Friday, September 17, 2010

The Dead Milkmen: Smokin' Banana Peels


Thanks to Doug K for the guest post:

The Dead Milkmen. What the hell kind of a name is that? Milkmen are anachronistic at best and dead? How many milkmen typically gather in a group to do their long since unnecessary jobs at which they have now turned up deceased? Who kills the milkman?

Ha ha. I’ve needlessly attempted to deconstruct the name of an semi-obscure punk band in order to entertain you. This is what Joe Jack Talcum and the boys do relentlessly up one side of half-assed slacker anthems and down the other side of stand up comedy routines featuring Joe Jack’s chiming, charming, almost apologetic guitar. He floats around the recordings like an elderly matron checking on each of her ballroom guests to make sure the decorations are exciting enough. Oh and he kinda sings.

Back in the mid eighties when music had to be purchased from reputable vendors I came across a brightly colored record album with the name of the band spelled out in playdough. I bought it immediately what with my cutting edge rock and roll sensibilities screaming the next big thing although it was more the playdough and the ridiculous teenage pot habit that brought me into Scotty’s World. Damn near cried when I heard that song. Here we’d been trying to make friends with the badger, dancing to anything down at Tacoland and spreading out disembowelment towels for the atomic Fern’s blood orgy and now their singing about the newly hairless dog and his many intravenous tubes. It was like Old Yeller for the disenfranchised. And me I guess being middle class and literate and all. But damn, the freakin’ dog dies! How’s that for a kick in your jaded punk ass.

I never forgot the emotional damage that album Bucky Fellini ( change the first letters around) ha ha ah. Good times but then I found myself in the reputable shop again only this time it was the ultimate and final word in formats the cassette tapes I was perusing. The newest Dead Milkmen offering jumped up and spit right in my wishing I was more stoned lightly bearded face. Big Lizard in My Backyard. And there was a picture of a big green lizard and a yellow background that just really tied the picture together. I’ve got to buy this product I screamed internally and then did so. Listening to the cassette was not nearly as funny as I thought it would be. But I’m all messed up on cough syrup now so just like , nevermind. en mmore




Smokin' Banana Peels e.p. link is in the comments

Speaking of comments, tell us what your take on these Dead Milkmen is and whether or not you want to hear more of the rare stuff.


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16 comments:

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    LEAVE US A BITCHIN' COMMENT, MAN.






    http://www.mediafire.com/?i4tpkiax349j4al

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  2. Great post. I saw the Dead Milkman at a festival in a livestock pasture in Southern Alberta, waaaaay back in 1992. Great show and reminds me of my cousin who overheard somewhere that smoking banana peelings gets you totally ripped. He almost coughed his lungs out and got sick to his stomach after smoking a few "joints". He never did that again and did not want anyone to know about this. Until now.

    It is hard to come across Dead Milkman music. Thanks for sharing this.

    Will

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  3. I have a similar story to Will's, but it starts with smoking cajun peanut shells and ends with vomiting into a trash can. Grat post, man. Thanks.

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  4. My fondest memory of Bucky has to be the set up for the line "blow it out your hair-do 'cause you work at Hardees!"

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  5. Just last week I asked a friend of mine if his copy of this CD had survived a house fire where he lost a bunch of his music collection, and he said, "Yes, thank God." Amen! I've been on a DM listening kick for the past few weeks and wanted to hear this one again, so it's a happy coincidence for me that you posted it, since my friend lives a thousand miles away and I won't see his copy until my next visit. My friend and I both loved "Big Lizard" when it came out, and I think I bought either the CD or vinyl of nearly every album that came out after that. A lot of it still sounds great to me.

    Regarding those comments above, my friend and I and another buddy had one very desperate night when we were teenagers where we tried smoking instant coffee crystals. I'm LOL right now at the memory of how incredibly stupid and bored we were back then. Let me tell you, that stuff gave me the worst headache I ever had in my life!

    I'm all messed up on cough syrup now, so just, like, nevermind.

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  6. mice are living in MY eyelashes...

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  7. On behalf of Doug thanks for all your comments, they all made me laugh, which is not always the case in the comment department.

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  8. I discovered this album and the If I Had a Gun Ep around the same time at the age 13 or so in 97. I really wish I'd been able to see them live. It's great you're posting this - I hope a lot of curious ppl give it a whirl. PS: Do you remember the Punk Rock Girl paper doll they used to have on their early website? I used to color and cut those out and give them to friends.

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  9. Janell
    I do not remember those dolls but it fits with that great sense of whimsy the band always had.

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  10. Dead Milkmen rarities!?!? I have been searching for the last couple of years for a rip of their 1986
    "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance To Anything)" on the Reckless label complete with various mixes.

    Living in the UK there is little chance I will come across it so if anyone has a decent rip of it that would be splendid!

    The lyrics to the track are just so hilarious and spot-on....

    young teen pseudo-drug stories....I remember been 13 years old on a schooltrip to Paris and getting told if you crushed asprin with red wine you would have an unforgettable experience..which was true, I spent the whole night uncontrollably vomiting up the walls and all over the sheets...I remember we had a trip somewhere early in the morning so I had to leave my vomit caked room for the cleaners and coming back in the evening I was expecting to get thrown out but bless the cleaners, it was spotless when I returned and they never said a word! Bless those French cleaners and curse the asshole who mentioned mixing asprin and cheap red wine!

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  11. Thank you, brings back memories. August 1991 I bought a car in Minneapolis for $175 and with a pal drove two gorgeous classmates to college in Flagstaff Arizona. In Iowa someone stole my suitcase of cassettes and this was on one side of the cassette in the deck, the only soundtrack to a trip I'll never forget!

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  12. TSP
    I will get around to some more DM someday.

    Till then the red-wine-and-asprin story will haunt me!

    mwothe
    That sounds like the story-line to a Hangover sequel!

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  13. holy hell i've been looking for this for ages! THANKS!

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  14. Thanks for this post. DM was the first live concert I ever went to. 1989/90 Speedway Cafe in Salt Lake City Utah. I was twelve years old.
    I remember seeing DM on 120 minutes and they performed the puking song live. I thought it was the best thing ever. I was 12.

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  15. Is there any possibility for a re-up? I had the vinyl while growing up in Philadelphia and lost it since. Zippyshare.com is a great storage site as 1. no membership required, 2. no download speed caps, 3. parallel dl's allowed, etc. Thanks so much!

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  16. "MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority."

    On second thought, fuck you. Don't act like such a snob with music that you illegally got then posted. You're not god, it's not even yours in the first place. And a re-up takes like what, 10 seconds, as you already have the rar from the first upload. I upload hundred's of albums a month, and if one gets taken down, a re-up request is all I'm looking for; I don't need the proverbial dick sucking. Sheesh.

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