I've just completed my BA (Hons) Scriptwriting for Film & Television degree at Bournemouth Uni. I go...
I've just completed my BA (Hons) Scriptwriting for Film & Television degree at Bournemouth Uni. I got a 2:1.
Perhaps I could have got a 1st if I'd written fewer opinions on Ciao and paid more attention to my final script. Curse this site!!!
Member since:26.07.2000
Reviews:96
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The Butthole Surfers are probably one of the most sick and twisted bands around, or at least were until they accidentally infiltrated the mainstream circa 1996, diluting their psychedelic drug-noise in the process. Singer Gibby Haynes was born the son of a Dallas-based children's television host called "Mr. Peppermint" (can you imagine how f*cked up that must have made him?) and was, at one point, studying to be an accountant (see what I mean?!).
On stage, the band liked to make their show as grotesque as possible; when they weren't setting things on fire, they liked to show video footage of penis removal, or piss into plastic baseball bats (dubbed "piss wands") and anoint the front row of the audience with it. Wholesome, family-orientated fun, I think you'll agree.
Locust Abortion Technician is widely regarded as
their greatest achievement, the point at which their mixture of shrieking guitar and frankly satanic vocals reached full fruition. Having not heard any of their other albums so far, I cannot really comment, but I can assure you that this is a classic album, so long as you have the stomach for it.
It immediately wrongfoots the listener by kicking in with some dreamy synth, and the sound of an innocent child's voice asking his father about the meaning regret. If you've heard Orbital's track "Satan" then you'll know what's coming, for it was here that they lifted the by-now classic sample. The father explains, and then casually says "Oh, and by the way, if you see your Mom this weekend, would you be sure and tell her...SATAN!!! SATAN!!! SATAN!!!" The guitar riff from Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" explodes into life, only speeded up and accompanied by some demonic laughter. This track is called "Sweet Loaf", and it is quintessential Butthole Surfers.
The key to many of the tracks is Haynes's vocal box of tricks, named "Gibbytronix", which alter the speed and pitch of his vocals from a plodding frunt to bat sonar range, or overlay hundreds of vocal samples simultaneously.
Over the course of the next 32 minutes, the band's juvenile and often disturbing sense of humour tries its utmost to mess with your mind. "Graveyard" is repeated twice, with different speeds of vocals, which sing "You lie in the graveyard/You're rotting away/I talk to you daily/But you've got nothing to say!" "Hay" is merely a score of voices repeating the title from within what sounds like a barn. "Human Cannonball" is probably the nearest thing to a normal song on the album, a three minute punk-thrash tune.
The track "Kuntz" will certainly divide listeners. There are those (like me) who find it funny that the Buttholes built a whole song around some sampled Indian vocals, merely because one of the words sounds like...well, do I really have to spell it out?! Others will simply find it distasteful.
The real test is the final track, "22 Going On 23", which contains a sample of a distressed young woman phoning a local radio show to report that, as a result of being sexually assaulted, she is now an insomniac, followed by some wailing guitar and propulsive drumming. Upon hearing it initially, I was unsure whether the Buttholes had gone too far with their sick jokes, and were now merely exploiting another person's misery. However, I get the feeling that they are, in fact, trying to make some sort of statement (although I'm not quite sure what), and the track is excellent and really grows on you, thanks to the amazing musicianship.
There's not much I can add to that, really. If what I've written excites your curiosity than you should definitely give this a listen, as it is yet another classic album to add to Touch & Go's roster (Big Black's "Songs About Fucking, Slint's "Spiderland", etc). It's certainly aroused my interest in the Buttholes, and I'll be sure to check out their other stuff based on the excellence of this LP.
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