucks, my brother, cousin & I used to spin the grooves off this joint. It was the "coin of the realm" and we knew every phrase, chord, and line on it. Nobody we knew had even heard of Minutemen, so we just had to sack-up and form our own little squad. We were so absorbed in this thing, it wasnt even worth trying to turn some other 15 year-old on to it. It just didnt translate. We literally idolized these guys. The outfits alone were so terrific it made your head spin.
If you found your way to this album review, I IMPLORE you to buy this cd, and before it arrives, go out and buy the vinyl (and a turntable if you have to) as well. Then buy every other album you can find by Minutemen. This CD has been chopped up to make it fit on one disk, and many tracks are faded out early, to my huge disappointment. YOU NEED THIS FOR YOUR CAR, though, dont get me wrong! You absolutely HAVE to have this record on vinyl to experience it properly. The liner notes/artwork really add spice to it. DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS.....nuts&sorbet.
Free Music Review: Just Wake Up!
Hit: 5 Stars
Strap this on and get yer brains blown back!! The hottest album of the 80's with absolutely no rivals. I found this as a young teen and thought it looked cool. I had no idea what it was. My first thought was that they were just bad musicians with bad haircuts. For some reason, I stuck with this record, though at the time it was way over my head. I could not stop listening to it nonetheless, and just figured I was a weird-o. Almost 20 years later, my lord does this stand up! This is an absolute must for anyone between the ages of 16-40. Gritty, heavy, and oh-so jazzy. PURE POWER!As an adult, the first thing that you notice about these cats is that they are smarter than you. They are also much, much braver. Minutemen fearlessly burn through country, folk, funk, punk, jazz, latin, rock, disco and will bust your as* in about 30 seconds flat. I still have no idea how a bunch of YOUNG(!) jitterbugs made this record. This is probably the greatest album ever recorded. 100% raw from tip-to-tail. All burners. One of the those seriously RARE records you can just put on, front to back, with no dry spots.
This D. Boon guy is so sensational words fail me. He wrote songs that shaped my life. His voice, lyrics and playing set a tone for my youth. I used to gaze at the album art all night doing shots of Popov. I couldnt figure out who this guy was. His voice was pretty awful, his guitar-work was sloppy as all get-out, and best of all, he was really fat & sweaty.....how did his sausage fingers play those blazing scales & leads?? Holmes would rock-out till the wheels fell off, and probably got paid about 50 bucks to make this masterpiece. What I am trying to say here is that this was the most righteous dude to ever play music. An unbelievable loss. Thank you, D. Boon. Words are not enough.
As young bucks, my brother, cousin & I used to spin the grooves off this joint. It was the "coin of the realm" and we knew every phrase, chord, and line on it. Nobody we knew had even heard of Minutemen, so we just had to sack-up and form our own little squad. We were so absorbed in this thing, it wasnt even worth trying to turn some other 15 year-old on to it. It just didnt translate. We literally idolized these guys. The outfits alone were so terrific it made your head spin.
If you found your way to this album review, I IMPLORE you to buy this cd, and before it arrives, go out and buy the vinyl (and a turntable if you have to) as well. Then buy every other album you can find by Minutemen. This CD has been chopped up to make it fit on one disk, and many tracks are faded out early, to my huge disappointment. YOU NEED THIS FOR YOUR CAR, though, dont get me wrong! You absolutely HAVE to have this record on vinyl to experience it properly. The liner notes/artwork really add spice to it. DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS.....nuts&sorbe
Free Music Review: Absolute Genius!
Hit: 5 Stars
One of the best albums ever conceived, written and recorded, Double Nickels is a perfect snapshot of how it felt in the early/mid-eighties to be a Reaganomic-Cold-War-hating lover of rock n' roll. Minutemen possessed and expressed all the socially/politically frusted angst and anger of hardcore, but never rejected, as so many punk rock bands did, the work of previous, established rock n' roll bands. Their choice of covers from Creedence ('Don't Look Now'), Steely Dan ('Dr Wu'), and Van Halen ('Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love', which for some reason is removed from the CD edition), and their reference in one song to Bob Dylan ('History Lesson-Part II'), accentuate the essential recognition that runs throughout all their songs, that no matter how socially and politically screwed-up the U.S. and other parts of the world may be, rock n' roll is always there to give voice to the uniquely living personality each of us brings to the world that continually battles with the very real feeling of being ignored by the world. It's that voice that emerges, though, in Double Nickels to confront the social injustices practised both in our own land and in others by governments local and global, not only to people we may know, but to people we might never know exist (not just 'over there' but right here, too). And it's that voice that also riles at being personally exploited and munipulated everyday at work, at home and otherwise in public as only another seemingly interchangeable piece of the social framework.While a lot of 90's bands have infused their music with social/personal/political awareness (e.g., Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman, Pearl Jam, sensitive rock, etc., Gag!), what they strive for, and do not achieve, was already, and much better, done by bands in the 80's, like Minutemen, X, and The Clash, who also infused their music with a love for rock n' roll and the beautiful visions, yet simultaneous realities, of pure freedom that rock n' roll avails everyone. And those bands in turn acknowledged what they had received from previous generations, with only the added emphasis of: 'Get mad, get pi**ed, make a fuss, bi*** and moan, but love your life, and make something happen, too! 'Cause that's what you're here for!'
I still remember the night that a friend called to tell me that he'd just heard D. Boon had died in a car accident, and how I felt what a huge cleft had just opened between what was and what could be for rock n' roll. But that was the 1986, and before Nirvana (love 'em, hate 'em, or ignore 'em) changed the general sound (with, I might add, a strong nod towards innumerable previous bands, only a few of which they did honor to by covering), whether directly or ad hoc tempus, that rings now throughout all late 90's music.
But, 'Semper In Memoriam D. Boon', and Thank You.
Free Music Review: "No hope? See, that's what gives me guts!"
Hit: 5 Stars
Like many people, I can't stand what the media tries to pass off as punk rock nowadays. The scene with the tattoos, whiny vocals with faux-British accents (yes Billie Joe Armstrong - I'm referring to you- you can stop hiding behind the tour bus), the refried two-chord riffs, the hypocritical anti-corporate stances, and the cheap looking Hot Topic clothes would be comical if it weren't so annoying. While punk rock really isn't my cup of tea, I respect the pioneers like The Clash, Husker Du, and The Damned. And then there were The Minutemen who took not only punk rock, but all of rock music to a whole new level.
San Pedro, California's Minutemen were fronted by a chubby, sloppy, and very average looking singer/guitarist named D. Boon (1958-1985). Boon was not the most refined singer in the world, yet his confident, assertive vocals made it easy to overlook his imperfections. He had an interesting guitar approach because he would completely turn down the bass and mid-range frequencies on his amplifiers and only use treble. He lacked the precision and speed of an Yngwie Malmsteen or a Joe Satriani, but his playing was much more fun to listen to. Boon's childhood pal Mike Watt handled bass with such skill that he sounded far more like Jaco Pastorius than Sid Vicious. Rounding out the trio was drummer George Hurley, a man who could do astonishing things with a small drumkit. The Minutemen were fortunate to have not one, not two, but three very gifted musicians within its ranks.
1984's _Double Nickels on the Dime_ clocks in at a whopping 74 minutes with 43 tracks. It defied the convention of both mainstream music and punk rock with it's attitude and experimentation. Just about everything is on here you can imagine: jazz, country, folk, blues, funk, Egyptian-style rock, spoken word poetry, psychedelia, and covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Don't Look Now" and Steely Dan's "Dr. Wu". On earlier pressings was a cover of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". Unlike many punk bands who do ironic covers of bands they feel contempt for, The Minutemen loved the groups they covered.
There is very little that I can say about _DNotD_ that has not been said already. But in closing I will say that _DNotD_ is one of those albums that has something for ALL rock fans. Punk fans will love it for its attitude and social commentary. Progressive rockers may love it for its musicianship and experimentation. Classic rockers will appreciate the Minutemen's respect for the past, and the pure nostalgic value. I'm not going to cry about what would have happened had Boon survived. Instead, I only wish to extend my gratitude for there being _DNotD_. Thanks guys.