Butthole Surfers - Butthole Surfers + Live PCPPEP






In 1983 and 1984 the Surfers released these two 12" EPs. I still get shivers down my spine remembering the first times that I took them home and put them on the deck. The initial slack-jawed, drool dangling from my chin "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" reaction that was quickly followed by me spinning violently around my room bouncing off the walls and furniture, laughing my face off and singing every word at the top of my lungs. These treasured icons held REVELATION in every groove.

Between 1983 and 1988, the Buttholes were simply the greatest outfit to crawl the earth. Each release was a treasured and majestic acid-fried masterpiece. Then in 1989, the Widowermaker! EP came out. It had some pretty interesting moments but something was missing. After that came the dreaded move to the "big label" and, for me, everything changed. It felt like they had become a completely different band overnight. I carried on buying the vinyl out of loyalty and hope but I can honestly say that I've never listened to them more than twice. I find it too painful ...

I was going to post the vinyl and then remembered that this version sits on a shelf above me. It has four bonus tracks: Live versions of Gary Floyd and Matchstick, the previously unreleased Sinister Crayon and a demo recording of Something.

CD released on Latino Bugger Veil in 2002.

The last shit I took was pretty fucking odd!

5 comments:

kingpossum,  3 September 2017 at 05:21  

Belated thanks for the early Surfers reminder. The Buttholes were more punk than any of the leather jacket clad, ripped jeans wearing, safety pin sporting, 3-chord formula following bands could ever live to be. Genuine psychosis meets rejection of, well, pretty much everything.

Absolutely life affirming.

Goat-Legged Country God 5 September 2017 at 22:13  

Yep.

Yep.

Spot on.

They went downhill pretty rapidly from 1989 onwards but everything before that year is absolutely peerless - the demented babble of acid-damaged godlings.

Never got to see them in their full on lysergic-live heyday but their Reading Festival performance from 1989 is still one of my all-time favourite live experiences... even now.

Anyone discovering them here for the first time is in a for a truly beautiful treat.

cpc8084,  9 September 2017 at 11:37  

thanks for the pcpppep especially! also, cheers for intro to hair stylistics - is new to me - your description sells it hard! great blog

UniBoehmer 10 September 2017 at 05:28  


I too never got to see the BS in a proper environment. But I remember them being the first band who opened the first Lollapallooza tour in 91. Gibby, already smashed, finished a song, polished off what was left of a colt 45 40oz bottle, threw it WAY up in the air and let it smash on his head on the way down. I was blown away, the show had just started & there were only like 20-30 people watching the first band. That kind of flagrant disregard is hard to forget.

Anonymous,  13 March 2018 at 22:36  

Danke danke! A band that keeps giving