at a glance...

Hometown: San Pedro, CA
Year Formed: 1980

Members:
D.Boon -vocals, guitar
Mike Watt -bass, vocals
George Hurley -drums, vocals

Bands in the family :
fIREHOSE, Mike Watt, Black Flag

This was originally a double album/long-ass cassette that came out the same month as Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, on the same label. If you will please now read my review of Zen Arcade, you'll know how much I love that album. So please understand what I mean when I say that Double Nickels is better in just about every way. This album is the finely-tuned engine of a wonderful bunch of guys having fun and saying exactly what they want to say.

For sheer range, no band playing music in 1984 could even come close to what The Minutemen do here. (Oh, okay, maybe Prince, but only Prince.) This album contains funkpunk the Red Hot Chili Peppers have always been afraid to try, and country when Jeff Tweedy was still wearing his retainer, and every other genre you can imagine: it's all here, played as tight as Gary Bauer's ass. And it's not just musical chops I'm talking about, either. Songs can be intense rants like "Toadies" or sad evocations of American colonialism like "Corona" or really weird shit like "One Reporter's Opinion." Then there's stuff that's just about showing off, like "Take Five, D.," a found poem from a landlord which is the only song to contain the phrase "tub has to be properly caulked prior to any showering." And if you want to weep liters of tears, listen to "History Lesson Part II" and learn about the bonds of music and friendship between Boon and Watt - how playing together made them feel like "E.Bloom, Richard Hell, Joe Strummer and John Doe," and then think about Boon dying on the road. I couldn't listen to that song for about ten years -- but you can, and you must.

The CD you'll probably buy isn't as good as my old cassette, because mine has all the tracks they left off yours, including a better-sounding version of "Little Man With a Gun in His Hand" and an excellent cover of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love." But don't worry, you'll still get the Creedence cover and their arch version of Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu." Now get off your ass, turn off your PC and don't come back until you've found this album and listened to it two thousand times.