CDOTD 1/13/2023

Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime (SST)

Borrowed from the library

Once again, it's great to be able to use the public library to check out this album. It's one of great importance to some of my friends, so I knew I'd get around to listening to it some time. Now that I've listened to it in its entirety, I remember bits and pieces of it. 

Much has been made this (here comes the cliché) sprawling statement, 43 tracks on a double LP originally, no tracks exceeding three minutes in length. Ideas are direct, get in and get out.

Is Minutemen a punk rock band? I suppose it's a question of how broadly or narrowly you define the genre. If one thinks of the archetypical punk rock groups (Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Clash), Minutemen doesn't musically have much in common with those groups except for compactness. They all tend to stay lean, the instrumentation simple, a general lack of guitar or drum solos. Minutemen definitely takes those ideas to the extreme. 

While I wouldn't define Minutemen as a cross-genre band, it's clear to me that they have a collective listening history. While this is all rock music, there are hints of folk, jazz, and funk along the way. Mike Watt can be pretty funky sometimes. In this respect, they have more in common with The Clash than the Pistols or Ramones. They sound nothing like The Clash, but there's a mutual interest in expanding beyond three chord rock and roll.

I was never much of a straight forward punk rock fan. The groups I liked were post-punk, or at least took the punk aesthetic and pushed it a different direction. The first Joy Division record was very important to me. I still enjoy it, but I now hear how primitive they were. It didn't and doesn't matter though, because I love the atmosphere they create. I also think the first two Gang of Four albums are generally great.

What an ambition, to record this many songs for a double LP. I admire that. How do they remember them all? My guess is that this was recorded very fast and cheaply. The production is a little rough, but it would be out of character to have this sound too slick. Such a burst of ideas and creativity, it's almost like they couldn't contain it. 

There's something else that distinguishes Minutemen from the previously mentioned groups. They sound relatively sunny to me. They aren't brooding shoegazers. It's all very lively. "Happy" would not be the right descriptor though, there's plenty of dry wit and sardonic humor abound here. Take for example, "Political Song For Michael Jackson to Sing", "There Ain't Shit on T.V. Tonight" or "Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth?" 

Either Minutemen was not punk rock but something else, or it's a band that helped define what punk rock could be. I know ultimately it's all labels. Shut up and enjoy the music. It's worth the time.

Our band could be your life!