Sunday Music: Double Nickels On The Dime (The Minutemen)

How does a punk rock act from California end up with a two-record, 45-track, indie label release, with a deep cut of an MTV hit video, almost randomly in 1984?

In 1983, The Minutemen had just finished Buzz or Howl under the Influence of Heat EP. Ever the prolific and fast-evolving act, they were working on new material and had a full album’s worth of recording already done by November of the same year. 

But then Husker Du’s Zen Arcade happened. The band recorded a double album in three days and The Minutemen were in awe. That “you can do that?!” energy.  

And most importantly, they saw it as a challenge. 

So they wrote and recorded 20-odd more songs within the month. 

Watt explained, “See how healthy the competition was, the community of it? That’s where it was a movement. And not a scene. It was a health, thriving thing.”

I love that idea of communal competition resulting in a movement, and that movement being definitionally bigger than any singular scene. Stepping back, you can see the idea stretch even farther too. 

Zen Arcade was a concept album, and while The Minutemen were high concept in general, the closest their recordings had to a unifying factor was their cars. 

Their cars, and their attitude. Cars and attitudes can be part of a scene. But what they did with it was all movement. 

The album opens with “Three Car Jam,” featuring all three band members, revving their car’s engines. 

And the title, they couldn’t resist a jab at Sammy Hagar’s hit, “Can’t Drive 55.” Watt said, “You’re such a wild guy, you’ll break the speed limit. How about your tunes, though, buddy? We were making fun of him. The title means fifty-five miles an hour on the button, like we were Johnny Conservative.” If you don’t own it, find a high res picture of the album cover so you can zoom in. The way his eyes smile, the speedometer - perfect.

They also couldn’t resist pulling from their actual influences too. The Pink Floyd album Ummagumma for example, where each band member had their own side of a record. They thought that was a really cool idea - so they let each band member program tier own side of one record. 

“But Matt, they’re a three piece. Records have two sides, so - you get the problem, with like, the math, right?” 

I know. 

So on the 4th side we got the rejects. That’s why the first three sides have their names, “side d. (this side),” “side mike (other side),” “side George (this side),” and then the 4th side, “side chaff (other side).”

The songs are magic. You’ve got “History Lesson (Part II)” that folk-song poetry’s it’s way through lines like “punk rock changed our lives,” and “our band could be your life.” 

You’ve got 4 whole sides of records that are full of punk, pop, funk, noise, and everything in between too. All the influences coming in, so many influences coming in the records wake. A record that cost $1,100 for the Minutemen to make. Oh and they made a video too. 

The video cost $440. The song was about the time D. Boon’s boss wouldn’t let him play jazz or soul at work for racist reasons, causing Boon to quit, and write “This Ain’t No Picnic” in response. You hear the song once and you want to sing and scream along. It was perfect for a video too. The bombs. The BOMBS!

The whole record moves you like this. Like a hang that gets bombed on. Like a triumphantly alive singalong from a heap of mid-80’s American wreckage.

And it worked like a charm. 

The Minutemen kept their expenses low and, unlike Sammy Hagar or Pink Floyd, made a very profitable album despite relatively low sales numbers, and toured even more profitably on top of that. If the profits trickled down, it started with them and got recycled back into their scene and community more than anything else.

Because the Minutemen were part of a movement. 

Inspired by what they knew that they could write about, pushed by what their peers were doing, priced to be econo (re: economical) so nobody and no financiers could stop them. 

Here’s the full album and the video for “This Ain’t No Picnic” one more time because you really do have to watch it. Double Nickels is one of the greatest albums ever recorded - in its creation, execution, and just - its vibes. It’s so perfectly all over the place and centered all at once. Put it on. Enjoy it.  God I love this band, all they stood for, and the ruckus they raised for their brief existence. 

h/t Michael Azerrad and his book (maybe one of my favorite books ever at this point), Our Band Could Be Your Life. I originally picked it up for the Minutemen section, but I have so many stories from all the chapters in my head. It's genuinely hard to not just rewrite this book in public it makes me so happy.