Double Nickels on the Dime

Tracks:

D.'S Car Jam/Anxious Mo-Fo
Theatre Is The Life Of You
Viet Nam
Cohesion
It's Expected I'm Gone
# 1 Hit Song
Two Beads At The End
Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Truth?
Don't Look Now
Shit From An Old Notebook
Nature Without Man
One Reporter's Opinion
Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing
Maybe Partying Will Help
Toadies
Retreat
The Big Foist
God Bows To Math
Corona
The Glory Of Man
Take 5, D.
My Heart And The Real World
History Lesson - Part II
You Need The Glory
The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts
West Germany
The Politics Of Time
Themselves
Please Don't Be Gentle With Me
Nothing Indeed
No Exchange
There Ain't Shit On T.V. Tonight
This Ain't No Picnic
Spillage
Untitled Song For Latin America
Jesus And Tequila
June 16th
Storm In My House
Martin's Story
Dr Wu
The World According To Nouns
Love Dance
Three Car Jam

Amazon.com

Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime is a masterwork of American indie rock, a sprawling, 42-song explosion of terse, revolutionary rock & roll. Rifling through a kind of lurching punk-funk, this San Pedro, California, trio poses philosophical questions, mocks love-song clichés and Michael Jackson, covers CCR and Van Halen, and gets drunk on "Jesus and Tequila"--all of it brought to life by the jazzy, popping bass of Mike Watt; the rifle-shot fills of drummer George Hurley, and the staccato guitar and impassioned cries of the late D. Boon, whose voice will forever insist: "No hope? See, that's what gives me guts." --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating and fun.......2007-03-09

I was inspired to look back to this amazing release by the book Our Band Could Be Your Life, and I wasn't disappointed. I only had a vague recollection of the Minutemen from the 80s so I wasn't quite sure what was in store, but even a typically tinny SST production job can't mask the raw creativity, energy and excitement over the course of an almost ridiculous 43(!) tunes.

Sometimes I forget.......2006-11-15

the confusion that this thing caused. I quibbled about this snippet or that fragment's length or theme or placement and then always eventually realized that good albums have been made of just one of these ideas. Wow. I just listened for the first time in a few years and my confusion has been renewed. How did they do it?

Essential album. Lame reissue!.......2006-08-02

I rank Double Nickels on the Dime in the top ten albums released in the 80's. I am very glad I held onto my vinyl because for reasons I can't fathom, three songs on the original release are not on this reissue, which is why I am not giving it the five stars this album deserves.

Minutemen really were not like any other band, so it's hard to compare them to anyone. This album is generally, and rightfully, considered the band's masterpiece - this is their best synthesis of funk, punk, noise, folk, rock, and whatever else crossed their fertile minds during the feverish recording of this 46-song double (vinyl anyway) album.

Volumes have been written about this one already and mostly it's all correct - as long as the writers agree that this is truly one of the greatest albums ever. It's like ten careers' worth of ideas are crammed into just short of 80 minutes of the most fascinating rock music ever created.

So what is the deal with the missing tracks? I won't lie to you - if you see this album in some vinyl bin, grab it because all three of these songs are as good as several relatively weaker songs that are on the reissue:

"Mr. Robot's Holy Orders (Hurley/Watt)" - this was track 3, side 3 ("side george" - the inner clear part of the vinyl has "DANCE MUSIC IS THE NEW PASTURE" etched into it). This is a great funky song that deserves to be here far more than, say, the god-awful cover version of Doctor Wu (the one song on this album I don't like). But the exclusion of this track is nowhere near as egregious as the absence of ...

"Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" - (Van Halen) - The Amazon review above alludes to the fact that in its original form, this album featured a hysterical cover of the Van Halen classic - and this is the version to have. The one on "Tour Speil" pales by comparison. They bashed out a 38-second version of it which was originally on side 4 (untitled - "CHUMP ROCK IS THE NEW COOL"), and it kills me that they left it off this reissue!!! The song is 38 seconds long! There is plenty of room on the CD for it, and "Mr Robot's Holy Orders" too for that matter. (total running time of this album: 74:50 - ATBL would have been no problem at all) It can't be a copyright issue - their other version of the same song is available on Project Mersh Vol. 3. What gives???

"Little Man With A Gun In His Hand" - a better sounding version, because the bass is much fuller sounding than the still great version on Buzz or Howl. Plus, this version has a real ending.

The senseless excission of great songs is the only gripe I have with what is still an album for the ages.

By the way, side 1 was "side d." - "ARENA ROCK IS THE NEW WAVE" and side 2 was "side watt" - "PUNK ROCK IS THE NEW NOSTALGIA".

Buy this album. Make a gift of it to anyone who calls him/herself open-minded. But keep your eyes open for the vinyl version.

Worth so much more than nickels and dimes.......2006-07-19

If the show Jackass ever did anything worth admiring, it was choosing "Corona" by Minutemen as its theme. At two and a half minutes, it's one of the longer tracks on this nearly 45 track album. It's also one of the more conventional punk anthem's they've done, considering how far the horizons stretch when it comes to this band and being creative.

Not to sound pretentious, but Minutemen are someone I admire because they seem like me. That is, they seem to get awfully bored, really quickly. That may just be an allusion created by this bands short and brilliant bursts. Tracks like "Cohesion" are an example--here, in between these polka-influenced punk songs, we get an arpeggiated Spanish guitar demonstration. And, somehow, it works beautifully.

"Nature Without Man" seems to outdue everything Pearl Jam every did, in just over 90 seconds. "Love Dance", along with "Jesus and Tequila" treat us to some blues; and "Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want the Truth" is just as inspirational as any hymnal.

It's sad that in this "Jackass" generation Mr. Boon and his companions have been forgotten. Minutemen are comprised of ideas, and not just power chords (though, they do those damn well too!). I've tried to introduce this album to the "punks" that I know, but they're so easily turned off when they don't hear pop punk that's been taught to them as though 20 songs about the bands girlfriends have substance; it seems the punk mentality has died.

Very few albums span across so many genre's with this type of skill and tenacity (if you know of some I may not, please tell me). Everything here seems so incoherrent that it begs for repeated listens; begs for that "shuffle" button, too. It should also beg for your attention. Beg to turn your head to a past time, where emotional and political music didn't have to be covered by a label or a haircut or a t-shirt.

Blows away all of today's limp, soggy music!!!!!!.......2006-07-18

DOUBLE NICKELS ON THE DIME ('84) stuffs 43 short songs on two LP's or one CD. The album meshes quite a variety of musical styles: punk, funk, spoken bits, jazzy instrumentation, folk, and even polka!

The MINUTEMEN accomplish this masterpiece album because of its three outstanding musicians - D. BOON (vox, guitar), MIKE WATT (bass, vox), and GEORGE HURLEY (drums, percussion), as well as other guest musicians.

Key tracks include: VIETNAM, POLITICAL SONG FOR MICHAEL JACKSON TO SING, CORONA (*note: The theme music for "JACKASS"), HISTORY LESSON PT. 2, JESUS & TEQUILA, DO YOU WANT NEW WAVE OR DO YOU WANT THE TRUTH?, MAYBE PARTYING WILL HELP.

If you stack this album up against any/all of today's weak & soggy music (i.e. video/pop hits), then you'll discover an album that stands head-and-shoulders above this unfortunate lull in current musical trends...This album more than makes up for today's lack of creativity in most forms of music. Buy it - try it!!!!!

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