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Reverse Reviews: Dead Milkmen, Beelzebubba
DEAD MILKMEN – BEELZEBUBBA
Enigma/Restless (1988)
Most people never really understood Dead Milkmen. And what a wonderful thing that is. Growing up in the American 80s was kind of weird - a polarizing era in which old-fashioned (boring) norms made a comeback - and, for those of us who didn't drink the Kool-Aid, Dead Milkmen were our representatives, our spokespersons. These guys, along with a handful of other groups of the time, rebelled against the status quo in a way that was positive, hopeful, happy-go-lucky, and above all, fun.
Sure, a whole lot of folks didn’t get this band. That’s easily explained: Dead Milkmen came from a place that was everything the mainstream of their era was not. These are the guys that sat in the back of biology class, giggling at deformed pencil drawings of the teacher on their notebooks, shooting spitwads at the chalkboard and making fun of ditzy cheerleaders in short skirts and varsity football jocks in letter jackets. If this was you, then you probably already know this classic record very well. If it wasn’t, then well...well, that's okay. Just keep readin'.
Beelzebubba (1988) is the fourth record by Dead Milkmen. It’s generally considered to be the closest they ever got to the mainstream. “Punk Rock Girl,” their biggest hit ever, was all shiny and pop-romantic and readymade for MTV (which by this time was just passing its zenith of underground respectability...pretty soon afterward, cool videos would start appearing less and less).
Dead Milkmen took a page from the earlier approach of 80s garage outfits like The Minutemen, who originally gave shape to the independent, progressive principles that formed the bedrock for "alternative" rock as we now know it. They also threw in some acid-flashback weirdness a la Pere Ubu and Meat Puppets for added shock value. But, in the end, their music was distinctly their own in every way. In essence, Dead Milkmen crafted effortlessly freakish garage punk rock with lyrics that mocked any and everything under the sun, from rednecks and overbearing parents to shitty jobs and TV. The reality with Dead Milkmen was simple: Either you got their (very) dry, edgy sense of humor and jumped around to their music, or you just didn’t get it at all. They didn’t really have any “sorta” fans...either the lyrics resonated with you and made you smile, or you just couldn't relate.
And the lyrical delivery really was the heart and soul of this band. Lead singer Rodney Anonymous Mellencamp (born Rodney Linderman) is like that guy we knew in high school who always had something derogatory, deadpan and critical to say about everything around him...and yet, he was rarely offbase. BUT (and this is important), this isn't angry, despairing, self-loathing metal or quasi-nihilist stuff. Dead Milkmen were – and remain – infinitely bombastic shit-talkers, spit-ball shooting wise-asses, and deriders of all things “popular” and socially “acceptable.” This awkward little band basically invented geek-rock out of thin air, meshing deep-cutting, Lenny Bruce-style sarcasm with garage punk just when it was most needed.
Beelzebubba is probably the most well-known of the Dead Milkmen records, and it’s most definitely the cleanest and most polished. It’s also where the band seemed to have perfected the balance between garage recklessness and a precision that was just shy of the moderate, mainstream rock of the time. In other words, they finally got paid by making this record (and they deserved every cent), but were nevertheless able to retain their dignity among their devout fans (which is pretty rare).
One more thing: It’s important to remember when this record came out. It was 1988, after all...the year when the American cultural underground was rising to mainstream popularity (American punk would officially gain widespread acceptance just a few years later, for better or worse, with Nirvana's Nevermind). Suffice it to say, the folks in the American independent underground – who weren’t polished, weren’t accepted by popular glamour and teen mega-trends, and who had completely rejected an entire set of popular social norms foisted upon them – were well-represented by Beelzebubba. This was another Dead Milkmen album that expressed alienation and frustration with what they saw as a culture that was unrealistic, vain, ridiculous, petty, and thin on substance...and they did so in slaphappy, symbiotic disharmony.
Dead Milkmen were freaks, and happily so. They stood on a pedestal, shouted their hilarious-yet-so-true message to anyone who’d listen and helped the unaccepted kids of the 80s feel comfortable in their own skin. They are underground legends.
Video for "Punk Rock Girl" by Dead Milkmen.
For fans of: The Minutemen (Double Nickels on the Dime), Dead Kennedys, Dinosaur Jr (Bug), Fugazi (13 Songs), They Might Be Giants, Mission of Burma, Violent Femmes, Talking Heads, Camper Van Beethoven, Ween (The Pod, Pure Guava), Primus (Suck on This, Frizzle Fry, Sailing the Seas of Cheese), The Flaming Lips (In A Priest Driven Ambulance, Hit to Death in the Future Head), Beck (Stereopathetic Soul Manure, Mellow Gold), Tenacious D. Yep, there’s a lot of 'em.
…AND, as you may have heard by now, Dead Milkmen are at last reuniting to play this year’s annual Fun Fun Fun Fest here in downtown Austin at Waterloo Park (November 8-9, 2008), presented by Transmission Entertainment.
Join our email list to get further lineup updates...we’ve got a lot of good stuff in store for you good people, so stay tuned.