Minutemen was a San Pedro CA-based punk band from 1980 to 1985. They were one of the first bands signed to the SST Records label (I believe they were the second band ever signed, after Black Flag). Their brand of punk music was predicated on brevity—between their four LPs and eight EPs you can count on one hand how many songs exceeded the three minute mark. They were a three-man band that was one of the most integral bands of the ’80′s, both in terms of the ’80′s in general and in terms of their influence and reach to bands that formed afterward.
They permanently disbanded in 1985 after the sudden death of lead singer/guitarist/songwriter D. Boon in a freak bus accident during R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant tour (they were an opening act). To most casual music fans, the name Minutemen has little if any meaning; they had no #1 singles and it is fair to assume that the casual music fan doesn’t know any Minutemen songs or albums by name. But even if you think you’ve never heard a Minutemen song, you have: if you’ve seen the beginning of a Jackass episode (or one of the movies), the theme song for the show and movies is “Corona,” a song off of the band’s 45-track magnum opus Double Nickels on the Dime. (Note: the original vinyl incarnation of Double Nickels had 45 tracks; the version that is sold now has 43 tracks.)
If “Corona” is the only song you have heard from the band it is adequately emblematic of Minutemen’s sound, especially their more straight-up flavor of punk rock. It is a song that has a wild catchiness befitting of blaring it through your car’s speakers, or blaring it at a party after everyone is nicely toasted (yet still has enough energy to jump around at a moment’s notice and laugh and bang into one another). “Corona” is the perfect song for Jackass to use; it’s an unabashed guy song, right down to its final inside joke-sounding lyric “I only had a Corona/Five cents deposit.”
I use the word “adequately” in the previous paragraph because Minutemen were tinkerers and experimenters on a level rarely seen before they formed and since they departed. Bands and artists who rattle off a laundry list of disparate influences come and go but Minutemen backed it up to balls-out effect. To be sure, their canvas with which to experiment might have been helped by the fact that their songs were so short—which could definitely equate to an easier ability to produce a bountiful garden of odd delights. But the fact is they did back it up. Math rock? Check (“If Reagan Played Disco”). Jazz progressions? Why not (“Split Red”). Captain Beefheart? Of course (“The Toe Jam”). Avant garde? Yes (“You Need the Glory”). Throw shit in a musical blender and see what happens? Why wouldn’t you do that? (“Take 5, D.”) An instrumental acoustic song? Check (“Cohesion”). Traditionally structured punk songs with politically charged lyrics? Yes, a thousand times yes (“Working Men Are Pissed”). And this doesn’t fully convey how they incorporated their tastes and influences into their music. Minutemen were in a league of their own in terms of diversity of music catalog. To listen to all of their songs chronologically from start to finish is to live inside an auditory emulation of ADHD—and I mean that in the best possible way.
So, which song from this wide and diverse catalog is the best at summing up the significance of Minutemen? In all honesty you could probably throw a dart at the track listing of Double Nickels on the Dime and whatever you hit would work. That album is staggering in its genius, the musical equivalent of sifting through Picasso’s sketch book; even the raw and bizarre tracks are filled with a creativity that leave an impression on you. But the song that I think best encapsulates the energy, the unique flavor of punk, and the fuck off intensity (all wrapped up into the sub-minute length that Minutemen was known for) is “Please Don’t Be Gentle with Me.”
In forty seven seconds “Please Don’t Be Gentle with Me” has more raw power than any song The Red Hot Chili Peppers has ever produced (Mike Watt blows the more recognizable Flea away) and more energy than most punk songs in general that have ever been produced. This song is an appropriate totem of D. Boon’s booming, working class vocals and outstanding guitar work, the aforementioned Mike Watt’s superior bass-playing ability, and George Hurley’s foundational beating of a drum kit. This song is so perfect, so raucous, so indie polished that it seems unfair that it only lasts for a little longer than forty seconds.
But then again—aside from incendiary, inciting lyrics and frightening appearances—what is more punk than the notion of defying the audience’s expectations? You want songs that are three minutes long? Fuck that, we’ll give you a minute. If you’re lucky. Or, conversely, you could look at “Please Don’t Be Gentle with Me”—and most of Minutemen’s catalog—as rock foreplay. Either way, this is one of the best songs from one of the greatest bands of the ’80′s.
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