Beelzebubba

Last updated
Beelzebubba
Beelzebubba.jpg
Studio album by
the Dead Milkmen
Released1988
Genre
Length45:29
Label Enigma [1]
Producer Brian Beattie, Mike Stewart
The Dead Milkmen chronology
Bucky Fellini
(1987)		Beelzebubba
(1988)		 Metaphysical Graffiti
(1990)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Robert Christgau B+ [4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]
The Philadelphia Inquirer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]

Beelzebubba is the fourth studio album by the American satirical punk rock band the Dead Milkmen, released in 1988. [8] It peaked at No. 101 on the Billboard 200. [9] The album contains perhaps the band's best-known song, "Punk Rock Girl". [10]

Contents

Five tracks from Beelzebubba ("I Walk the Thinnest Line", "Stuart", "Punk Rock Girl", "Smokin' Banana Peels", and "Life Is Shit") are included on the band's 1997 compilation album Death Rides a Pale Cow: The Ultimate Collection .

Overview

Beelzebubba was recorded in Austin, Texas, and was produced by Mike Stewart and Brian "Orchid Breath" Beattie. [6] [11] The cover photo is of Rodney Linderman's father, also named Rodney.

The album includes the song "Punk Rock Girl", which was released as a single. The song debuted on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart on January 7, 1989, at position 27; [12] it spent ten weeks on the chart, [13] peaking at number eleven on February 4, 1989. [14] The video was filmed in part at Eastern State Penitentiary. [15]

The track "Stuart" features Dead Milkmen vocalist Rodney Linderman speaking rather than singing; the song is presented in the form of Linderman rambling to an apparent man named Stuart in a trailer park about what "the queers are doing to the soil", which he claims is related to building "landing strips for gay Martians". [16] [17]

In 1989, the Dead Milkmen released the Smokin' Banana Peels EP, which contains remixes of the song "Smokin' Banana Peels". It also contains several previously unreleased songs. [18]

Critical reception

The Washington Post 's Mark Jenkins wrote that "it's 'Punk Rock Girl', the only song that shows some vulnerability amidst all the attitude, that redeems the record." [1] Trouser Press thought that "the Milkmen's skimpy charms run very thin on Beelzebubba, an album with precisely three assets: a great title, amusing artwork and the catchy but dumb 'Punk Rock Girl'." [18] The staff of People wrote: "You won't find the Dead Milkmen beating any dead horses. They just tickle one and move on to their next victim." [19]

James Muretich of the Calgary Herald wrote that the album "rides a sound of manic, minimalist rock that leaves behind such hit-and-run victims as homophobic trailer park residents, bleach boys (people with strange drinking habits) and PBS." [20] Tom Barrett of the Vancouver Sun called Beelzebubba the band's best album and "a flying drop kick of a disc that pokes savage fun at hippies, frat boys, Bob Hope and homophobes." [21]

In a retrospective article, Nicholas Pell of LA Weekly called the album "a bona fide rock & roll masterpiece" and "nothing short of the White Album of its day." [22]

Track listing

All tracks are written by the Dead Milkmen

No.TitleLength
1."Brat in the Frat"1:06
2."Rc's Mom"2:27
3."Stuart"2:22
4."I Walk the Thinnest Line"2:11
5."Sri Lanka Sex Hotel"3:41
6."Bad Party"1:53
7."Punk Rock Girl"2:40
8."Bleach Boys"3:49
9."My Many Smells"2:21
10."Smokin' Banana Peels"3:49
11."The Guitar Song"3:31
12."Born to Love Volcanos"3:13
13."Everybody's Got Nice Stuff But Me"2:51
14."I Against Osbourne"1:56
15."Howard Beware"2:30
16."Ringo Buys a Rifle"2:21
17."Life Is Shit"3:19
Total length:45:29

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References

  1. 1 2 Jenkins, Mark (December 30, 1988). "Milkmen Driving on Empty Thoughts" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  2. ↑ Beelzebubba at AllMusic
  3. ↑ Popson, Tom (20 Jan 1989). "CAJUN, ROCK, FOLK AND MORE FROM THE INDIE WORLD". Chicago Tribune: North Sports Final 1.
  4. ↑ "Robert Christgau: Album: The Dead Milkmen: Beelzebubba". www.robertchristgau.com.
  5. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. p. 803.
  6. 1 2 MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 319.
  7. ↑ Moon, Tom (27 Nov 1988). "The Dead Milkmen Beelzebubba". The Philadelphia Inquirer: G12.
  8. ↑ "Dead Milkmen | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  9. ↑ "The Dead Milkmen". Billboard.
  10. ↑ "Modern Rock Tracks – For Week Ending January 7, 1989" (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 101, no. 1. Prometheus Global Media, LLC. January 7, 1989. p. 14. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  11. ↑ Blackstock, Peter (3 Feb 1989). "Dead Milkmen achieve an obnoxious success". Austin American-Statesman: F2.
  12. ↑ "Modern Rock Tracks – For Week Ending January 7, 1989" (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 101, no. 1. January 7, 1989. p. 14. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  13. ↑ Joel Whitburn Presents Rock Tracks 1981–2008. Hal Leonard Corporation. 2008. p. 70. ISBN   978-0898201741.
  14. ↑ "Modern Rock Tracks – For Week Ending February 4, 1989" (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 101, no. 5. February 4, 1989. p. 16. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  15. ↑ Weidman, Rich (2022). Punk: The Definitive Guide to the Blank Generation and Beyond. Backbeat Books. p. 164.
  16. ↑ Moore, Bobby (May 6, 2015). "The Dead Milkmen return". Creative Loafing . Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  17. ↑ Molseed, John (May 17, 2015). "Dead Milkmen's Joe Genaro at Octopus Monday". The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier . Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  18. 1 2 "TrouserPress.com :: Dead Milkmen". www.trouserpress.com. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Picks and Pans Review: Beelzebubba". People . November 21, 1988. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  20. ↑ Muretich, James (26 Jan 1989). "Disc". Calgary Herald : E5.
  21. ↑ Barrett, Tom (2 May 1989). "Reality makes Dead Milkmen feel alive: These funny guys fling abuse at whatever comes their way". Vancouver Sun : B5.
  22. ↑ Pell, Nicholas (February 17, 2016). "Unpopular Opinion: The Dead Milkmen's Beelzebubba Is the White Album of Its Day". LA Weekly .
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