Suburban Mutilation - The Opera Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Lady Sings


Suburban Mutilation was a first-wave Hardcore Punk band from Wisconsin. They only put out a handful of demos and 1 LP in their 4 years of existence, let's check it out. 

Hardcore Punk is basically about being fed up with pretty much everything. Politics, society, existing Punk/New Wave, consistently stating the RPM speed in multiple places, you name it. What are you rebelling against? What have you got? Some bands developed into actual cults, some scenes were more full of violent posers than the trendy posers they were rebelling against. Jello Biafra and Henry Rollins are kind of the Ben & Jerry of the whole thing, though those rokes might be reversed. 

Always keep in mind, musical ability is not in any way a prerequisite for playing Hardcore Punk. The joke is something like "these guys are so horrible they make Suburban Mutilation sound like Pavarotti." So long as the noises you make are fast, loud, and angry, you're doing an acceptable job. These guys don't like nazis, klansmen, or Republicans, and seem to imply those are all pretty much the same thing. I know you thought that was a brand new thing we invented in 2018, but we're listening to the teenagers i looked up to as a little kid and I'll be a 43 year old grown ass man in a month. It ain't a new problem. 

Oh my colostomy bag, this is fantastic. If your ears aren't bleeding then you're doing it wrong. I think you need the actual caveat from Farmers to really get it. 

"NOTE: this song ain't putting down actual farmers, i.e., those who farm, but around here "farmer" is a blanket term for big, dumb, ignorant, violent, redneck macho assholes... we just don't want any suburban types to like this song cuz they think it's putting down uncultured Agrarians, and we don't want any actual farmers who are goroovin' 2 this disc 2 be bummed out. KO???" 

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there. 

Also, you remember when everyone went all crazy for Jack White's excursion into circuit bending on Icky Thump? These guys made normal guitars sound like that in the early 80s by merely attempting to play them. 

Look, i mean, there's not really any other way to say it, The Opera Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Lady Sings is an amazing album. It sounds atrocious, which is a very good thing when it's supposed to, it makes fun of things that need to be ridiculed, and seriously examines the tragic nature of conformity with the sophistication and aplomb of Cookie Monster accepting that cookies are best kept as a "sometimes food." If thumbs were an appropriate rating system, both of mine would be up, but i think we all know the more appropriate signal of appreciation would be a pair of middle fingers raised high. Gentlemen, salut. The metaphorical fat lady has sung. 

P.S. It plays at 45 RPM, regardless of how much whiskey Howard uses to thin down the mix. Down Periscope. I'll be in my quarters, don't hesitate to not need me for anything.

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