Search - Butthole Surfers :: Independent Worm Saloon

"A Doggie Dropped It"

Janitor X | The Mountains | 11/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rolling Stone Magazine once slammed the Butth0le Surfers for being "so genuine in its depravity" and called them scary because "the weirdness is much too real to qualify as mere dadaist showmanship." Those comments are absolutely true and a great reason to love the band.

The Butth0le Surfers releases before this album were tailor made to sound like bad acid trips. They took the "peace and love" romanticism out of psychedelic music and replaced with sickness and fear. It was a more realistic approach to the true LSD experience.

Those albums must be experienced at least once or twice just for the shock value. However, none of those albums are the kind you would want to listen to every day. "Independent Worm Saloon" is an album you could listen to every day.



The Butth0le Surfers hit the perfect balance between weirdness and catchy, hard punk rock. The weirdness is delivered mostly by vocalist Gibby Haynes with his outlandish lyrics and freaky voice. The music will occasionally get as weird as the lyrics, but on the average it's just one catchy riff after another.

The frantic freak out songs "Who Was in My Room Last Night," "Goofy's Concern," and "Some Dispute Over T-shirt Sales" are the highlights followed closely by "Alcohol" and "Dust Devil." The rest is not filler by any means, as it holds the flow of the album together in either mellow "cool down" or comical way. It peaks and dips just like a perfect, drug fueled live performance.



There are some amazing things about the Butth0le Surfers that cannot be ignored. First, they were from Texas which is a place that clearly does not value or encourage such extreme artistic expression that this band has produced. Also, the drug possession laws there are extremely harsh which makes them all the more fearless in their expression.

Second, they ended up becoming mainstream which was once thought to be impossible for a band with a name and sound like theirs. While Nirvana and the alternative explosion in the `90's may have opened the door for the Butth0le Surfers, it was amazing that they survived the `80's underground and emerged on the radio despite their name and reputation. They must make great music."

John Paul Jones Surfing Down the Butthole Saloon of Doom

Gunther Haagendazs | Up High in the Trees | 07/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After the Disappointment that is Pioughd, the Butthole Surfers took 3 years to redeem themselves with Independent Worm Saloon. Oddly enough, these four longtime Indie band members decided to join Capital Records, a major label and have this album produced by Led Zeppelin's Bassist, John Paul Jones, who even played bass on a couple of songs including track 16.. What we have here is an awesome record with 17 songs, containing a variety of music styles, ranging from Rock/Classic Rock, Country, Metal, punk, their own blend of acid rock, Alternative-ish and comedy. While it's packed with great songs, due to the fact that there are 17 of them, there are few poor songs that manage to bring down the rating for this otherwise magnificent album. As for the growth within the band, they have slightly matured (even though I will always praise their 80's music to the highest extent), Paul Leary has grown to become a magnificent guitarist and it is most shown on this album like in the end for the song Dust Devil; Gibby's Songwriting has spread in terms of styles and King Coffee has proven that he can more then make up for the disappearance of their second drummer, Theresa Taylor who left in 1989. This was also their last album with longtime bass player Jeff Pinkus, who really shines on this album. Enough with the chit chat, lets break this album down.



1. Who Was In My Room Last Night? 10/10: A great opener and awesome riff followed by a really cool guitar solo.

2. The Wooden Song 10/10: A really interesting Acoustic song that is sure to take you by surprise, it's beautiful.

3. Tongue 8/10: Coffee's Drumming is the highlight of this little jam about cowboy's and Indians.

4. Chewin' George Lucas' Chocolate 5/5: a hilarious little intro.

5. Goofy's Concern 10/10: A heavy punk song that can have everybody singing along in complete agreement.

6. Alcohol 4/10: Ok, the small cracks are starting to show, this song makes me cringe for the skip button every time.

7. Dog inside your Body 10/10: A Very Heavy, Thrash style song. Coffee's double bass is really cool and Paul delivers another kickass solo, complete with disturbing, stalker-like lyrics from Gibby.

8. Strawberry 8/10: An early live version can be found on their mega rare Double live, it's just a really cool song with this weird atmosphere around it.

9. Some Dispute of T-Shirt Sales 7/10: I believe it was originally titled Watlo, the official title has nothing to do with the song, though it would have been funny for them to sneak a recorder into a store and argue over an item with the owner.

10. Dancing Fool 7/10: One of Paul's songs featuring him on the mic, in an interview I read originally he just yelled noises into the mic when playing it live, before another guy actually asked him what it was he was yelling.

11. You Don't know Me 5/10: insert filler here, I can take it or leave it. Nothing bad, just nothing great either.

12. The Annoying Song 10/10: Imagine a Pissed off Hamster on PCP and you have this song. Very heavy, features the gibbytronix and more guitar solos from Paul.

13. Dust Devil 9/10: loud and heavy with the final 3 minutes belonging to Paul on the Guitar.

14. Leave Me Alone 5/10: I have no idea what Gibby is mumbling. Sometimes it annoys me and sometime it draws me closer, but mainly the first one.

15. E.D.G.A.R. 9/10: more so of an instrumental, Gibby is clearly using his voice as an instrument as you can't make out what he's saying but I would say King owns this song with the drum opener.

16. The Ballad of Naked Man 7/10: although a bit funny, it's easy to loose attention and drift off into space while listening to this. The Banjo is the highlight.

17. Clean it Up 9/10: pretty much a Comb part two. This song is very much resembling their 80's era, containing sounds of vomiting and an acid drenched guitar. It's a bit long though.

On the Japanese Import there is also:

18. Beat the Press ?/10: the vomiting section from Clean it Up, nothing more then that

19. Gandhi. 7/10 A nice little song that you can find on Humpty Dumpty LSD.

20. Neee Neee 9/10 kind of like an E.D.G.A.R. part two, features the gibbytronix.



Well there you have it, this is Independent Worm Saloon. An awesome rock record that really is high up there in terms of great BHS records, but albums like Locust abortion technician, Hairway to Steven, Brown Reason to live/Live PCPPEP and Rembrandt Pussyhorse are way in the front of the line. Definitely something to have in your collection as there are songs that everyone will enjoy. A must have for Butthole Surfer fans and a Must have for those who are new fans and want an easy way to start becoming accustomed to their sound. And a must have for anyone wanting to look for a great guitarist (Paul Leary). Well it's a great record and I hoped this helped.

"

Brilliant culmination of the Surfers work

Chet Fakir | DC | 12/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you can only own one album by the Buttholes, this is the one to get. I myself am a huge fan and have everything they've ever done and I find this album to be their masterpiece, if not my favorite BS album. What do I mean by that? Well this CD has some of every style the Buttholes ever did, from the overdriven punk of "Who Was in My Room Last Night?", to the psychedelic wierd-out of "Alcohol", etc. Yes the Buttholes have been more abrasive or experimental such as on my favorite album, the brilliant "Psychic-Powerless, Another Man's Sac." But rarely have the Buttholes been as consistant both in the strength of the songs and the production, which is great thanks to John Paul Jones. Yes, he was Led Zeppelin's bass player, and by putting the emphasis on the songs (and Paul Learys guitar playing) rather than sonic experimentation, the Buttholes made one of the strongest and most rocking albums of their career. Jones got a great sounding album out of the surfers. I wish they'd used him for the somewhat scattershot "Electric Larryland." Oh well, after this album the Buttholes got perhaps a little lost and eventually went for an electronica oriented sound for their Wierd Revolution album in 2002, which is a good album but doesn't sound like the Butthole Surfers. Independent Worm Saloon is their last truly great and consistant rock album. I recommend it to fans and newbies alike."