7. Flipper‘Brainwash’
The Butthole Surfers were immensely important in the shaping of my musical conscience. Their music and the way they presented it was so artistic and beyond the punkiness of their contemporaries. I sort of, kind of, put Flipper in the same folder as the Buttholes. Art punk. When Flipper’s ‘Sex Bomb/Brainwash’ single came out in 1981, I was flabbergasted. ‘Brainwash’ starts with a simple perky bass vamp that scoots along real nice and there is indistinct yelling and muttering way in the background. The vocals come in all mumbly and go, “Blah blah blah… never mind, forget it, you wouldn’t understand anyway” and the song stumbles to a halt. A moment later the exact same recording starts again and when it finishes a moment later the exact same recording starts again and so on and so on. This happens, I believe, 13 times. At the end of the last time there is a “locked groove” in the vinyl which makes a continuous loop that repeats, “forget it, you wouldn’t understand anyway” for eternity. Or until you lift the needle, or the power goes out, or someone unplugs the stereo or… No one has ever done anything like that before or since (that I know of). I remember telling my friends at the time that Brainwash was the most significant recording since Abbey Road!
