Sex Bomb, Baby

Last night I went to a party where Flipper played, which seems pretty hotsy-totsy to me, but it turns out no one under 40 even knows who Flipper is. I discovered this a couple of years ago, when I was out at WFMU during Pseu Braun’s Marathon show. I was sitting at a big, round table stuffing envelopes with a few FMU staff members and volunteers when Pseu put on “Sex Bomb.” “This is a great song!” someone said. “Yeah,” I chimed in, “You can’t beat Flipper.” “Wait! You know who this is?” someone else asked. I thought they were kidding, or just making fun of my general inability to ever remember the names of bands I like, but no—NO ONE—at that table had ever heard of Flipper before. Gol-durned whippersnappers! It was the first time I ever felt old.

Before the party last night I went to the premiere of the movie “American Hardcore,” which is an excellent documentary about the 1980s punk music scene. The crowd was pretty interesting—there was a guy who looked like someone had hit him in the forehead with a ballpeen hammer, but it turned out he’d trepanned himself, and a girl in a slinky, floor-length, red gown—because she was at a movie premiere—and Moby. Dr. Know and HR from the Bad Brains were there, and Steve Buscemi, and WFMU Program Director Brian, and my husband, Sluggo, who’s in the film. But mostly the crowd was old. The screening was put together by Paper magazine, and apparently all the old hardcore folks went to the movie and all the young hipsters went to the afterparty.

Those kids missed a really good film—it’s well-balanced, funny, and thorough, and covers the entire punk scene across the U.S. (and in Canada!), not just in L.A. and New York. Thanks to historical hindsight, the Bad Brains are given their due as being perhaps the most influential band on the scene. I knew PMA stood for “Positive Mental Attitude,” but until I saw “American Hardcore” I had no idea that the concept came from Napoleon Hill’s self-help classic, “Think and Grow Rich.” I also didn’t know that the Beastie Boys chose their name because the “BB” was like a little homage to the Bad Brains. (The Beastie Boys are mentioned just once in the film, accompanied by the image of an original flyer for one of their shows. Just so you know, that flyer was drawn by David Waid, who is now executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party.) And I learned about Nig Heist, my new favorite band! Of course, the film’s soundtrack is spectacular. My only problem with “American Hardcore” is that they spelled Sean Taggart’s name wrong. It’s T-a-g-g-A-r-t, the last syllable spelled “art,” as in artist, and I don’t know why no one can ever get that right. It was spelled wrong in the credits, too—so annoying! But otherwise, it’s a terrific documentary and I recommend it very highly.

Eventually Sluggo and I shuffled over to the afterparty with some of the other codgers, and we saw Flipper play, and Moby jammed with them and played bass on “Sex Bomb.” Those Flipper guys are old, too, but they still rock.

Thanks for reading my blog post this time, and may God bless.

Comments

[Robert]

Our generation's proud cultural legacy...Huh. Still got that 1st generation Flipper T-shirt and the list of Flipper's Rules I used to hang on the wall of my freshman dorm...Sadly my kids have never gotten into my carefully maintained stack of college radio hardcore show casettes...Somehow I thought they would...and I'd be the coolest dad ever...

[Popess Lilith von Fraumench]

Hey, I know who Flipper is, and I'm under 40.

OK, just BARELY--I'm 36. Yeesh. KIDS...! Sure, they'll go around wearing Subhumans patches and Germs blue circles and DK logos, but how many of them actually listen to those bands nowadays?

It's not so much that they MUST listen to those bands in order to be punk--but how can you understand what a vital subculture Punk was unless you are at least somewhat familiar with the weird, chaotic bands that existed before hardcore-by-numbers became popular?

[JT]

Flipper!

One of the few of the early hardcore bands who staggered on long enough for my sorry born-in-69-and-stuck-nowhere ass to go see. Saw'em at the ME Cafe in Cambridge, MA in the early 90s on an early "last" tour. Got to yell the last "sex bomb baby" into the mike\ and remember it to this day.

FLIPPER!

Don't get me started about the kids.

[craig]

huh - i never get invited to the good parties. and i missed the cb show due to a nasty flu infection (which is ok, since then i lost my conflict about loving flipper, yet H A T I N G reunions full of boring 40+ old fucks. like me).

welcome to the world of nig-heist love. you will lose MANY friends and acquaintances over this love, but fear not: you don't need those people.

the BEST concert review i ever read was by don howland, reviewing a nigheist show in detroit; at one point, an offended punker gets up onstage, grabs the mic and yells "my mother is a lesbian, my father lives in another city and i don't care so FUCK YOU!"

that about sums life up.

[M.G.]

Thank God-Whoever that i am not alone anymore in this world.

At 34 y.o., i feel like a total fucking misfit but, hey, i know who Flipper is.

Kids? What the fuck are those posing-kung-fu-style chops in the pit? What the heck is that windmill-lookalike-stance? Trying to knock 5 drunk-stoned kids at once?

Does someone has a rationnal explanation for this?

[Steve PMX]

Are you serious about the guy trepanning himself???? That shit's crazy. It does NOT get much more hardcore than self-trepanation. This guy Christopher Horrell published a DIY instructional guide for trepanning one's self (aka DRILLING A HOLE in your own head) - check it: http://horrell.ca/stfd/

And for the record, Bad Brains is one of the greatest bands of all time. Being from DC, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Fugazi and all the rest have played an enormous part in my growing up. Unfortunately "punk rock" kids today generally don't have a clue about these bands that really paved the way for anyone claiming to be punk today in America.

(And no, I don't consider Green Day punk.)

Great post!

[rj]

Im 28 and I know Flipper. Mostly cause Kurt Cobain shilled for them pretty hard. (He wore that t-shirt in several photo shoots and mentioned them in interviews.)

You wanna really feel sad for the kids, I downloaded something the other day labeled "rare nirvana track - half the man i used to be". Never heard of that one. "Rare" tracks are usually crap, but I couldn't help myself. It was Stone Temple Pilots "Creep"! That's only 10 years later!

[Ian]

It's funny that you posted this today, Bronwyn. I purposefully wanted to close out my DJ shift (over at WVFS in Tallahassee, Florida) yesterday with some Flipper, and the last song I played before signing off was "Life is Cheap".

I don't turn 20 until next month, by the way. Myth dispelled, and I didn't even learn about them from Nirvana. (I blame WFMU for exposing me to Flipper, actually.)

[Dan Owen]

Don't be too quick to write off this generation. I'm 25 and know who flipper was, and with new, young bands like pissed jeans and the new flesh making (small, very small) waves out there, there are some "hardcore-purists" out there trying to erase the legacy of Victory Records and the emergence of "metalcore" and "emo" as legitimate offshoots of hc.

[DanO]

does anyone else remember when Venus Recods was on 8th street and they actually constructed the little van from the "Gone Fishin" album art diagrams.
they had it placed on top of the register.

i always think about that little Flipper van whenever i hear their songs.

[zoe]

*but no—NO ONE—at that table had ever heard of Flipper before*

NOT TRUE. I was there, and I've heard of Flipper!

[bartelby]

I always got the feeling I arrived on the hardcore scene after it had past its prime. I guess it was around the time the Bad Brains could no longer play at CBGBs. From the start I felt a little uncomfortable with "antiposerism" as a guiding philospophy. I must have missed out on the stone age medical procedure craze and honestly, by comparison to boring a hole in one's head, my little failed experiment with the Ben Gay now seems several orders of magnitude less embarrassing.

[TJ]

Flipper.....

"What is there to do?” she said, and he said, "come on baby and I'll show you a good time" and they went on down to some cheap motel and got all gushy and wet, and I say..........

Maxwell’s circa 1984 +/-, at the ripe age of 23 +/-, one weeknight I drug a few buddies along to the show. The show was loud and clear, we could stand wherever we wanted, as it was not very crowded, the band seemed to be having a really great time. Afterwards they just came over to the bar and hung out, we drank with them for quite awhile, talking about NJ and CA, dirt bikes, girls, drugs, music, fast cars… all the stuff that really matters at 23… While talking the lead singer, being bombed, just falls down, you know in that kinda legs just give out/ pass out falling look?? As he descends to the beer splattered Maxwell floor, he whacks his head on the bar stool foot hoop, and just lays there for what seemed like five minutes or so.... probably knock himself out cold.

Remember the album liner artwork??? You know I still have that album, and heck I still use that flipper fish logo on my jeep, I tell people it’s to take me where no man has fished before......
The liner art work read; "I killed Flipper for a tuna fish sandwitch" (yes that is the way they spelled it) You know I thought for the longest time that this was just some wise ass punk thing to say...until about ten years ago whilst making a tuna fish sandwitch, I read the label on the can...."dolphin free tuna".... hmm, they were really talking about the commercial fishing business's common practice of netting up every living creature as the trolled for tuna, some or most of which ended up in your can of so called tuna, and yes, sometimes even Flipper's relatives.....
Dun, dun dun dun Dun, Dun dun dun dun dun Dun, DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN...

PS: Bronwyn, I think you played them pretty frequently on “The Truck Stop Tea Party” as I do recall…..

Tony

[esoterroriffik]

I'm 26 and I know who Fipper is. I was 13 going through the cut out bin at a mall record shop and I bought two cassettes, Gang Green's "Older Budweiser" and Flipper's "Sex Bomb". They were both awesome, but Flipper wowed me. Not long after that I got a white t-shirt and dipped a fish in red ink and stamped the shirt. I put some x's for eyes and with a black marker wrote Flipper above the fish. That got me some serious punk points with old schoolers. About 6 months ago I was working the bar with my manager whose 39 still surfing/skating playing in a punk band type when I popped in Flipper in the cd player. "You know who flipper is?" he asked. After that we listened to Dicks, the judy's, dag nasty and the Big Boys.
So I'm 26 and like sex pistols, ramones, black flag, and germs- Flipper was one of those bands that got me into the scene at young age, and no it had nothing to do with Kurt's shirt.

[jon raasch]

im 24 and i love flipper.

what?

[eric o]

matt muscle (mangina insane frontman) has a HUGE flipper fish tattoo on his belly and he's not hitting 30 anytime soon.

his rob halford portrait on his ass is a bit more impressive, really, but yeah he loves his FLIPPER.

and TRUE SONS OF THUNDER somehow approximate some flipper moves, sure we cover 'em (sacrifice and get away, occasionally), but the bruise-iness seems kinda innate. check us out, if we live that long.

[sex shop]

That's cool that you have a flipper shirt i have never seen one i used to watch that as a kid myself.

[Sylvain]

Hey eveybody
Does anyone know where I could find the teeshirt of Flipper as there is at the beginning of that page ?
Thanks !
Sylvain.

[claytor]

my best lesbian friend who lives in portland likes flipper and she's 25-ish... i gave her a copy of flipper's 45 "hahaha" b/w "love canal"... unless she's lying it's a prized possession.

i've seen them live a few times. i think 'generic flipper' is one of the best records of all time... i'm 43 btw...

[rhizome]

I first saw them at CB's in '83 with the unjustifiably obscure Live Skull. Saw them plenty of times after I moved to S.F., starting w/ a show at the Farm, at the beginning of which Bruce tossed diapers into the crowd, each containing a nugget from his tot- a whole garbage bag of diapers tossed out one by one. The cops showed up at the end because people were setting off fireworks indoors. Poo-poo at the start of the show, po-po at the end. The nadir was in the early '90s- they played with 2 other bands at the Stone on Broadway. At no point during the show was there more than 8 people in the audience. I can not tell you how long it's been since I've been to a show at which anything real was at risk; you never knew what to expect when you went to see Flipper. It was like getting on a rickety ride at a County Fair, a ride maybe with a bunch of bolts missing, assembled in the rain the day before by a guy w/ a crushing hangover.