WFMU's Brian Turner hipped me to some great videos being hosted by the controversial youtube website last week, including this clip of legendary San Francisco noiseniks Flipper performing the classic dirge from their Generic LP, apparently as seen on some local access TV show. [Download 23 MB .wmv file]
The video was posted by a youtube user calling themselves "Texaspoutine", and whoever they may be, they've got exemplary taste for the audio/visual treats, and I encourage you all to head over to the index of Texaspoutine's other videos if you're a fan of artists like The Mummies, The Victims, Screamers, The Scientists, Spacemen 3, Suicide, and more.
Though it's far from an unusual opinion to be carting around these days, Flipper records meant a whole lot to me when I first discovered them, especially Generic (which, although released in 1982, was still enjoying regular airplay by the time I found out about college radio some years later.) Hell, they've been played 53 times on WFMU just since May of 2001, so that's evidence of some sort of curse or accolade, right?
As an overweight and zit-plagued kid who was eager to sculpt an identity based on almost anything 
my peers hated or didn't know about, I took to songs like "Way of the World" and "Get Away"
(streaming Real Audio) almost immediately. In hindsight, I think they were the first band
whose music felt like real art to me, though my perceptions didn't get anywhere near that lofty until years later. To that end, Flipper has (interestingly) maintained their relevance better than almost any of their contemporaries, simply for being too smart, too weird, and for having too good a sense of self-awareness to fall into the pit of nostalgia. Like many of the best artists, no one really "got" Flipper, knew what they were trying to do, or understood why they kept bothering to do it. Even though they re-formed in the early 90s (sans original bassist Will Shatter, who tragically passed away of a heroin O.D. in 1987) and released a record on Rick Rubin's Def American label, Flipper proved they were still capable of delivering the kind of utterly mental pleasures they'd laid out more than a decade earlier. Witness and compare:
Brainwash (1982) ||||| We Are not Crazy (1993) Real Audio
Not many people really cared about Flipper in 1982, and 11 years didn't make much difference. What can I say, the world ain't a kind place and I doubt you'd hear surviving members Bruce Lose, Ted Falconi, or Steve DePace try to claim otherwise.
Last I heard, the band had reformed once again and recently played a benefit to help save CBGBs -- An effort which failed, as the club is scheduled to have its lease yanked in October. Figures. Flipper still rules, okay?
I love flipper. I can't express how much I love flipper.
Although I find Generic to be extremely overrated. It sounds like the Kids Of Widney High to my ears. Now "Gone Fishin'" is their unsung masterpiece! Vibraphone & saxophones! yowza! A bizarre album.
Flipper was pure nihilsim, but admitting that they were so frail and fucked up...no nyhc macho man pretense.
I'm dying to hear or see anything of the reunion show. I saw some pictures and Bruce Lose sat on a bar stool the whole night with some wires running from some contraption in his front pocket to his back. the perils of being a junkie, I guess.
I have this whole Cable Access Flipper set ripped into two very good looking high quality AVIs, if you're interested. This was Ruth Schwartz's (from Mordam records) show, I believe.
more info & mp3 here:
http://lunefroide.blogspot.com/2006/01/flipper-are-you-really-gonna-show.html
Posted by: fatty jubbo | February 15, 2006 at 05:49 PM
Back in the day, when I was a DJ at Penn State's student radio station (then known as WDFM), I put together a mashup of Flipper's version of "I Know an Old Lady (Who Swallowed a Fly)" with the one I knew as a kid done by Burl Ives, with them trading lines. Wish I still had a copy of that....
Posted by: ralph | February 15, 2006 at 10:31 PM
I saw Flipper at CBGB after having caught them at the Mud Club. At the CB's show, while playing Sex Bomb, they one by one passed off their instruments to audience members until the whole band was standing in front of the stage watching strangers play the song.
And then there was the time Bruce Lose and I got thown out on our faces after an aborted Studio 54 Flipper gig...ask me about it sometime.
Toddd
Posted by: Todd Norlander | February 16, 2006 at 07:26 AM
I second the opinion of of Mr Jubbo - Gone Fishin' is, for me, one of my Holy Grail ebay items. The copy of Fishin' I have, is a digital remaster of a cassette of a vinyl rekkid.
Posted by: mikes | February 16, 2006 at 09:13 AM
Bruce had some sort of electric stimulators attached to him as he is suffering from chronic back pain.
Posted by: Brian Turner | February 16, 2006 at 09:34 AM
Gone Fishin was the turning point for me. Up 'til then, no matter how strange, unusual, or odd anything seemed, "different" just didn't mean the same as it did after hearing that album. Generic is not too shabby either.
Posted by: Art | February 16, 2006 at 11:01 AM
Oh Well - Sure looks like I'll be sitting this bidding round on the sidelines.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Flipper-Gone-Fishin-lp-Original-1st-pressing-RARE_W0QQitemZ4837462446QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
mIKES
Posted by: mikes | February 18, 2006 at 03:31 PM
Flipper is GodHead! Seriously, I think Flipper is one of the most criminally underrated bands in history.
I just came across an FM broadcast from 1981 on dimeadozen.org It's a torrent and well worth downloading.
Listening to it now. Sublime!
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=84016
If you can't get it. Send me an email. I'll be willing to burn a few cpoies.
Posted by: Fernando | March 01, 2006 at 09:37 AM
Flipper is the greatest punk band ever. Signed, sealed, and delivered. No one comes close. Everything they ever released was brilliant. I need to find more of their catalog, though..."Generic" and "Public Flipper Limited" are unbelievable. "Public Flipper" is one of the all-time best live albums ever made - pure drunken genius. Right now I've got the "Public Flipper" version of "Sex Bomb" shredding my speakers...no better way to begin the day. Last thing...Ted Falconi is a terribly underrated guitarist. Actually, I think the entire band as musicians were totally underrated. Even as wasted as they were, keeping the grooves together night after night...that shows a lot to me.
I still don't have "Gone Fishin'," though.
Posted by: Mike | March 20, 2006 at 10:14 AM
One more thing...I should mention that it seems very possible that the full Flipper catalog is going to get reissued soon. Keep your ears open for more information in general. I'm not sure on what label, but from all accounts it might be this year.
Posted by: Mike | March 20, 2006 at 10:25 AM
I'm writing a book about Flipper...so any thoughts kicked my way would be sweet. I only saw them play once back in '91 I think it was, but have always loved them (since first heard in '83).
Generic is a classic, yeah, it's lo-fi but so what?! Gone Fishin' is an absolute terrific album. But my all-time fave is Public Flipper Ltd. Oh yeah,and "In Your Arms" on Blow'n Chunks.
Posted by: Verna | April 21, 2006 at 08:13 PM
Flipper cd's are costing up to 80 USD now, that's fucking bullshit! they need to print their shit again!
Gone fishin is my favourite, i just bought one of the (last?) LP's on eBay.
Posted by: vladimir bourrec from hell | July 17, 2006 at 07:23 PM