"Slack Motherfucker" | ||||
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Single by Superchunk | ||||
from the album Superchunk | ||||
B-side |
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Released | April 1, 1990 | |||
Recorded | January 18–19, 1990 | |||
Studio | Duck Kee Studios (Raleigh, North Carolina) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:52 | |||
Label | Merge | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Superchunk singles chronology | ||||
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"Slack Motherfucker" is a song by American rock band Superchunk. It was the first single released from the band's debut, self-titled album (1990). The song was penned by vocalist and guitarist Mac McCaughan in reference to an indolent co-worker he had at the time. Credited to all four band members, it was the band's second single and first to be released under the name Superchunk.
Issued as a 7-inch single in April 1990, "Slack Motherfucker" rapidly became one of the band's best-known songs. It has been credited with popularizing the "slacker" stereotype, and as a blueprint for future indie rock music.
McCaughan wrote the song based on a lazy co-worker he worked with while on the night shift at the Kinko's, now a FedEx Office, located on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill, North Carolina. [1] [2] Chuck Garrson, the band's first drummer, has claimed the song was written about him, though McCaughan has remained the song was based on a co-worker. [3] Alex Denney of The Guardian summarizes the song's content: "a disgruntled employee accuse his boss of slacking off on the job in the strongest possible terms." [4] Musically, the song has been described as indie rock, [5] [6] power pop, [7] pop-punk, [8] lo-fi, [9] and noise pop. [10]
Peter Margasak, in the Chicago Reader , describes it as a "low-rent self-empowerment anthem." [11]
"Slack Motherfucker" was issued as a 7-inch single in April 1990; it quickly sold out of its original pressing of 1,000 copies. [12] Then-guitarist Jack McCook painted the artwork for the sleeve. [12] The band's first single was credited under the name Chunk; "Slack Motherfucker" was the first to use the band's new name. [13] The song was a success on college radio, with programmers typically airing it past midnight to avoid obscenity laws. [14] The song has widely been considered among the band's best and most well-known songs. [15] Kyle Ryan at The A.V. Club called it "one of the most beloved Superchunk songs ever." [16] Jason Ankeny of AllMusic called it the band's "most celebrated moment," describing it as "a "note-perfect snapshot of minimum-wage angst and attitude." [17]
Timothy Bracy And Elizabeth Bracy, in a piece for Stereogum, write that the song later found a larger audience when included on Tossing Seeds (Singles 89–91) , the band's 1991 album compiling a number of their earliest 7" singles and EPs. [7]
Cam Lindsay for Vice Media writes that the song is "one of a few cultural moments in time that helped popularise slacker culture, which would later run rampant as a stereotype in indie rock." [15] Will Hermes, in a blog for radio station WBUR-FM, wrote that the song "defined the sound and the ethos of indie rock." [5] Ana Marie Cox from Spin said that the song "resonated with recently educated cynics as just the thing to play too loudly on your parents' stereo that first summer home from college." [18] David Sackllah, writing for Consequence of Sound , ranked it among the best debut singles ever by an artist, observing, "The song's wry energy was antithetical to the "slacker" generation that reigned in the '90s, even if they shared a title in common. This was a brilliant punch of furious determination that has never lost relevance in the years since." [19] Denney of The Guardian included it among his top five list of Generation X anthems. [4] "Slack Motherfucker" was named one of the best songs of the '90s by Rolling Stone , [16] the 19th best single of the 1990s by Spin, and the 81st best song of the 1990s by Pitchfork.
For a brief time period in the 1990s, the band ceased live performances of the song, as they were tiring of it. [16] Ballance has said "if I never hear "Slack Motherfucker" again in my life I will be a happy camper. I am so over that song. It's so stupid and juvenile." [20] The band resumed playing the song later in their career. McCaughan spoke about the song's legacy in an interview with The A.V. Club:
It's always fun. I think if it wasn't fun to play, or if it was one of those songs that doesn't really work live, we wouldn't still be playing it. [Laughs] I think it so long ago transcended whatever it was about and it's more like a fun song to play and sing along to. People just enjoy swearing out loud—that's one thing. [Laughs] "Motherfucker" is a very satisfying word to say.
Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Laura King. Formed in 1989, they were one of the bands that helped define the Chapel Hill music scene of the 1990s. Their energetic, high-velocity style and do-it-yourself ethic is influenced by punk rock, notably such bands as Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Minutemen, and Buzzcocks.
Neutral Milk Hotel were an American band formed in 1989 by musician Jeff Mangum in Ruston, Louisiana. They were active until 1998, and then from 2013 to 2015. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psychedelic folk. Mangum wrote surreal and opaque lyrics that covered a wide range of topics, including love, spirituality, nostalgia, sex, and loneliness. He and the other band members played a variety of instruments, including non-traditional instruments like the singing saw and uilleann pipes.
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Superchunk is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Superchunk. It was recorded January 18–19, 1990, at Duck Kee Studios in Raleigh, North Carolina, and released on Matador Records in 1990.
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Cup of Sand is a two-CD collection of singles, B-sides and various rarities released by Superchunk in 2003. The accompanying booklet is particularly meaty, as band members Mac McCaughan, Jim Wilbur, Laura Ballance and Jon Wurster weigh in with what they remember about the songs.
Laura Jane Ballance is the bassist in the rock band Superchunk and co-founder of Merge Records along with Mac McCaughan. In 2013 she announced that she would no longer be touring with the band due to her worsening hyperacusis.
Ralph Lee "Mac" McCaughan is an American musician and record label owner, based in North Carolina. His main musical projects have been Superchunk since 1989 and Portastatic since the early 1990s. In 1989 he founded the independent record label Merge Records with Superchunk bandmate Laura Ballance.
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