Steve Reynolds Program - Hate The Police
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A dad joke thing I’ve done forever is if someone wants my attention and says “hey, Wampus,” I say “Hey! How are ya!” Like they were saying hi, Wampus instead of I need your attention, you dork. Try it. It’s fun!
Lots going on in the world but I just want to talk about the news Netflix is ending their DVD subscription service. It seems like an inevitable development with the proliferation of streaming services. This WaPo article points out one drastic downside to this news (though they don’t mention Netflix’s DVD selection has become smalller and smaller over the years). In fact, I have the DVD of John Woo’s Hard Boiled at home right now because it never streams. And it looks like the number of titles streaming will become even more limited.
My guess is Netflix did some cold analysis and saw a small number of titles, driven by traditional media and social media coverage, bring in a majority of subscribers and it’s not worth the money to offer everything. I’m hoping there is a reaction to the flaws of streaming services like the vinyl resurgence in the music industry. DVDs with special features getting the proper respect they deserve. In fact, just to commemorate the sad news, I’m going to watch Excalibur with director John Boorman’s commentary tonight. Can’t stream that, can you?
Song #32
Hate The Police
by Mudhoney
I have a totally subjective idea of songs I think are perfectly produced (engineered?). Songs to me that are eternally fresh-sounding and somehow filled with life. I count “Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin and “It’s Your Thing” by The Isley Brothers as prime examples of what I like. Also, Mudhoney’s songs in their first years hit that perfect mix of all instruments with no effects that instantly date them.
Jack Endino, “godfather of grunge,” produced Soundgarden’s EP and Nirvana’s Bleach so you have an idea what his skill set is. Still, there was an alchemy to his work with Mudhoney. The band named after a Russ Meyer movie, never that serious, and who came blazing out of the Sub Pop gate, got lucky to have Endino at the knobs.
Still, Mudhoney’s albums are a series of diminishing returns, even the ones with Endino back at the board.. Their song/video released just two weeks ago, “Little Dogs,” is terrible. I made it thirty seconds in before I turned it off. The band is now a part-time endeavor, a seasonal salary augmentation for them now. To supplement their real jobs. And that’s fine. If they came around this way I’d still see them.
Oh, but when they started! Mudhoney was the soundtrack for college. Mark Arm’s growl and Dan Peters, one of the best rock drummers I tell you what, combined with the fuzzed out guitars of Steve Turner, Arm and bass of Matt Lukin made a glorious sound, familiar but new. It heralded the time grunge seemed to be a statement, instead of a bandwagon.
The epitome of what made Mudhoney a joy is found on their cover of “Dicks Hate The Police” by The Dicks (title shortened on Mudhoney release). The original from 1980 is Texas punk with a twist, sung from the point of a policeman killing minorities because he’s having a bad day (some things don’t change). Gary Floyd, Dicks singer, was an out man who witnessed police abuse and harassment firsthand. He boils down the danger of state power with a first person perspective and using the language of the oppressor along with the language of family. It’s rough and effective.
Mudhoney took that burst of punk and put their sound and musical chops on it. The guitar fuzz is perfect, the drumming relentlessly intense and this could be Mark Arm’s best vocals on record. His yelps and growls are for the ages. The inspired choice to make his “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” at first a capella tips you off that this, the voice of the too-skinny singer, is being showcased.
Mark Arm tweaks the original lyrics (though he leaves the problematic word) and has the second best* substitute of the word Mudhoney in a song, though “Down in them desert lands/Mudhoney was hatched” seems an odd metaphor seeing they’re from the rainy northwest. But he gets the point across: rock is a reaction against a screwed-up system and a scream feels just right.
*Best sub was in Nirvana’s cover of the dumbest KISS song (and that’s saying something) “Do You Love Me?” when they say Mudhoney instead of “money, honey.”
other stuff
This issue’s Song I’m Mad I Forgot To Put On The List is “Goats And The Me Who Ride Them” by Lubricated Goat. The now-Mudhoney bassist was in the Australian weirdo group and it made me remember this jam. And that’s no typo; it’s “me.”