I’m really glad that this song popped up this week because to put it quite simply, I believe that anyone who has a passion for music needs to know about The Mummies. The Mummies debuted in 1988 performing a live show at the Chi Chi Club in San Fransisco. These four guys dressed in tattered mummy costumes performed their loud music, while simultaneously making a mess of the stage and screaming obscenities at the crowd in between songs. Little did the attendants of that show know, this group would later be looked at as one of the most influential and iconic garage punk bands in the history of music.
If there is one thing that I have learned in my studies of music over the years, it’s that music is nothing without a serious motive. The Mummies motive was a little thing they liked to call ‘Budget Rock.’ This concept simply meant that they would constantly reject professionalism and fame to give themselves more of a homemade, half-ass sound. When they recorded, they would usually do it on hand-me-down at best equipment, which was usually broken, or not working properly. The Mummies recorded all of their material onto vinyl and didn’t even use CDs as a means of distributing their albums until the year 2000. Hell, even when they toured, they drove themselves and all their equipment around in a beaten up 1965 Pontiac Ambulance!
This idea of ‘Budget Rock’ really showed people that if you want to make music, you can, and The Mummies proved it. This simple concept is one of the biggest reasons underground punk has come so far over the past twenty years. I guarantee if you ask any punk group in the world if they know who The Mummies are, every one of them will say yes (or at least they should). From their garbled punk music to their crazy stage antics, The Mummies have definitely put themselves on the map of punk history.
As far as the song “Justine” goes, it’s pretty much a garage punk masterpiece. It’s a simple broken up love song about a girl who just didn’t do it for the guy. The song isn’t just simple in its concept, but is also a simple musical composition with half-screamed lyrics paired with loud messy drumming, all guided by sloppy basic guitar riffs and a pressing blues bass line. The whole song contains one verse and one refrain set to repeat for a whole two minutes, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it repetitive. The mistake-ridden imperfections of the song really keep the song incredibly interesting and intriguing, and aside from that, it’s just fucking fun to rock out to! Get your punk shoes on and throw this song on at full blast. You’ll find yourself dancing ‘til you can’t dance anymore.
Now I can’t talk about The Mummies without mentioning going into their live performances, but rather than talk about it, I think I’ll just show you a video, because words can do it no justice...enjoy...
Now *that* is intense. I really wish I could have seen these guys play. The worst part about it is that the group has been randomly seen performing unannounced shows *twice* this year already. But I won’t complain to you guys anymore about it. I’ll just show you the song and get on with my life...if you hear any news about The Mummies and a live performance, please don’t hesitate to tell me.
And without further ado...here is “Justine” by The Mummies!
No comments:
Post a Comment