Week 5, The Jesus Lizard
Hey Siri, what is the musical polar opposite of last week's post: The Spinners?
The Jesus Lizard
Goat
1991
This one will come as a bit of a surprise to a subsection of my friends. In the late 80s and early 90s I was fortunate enough to work at the best radio station in the world, WRUV. It was a fun time to be in college radio. The first guard of alternative was going mainstream and an explosion of venues, record labels, and 'zines lead to way more experimentation in genres and music. Making their appearance on the scene was techno, rap (in an expanding buffet of sub-genres), industrial, and, of course, grunge.
So here is the true confession time: I never much cared for grunge. At that time of my life I was neither particularly angry nor disaffected with life and I still loved melody, harmony, and clean production values. So while my fellow DJs were enjoying Nirvana, Melvins, Killdozer, I was happily ensconced in ok alt rock (think any band inspired by REM.) When I did venture outside that comfort zone, it was to techno bands like Ministry and Meat Beat Manifesto or political rap like Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions.
So I decided to fill in a gap this week and check out the 1991 release by The Jesus Lizard, Goat. No, not that Jesus Lizard. The Jesus Lizard band was one of the true heroes of the early 90s underground, a band who most of my friends at the time whispered the name of with reverence. And while I admired the musical tastes of my friends it was not my musical taste. So what do I think now?
Jesus Lizard is, and this is neither complimentary nor derogatory, exactly what I expected. They are less musical than visceral: blood, spittle, and sweat. This is not the music of harmonies, extensive technical solos, or even melodies most of the time. But you can imagine the live shows. I imagine a lot of unexpected body contact.
As but one example take Mouth Breather. If one reads the lyrics (and I have decided reading liner notes is not outside the rules I have imposed on myself about not researching the albums I am reviewing. One of the great joys of albums, and a joy (old fogey alert) the kids of today will never experience is plopping a new LP on the turntable and reading the liner notes as you cranked side A. (And was there anything worse than a band that released their inner sleeve as a plain, clear plastic covering rather than actual lyrics and notes?)), one will conclude that Mouth Breather is not...complex.
"I leave my home
I leave for a couple weeks
I leave my home
I leave it in the care of a friend
Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy, I like him just fine
But he's a mouth breather
Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy, I like him just fine
But he's a mouth breather"
Apparently this song is about the drummer of Slint (I learned this while finding the YouTube link so am already violating my rules.) In any case, all I really want to say about this album is that if you want aggressive music about aggressive, perhaps hopelessly stupid people, The Jesus Lizard is definitely for you. I like it more than I should but I still have a preference for harmony. But on those frustrating days, I will definitely be cranking this or this.
This one will come as a bit of a surprise to a subsection of my friends. In the late 80s and early 90s I was fortunate enough to work at the best radio station in the world, WRUV. It was a fun time to be in college radio. The first guard of alternative was going mainstream and an explosion of venues, record labels, and 'zines lead to way more experimentation in genres and music. Making their appearance on the scene was techno, rap (in an expanding buffet of sub-genres), industrial, and, of course, grunge.
So here is the true confession time: I never much cared for grunge. At that time of my life I was neither particularly angry nor disaffected with life and I still loved melody, harmony, and clean production values. So while my fellow DJs were enjoying Nirvana, Melvins, Killdozer, I was happily ensconced in ok alt rock (think any band inspired by REM.) When I did venture outside that comfort zone, it was to techno bands like Ministry and Meat Beat Manifesto or political rap like Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions.
So I decided to fill in a gap this week and check out the 1991 release by The Jesus Lizard, Goat. No, not that Jesus Lizard. The Jesus Lizard band was one of the true heroes of the early 90s underground, a band who most of my friends at the time whispered the name of with reverence. And while I admired the musical tastes of my friends it was not my musical taste. So what do I think now?
Jesus Lizard is, and this is neither complimentary nor derogatory, exactly what I expected. They are less musical than visceral: blood, spittle, and sweat. This is not the music of harmonies, extensive technical solos, or even melodies most of the time. But you can imagine the live shows. I imagine a lot of unexpected body contact.
As but one example take Mouth Breather. If one reads the lyrics (and I have decided reading liner notes is not outside the rules I have imposed on myself about not researching the albums I am reviewing. One of the great joys of albums, and a joy (old fogey alert) the kids of today will never experience is plopping a new LP on the turntable and reading the liner notes as you cranked side A. (And was there anything worse than a band that released their inner sleeve as a plain, clear plastic covering rather than actual lyrics and notes?)), one will conclude that Mouth Breather is not...complex.
"I leave my home
I leave for a couple weeks
I leave my home
I leave it in the care of a friend
Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy, I like him just fine
But he's a mouth breather
Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy, I like him just fine
But he's a mouth breather"
Apparently this song is about the drummer of Slint (I learned this while finding the YouTube link so am already violating my rules.) In any case, all I really want to say about this album is that if you want aggressive music about aggressive, perhaps hopelessly stupid people, The Jesus Lizard is definitely for you. I like it more than I should but I still have a preference for harmony. But on those frustrating days, I will definitely be cranking this or this.
Comments
Post a Comment