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Man, I had this crazy dream yesterday. Basically, I joined the Marine Corps during the height of the Vietnam War. After basic training, I was stationed somewhere in Laos. Naturally, after trekking out of the army base, I got lost in some metropolis in Laos. Thankfully, I met some nice, young Americans who offered to drive me back to the base. The problem was, however, that I had no idea where the army base is located, what it's called or who my superior officers are because I slept through most of my Marine experience due to the vigor's of training. Somehow the American kids (about my age) had an idea of where I was stationed so we took a friends jeep and headed down a highway. As we neared the base however, the driver sped up and veered off of a cliff. Nearing certain death, I started to hear Shit From an Old Notebook by The Minutemen. And that's exactly how I'd like to go, hearing The Minutemen as I fall to my doom.


There is so much you could say about The Minutemen, San Pedro punk legends. They were like the peoples post-punk band; arty yet never pretentious. Perhaps the greatest thing about them was their quirky sense of humor. Few bands could really match them in sheer charm. Aesthetically they hit all sorts of funny-bones. Whilst their music was seriously and masterfully made, you could pick up a certain cheeky humor within their basic sound. George Hurley's spastic, jazzy, nimble drumming, Mike Watts pronounced bass, and D. Boons blues-y solos all contributed to a band that was Punk, but didn't take Punk too seriously. Perhaps The Minutemen's greatest formula were angular, Wire-like power chords being interrupted by nonchalant yet hyper-active blues-y solos.


Even their history had a quirky charm to it (although ending in tragedy with D.Boon's untimely death). Take the story behind their masterpiece, double-album, Double Nickles on the Dime (1984). Originally, the band intended their fourth full-length to be a normal LP. However, that all changed when word spread about Husker Du's upcoming double-album, Zen Arcade. Not to be outdone, The Minutemen regrouped, headed back to the studio and recorded more than 40 songs for the album. One has to feel a certain pity for the Du's who were often teased to and fro, such as the friendly diss found in the Double Nickles booklet which reads, "Take that Huskers!" The album title itself--a slang term for 55 mph--is a clever pun on Sammy Hagar's, I Can't Drive 55, off of 1984's VOA. While Hagar brags (or perhaps laments) about not obeying the speed limit (and a not-so-subtle reverence to the live fast rock ethic), the San Pedro trio claims that they're perfectly fine with going 55 miles per hour (as if to say that one can be a great rock band and break accepted rock ethics).



Recently, listening to Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat(1983) and What Makes a Man Start Fires?(1982) gave me a very different view about The Minutemen. Both albums display a band starting to hit their creative stride, blossoming and nearing their peak in Double Nickles. It's a odd thing for me to listen to both of these albums as Double Nickles was my only source of Minutemen material for quite some time. Although amazing and fun albums for what their worth, they seem somewhat trivial to the immensity of Double Nickles. Rather these albums show a band learning and gaining confidence in a time span of about 2 years. Man Start Fires? seems like the Minutemen finally discovered the formula for what would ultimately create Double Nickles. Buzz or Howl is more an expansion of that formula. Its really a great album, but being only 8 songs long, Buzz or Howl seems trite in comparison to the 43 track Double Nickles.

At first I found The Minutemen's older palate a bit more distasteful. It's a hard listen after having been acquainted with their 1984 Masterpiece for a long time. Yet, the albums are interesting if only because it displays growth and a blossoming confidence. Perhaps this is a gloomy outlook but would The Minutemen still be considered legends had they stopped in after Buzz or Howl? Perhaps so, Man Start Fires? and Buzz or Howl still are very unique albums and terrific works of art. If anyone like me has been acquainted with the Minutemen's Double Nickles only, here is a warning: brace yourselves, their previous albums are not on the same par as Doubles. If you don't know who The Minutemen are or where to start, I'd recommend listening at the beginning and seeing how they evolved in a short time. Go on, have a taste, click on The Selector.