The Dead Milkmen
| The Dead Milkmen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Philadelphia , United States |
| Genre (s) | Punk rock , cowpunk |
| founding | 1983, 2008 |
| resolution | 1995 |
| Website | www.deadmilkmen.com |
| Founding members | |
| Joe "Jack Talcum" Genaro | |
Vocals, keyboard
|
Rodney "Anonymous" Linderman |
Drums , vocals |
Dean "Clean" Sabatino |
Bass, vocals |
Dave "Blood" Schulthise († 2004) |
| Current occupation | |
Vocals, guitar |
Joe "Jack Talcum" Genaro |
Vocals, keyboard |
Rodney "Anonymous" Linderman |
Drums, vocals |
Dean "Clean" Sabatino |
Bass, vocals |
Dan Stevens (since 2008) |
The Dead Milkmen ( English for " The Dead Milkmen ") are an American punk band from Philadelphia, founded in 1983 . With their satirical lyrics, the band not only makes fun of their own punk audience, but also of the social mainstream . The greatest successes of the band are the albums Big Lizard in My Backyard (1985) and Beelzebubba (1988) with the single Punk Rock Girl .
Band history
founding
Guitarist and co-singer Joe Genaro (born October 15, 1962) and lead singer Rodney Linderman (born May 21, 1963) grew up together in the small town of Wagontown, Pennsylvania . In high school , Genaro began writing a newsletter about a fictional band called The Dead Milkmen and their singer Jack Talcum . After moving to Temple University , he maintained the songwriting partnership with Linderman, established during his school days, by exchanging letters. At university, Genaro met drummer Dean Sabatino ( Dean Clean , born May 21, 1962), who played in a local punk band called Narthex, and bassist Dave Schulthise ( Dave Blood , born September 16, 1956, † March 10, 2004) . The three began to play together in 1983 before Rodney Linderman (from now on Rodney Anonymous ) joined them in the summer and completed the quartet.
Record deal and commercial success
Over the next two years, the Milkmen recorded a few cassettes under their stage names , which they released independently, and gained local fame through a live appearance on radio in 1984. First the punk magazine Maximumrocknroll and finally the label Restless , a subsidiary of Enigma Records , took notice of her.
The debut album Big Lizard in My Backyard was released in June 1985 and contained 21 tracks, most of which had already been released on cassette. The song Bitchin 'Camero , which consists of a series of snotty degradations, became a hit on college radio and songs like Takin' Retards to the Zoo quickly earned the band cult status . Nonetheless, the album didn't make it into the charts .
The follow-up Eat Your Paisley! from 1986 was felt by some fans as a disappointment, but at least contained the song The Thing That Only Eats Hippies , which was at least a small radio hit. The Milkmen's third album, Bucky Fellini , received positive acclaim from both critics and fans and reached number 163 on the Billboard 200 in 1987 . The included track Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything) is a parody of the British alternative music scene of the time and the growing interest of Americans in it.
The Dead Milkmen achieved their greatest commercial success in 1988 with the album Beelzebubba . Thanks to the single Punk Rock Girl , the album reached number 101 on the Billboard 200 and stayed in the charts for over 20 weeks. Punk Rock Girl was an instant college radio hit, climbing to # 11 on Modern Rock Tracks . In addition, the humorous video considerable received MTV - Airplay . The band was subsequently unable to continue this success. After the album Metaphysical Graffiti (1990), the Milkmen were forced to look for a new label because of the bankruptcy of Enigma Records. At Hollywood Records they released two more albums, but they were no longer convincing. In 1995 the band finally broke up.
Band break (1995-2008)
In the following years, the individual band members dropped their stage names, took jobs and devoted themselves to music only on a local level in and around Philadelphia. While Rodney Linderman formed a Celtic rock band called Burn Witch Burn , Joe Genaro and Dean Sabatino performed together as Butterfly Joe and released an album in 2000. Genaro also appeared with numerous other bands and as a solo artist.
Dave Schulthise, meanwhile, gave up playing bass and deepened his interest in Yugoslavia and the Serbo-Croatian culture, which had gripped him during a band tour, at Indiana University . In 1998 he went to Serbia to teach English , but had to give up his plans to work as a writer there due to the war . On March 10, 2004, Schulthise, suffering from depression, committed suicide by overdosing on tablets. The band then got back together in November 2004 for two tribute concerts. The bassist was played by Dan Stevens, who played with Genaro on The Low Budgets. Some of the proceeds went to a mental health organization and the Serbian Studenica Monastery .
Reunification (since 2008)
With Stevens on bass, the Milkmen played a handful of shows in 2008 before deciding to continue touring. At the end of 2010 the band returned to the studio and recorded the first album with new material in over 15 years. The King in Yellow was released in March 2011 as a download from the band's website and finally as a self-release. The following year the band made a guest appearance in the song The Raven by nerdcore rapper MC Lars . Since then, the Milkmen have released another album ( Pretty Music for Pretty People 2014) and four limited singles. The band continues to tour select cities in the United States .
reception
During their wedding in the late 1980s, the Dead Milkmen spearheaded a movement of fun-driven college radio bands, including Mojo Nixon , King Missile and Too Much Joy . Steve Huley from Allmusic describes the Dead Milkmen as a band that targets punk pop culture , independent fans and intellectuals alike with their simple, happy brand , while regularly indulging their "taste for the unflavoured". While some critics praised the band, others ridiculed them as "childish know-it-all geeks ". Practically every review - whether negative or positive - seemed to contain the term “sophomoric” (cf. roughly “intellectually presumptuous”).
Although the Dead Milkmen never achieved a commercial breakthrough - the best chart placement remained at number 11 by Punk Rock Girl (1988) - and some critics turned up their noses in front of them, they quickly developed into a cult phenomenon . They had a few hits on college radio with songs like Bitchin 'Camero or The Thing That Only Eats Hippies, and they even had an MTV hit with Punk Rock Girl . While their particular sense of humor polarized the critics, that's exactly what fans loved about them. An attempt to develop in a more mature, serious direction in the 1990s failed and eventually led to the breakup of the band. According to Steve Huley, the influence of the Dead Milkmen should not be underestimated. So they probably paved the way for a number of shrewd geek rockers who briefly dominated alternative radio in the mid-1990s, more than their musical colleagues mentioned above.
Discography
Studio albums
- 1985: Big Lizard in My Backyard
- 1986: Eat Your Paisley!
- 1987: Bucky Fellini
- 1988: Beelzebubba
- 1990: Metaphysical Graffiti
- 1992: Soul Rotation
- 1993: Not Richard, But Dick
- 1995: Stoney's Extra Stout (Pig)
- 2011: The King in Yellow
- 2014: Pretty Music for Pretty People
Live albums
- 1994: Chaos Rules - Live at the Tocadero
Compilations
- 1993: Now We Are 10
- 1997: Death Rides a Pale Cow (The Ultimate Collection)
- 1998: Cream of the Crop
- 2003: Now We Are 20
- 2003: The Dead Milkmen Present: Philadelphia In Love (DVD)
Singles and EPs
- 1987: The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
- 1987: Instant Club Hit (EP)
- 1988: Punk Rock Girl
- 1988: Smokin 'Banana Peels (EP)
- 1992: If I Had a Gun (EP)
- 2012: Dark Clouds Gather Over Middlemarch
- 2012: Big Words Make the Baby Jesus Cry
- 2013: The Great Boston Molasses Flood
- 2013: Welcome to Undertown
Self-published cassettes
- 1981: Living Dead in the Cellar of Sin (as a fictional band)
- 1983: Funky Farm
- 1983: A Date with the Dead Milkmen
- 1984: Death Rides a Pale Cow
- 1984: The Dead Milkmen Take the Airwaves
- 1984: Someone Shot Sunshine
Web links
- Official website
- Fictional DM newsletter
- The Dead Milkmen on Allmusic (English)
- The Dead Milkmen at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Steve Huley: The Dead Milkmen - Biography. Allmusic , accessed on May 6, 2016 .
- ↑ a b The Dead Milkmen - Chart History. Billboard , accessed May 6, 2016 .
- ^ Eugene Chadbourne: Dave Blood - Biography. Allmusic , accessed on May 6, 2016 .
- ↑ Dave Schulthise, 47, Dead Milkmen's bassist. New York Times , March 13, 2004, accessed May 6, 2016 .
- ↑ Patrick Rapa: Blood Brothers. (No longer available online.) Philadelphia CityPaper, Nov. 17, 2004, archived from the original on June 29, 2009 ; accessed on May 6, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Emily Brightman: Sarcastic Philly punks the Dead Milkmen are reunited and going strong. Daily Collegian, April 19, 2013, accessed May 7, 2016 .
