Minutemen: Thinking Too Much Can Ruin a Good Time

Minutemen mixtape for two sides of a 110-minute Maxell cassette, 70 songs recorded between 1980 and 1985. Many of the links are alternate or live versions caught on videotape. What's your favorite Minutemen song?

Side One: Can you really be sure of the goddamn time of day? (turn handle, puppet)

1. Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth? (live)
2. I Felt Like a Gringo (alternate version from Radio Tokyo Tapes)
3. 9:30 a.m. May 2
4. Joe McCarthy's Ghost [here's live video]
5. Maybe Partying Will Help
6. Shit You Hear at Parties (alternate version from "Ballot Result")
7. Anxious Mo-Fo [here's "Retreat" and "Anxious Mo-Fo" live]
8. Definitions
9. Search [here's "Search" and "Static" live]
10. King of the Hill
11. Themselves (solo acoustic) [here it is live]
12. Disguises
13. The Only Minority [here's "The Only Minority" and more, acoustic]
14. Mr. Robot's Holy Orders [here's a live version, might swap on tape]
15. The Struggle
16. Working Men Are Pissed [here it is on Youtube]
17. This Ain't No Picnic [here's an alternate, and acoustic version]
18. Party With Me, Punker
19. Spillage
20. The Anchor [plus live video]
21. One Reporter's Opinion
22. Cut
23. Black Sheep
24. Cohesion
25. Fake Contest
26. Dream Told By Moto
27. Paranoid Chant
28. West Germany
29. Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
30. Nothing Indeed
31. The Toe Jam
32. Take 5, D.
33. Situations at Hand
34. '99
35. Two Beads at the End
36. My Part (solo acoustic)
37. Sickles and Hammers
38. Song for El Salvador

Side Two: In honesty, I scream it (hoping for hope is only a prayer)

39. No Parade
40. The Price of Paradise
41. The Big Stick
42. The Punch Line
43. Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing
44. If Reagan Played Disco
45. Jesus and Tequila [here's more audio]
46. Stories
47. Faith/East Wind
48. The Glory of Man
49. History Lesson
50. It's Expected I'm Gone
51. Courage
52. There Ain't Shit on TV Tonight
53. Static
54. Toadies
55. Clocks
56. Validation
57. Ruins
58. My Heart and the Real World
59. Straight Jacket
60. Shit from an Old Notebook
61. Take Our Test
62. History Lesson - Part II [here's live video]
63. Badges (live)
64. Corona [here's The Tour version]
65. I Felt Like a Gringo
66. What Is It?
67. No! No! No! to Draft and War (live cover of song by Sambia)/
68. Joe McCarthy's Ghost (live) [I was at this show. Anyone have the full tape?]
69. Little Man with a Gun in His Hand (version from Double Nickels on the Dime) [here's a live video, and more]
70. Hittin' the Bong
71. Love Dance
72. Closing Jam (excerpt)

From the records:

3: Cracks in the Sidewalk (various artists LP, New Alliance, November, 1980)
4, 8, 27, 37, 56: Paranoid Time (classic debut single, 45 7-inch EP, second record released by SST, December, 1980)
55: Chunks (various artists 45 LP, New Alliance, July, 1981)
9, 12, 15, 38, 39, 42, 49, 53, 57, 59: The Punch Line (classic debut album, 45 LP, first LP released by SST, November, 1981)
23: Joy (45 7-inch EP, New Alliance, recorded August, 1981)
44: Bean-Spill (EP, Thermidor, 1982)
13, 20, 25, 29, 34, 47: What Makes a Man Start Fires? (LP, SST, January, 1983)
2: The Best of the Radio Tokyo Tapes (various artists double LP, Chameleon, 1987)
22, 26, 31, 64: Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat (45 LP, SST, August, 1983)
16, 18: The Politics of Time (LP of unreleased music, New Alliance, 1984)
5, 7, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 28, 30, 32, 35, 43, 45, 48, 50, 52, 54, 58, 61, 63, 65, 69, 71: Double Nickels on the Dime (classic double LP, SST, 1984)
11: Neighborhood Rhythms (Patter Traffic) (various artists double LP, U.S. Freeway, 1984)
1: Great bootleg recording of Minutemen live, 12/1/84 (Thanks, Sonicfreak!)
10, 60: Project: Mersh (45 12-inch EP, SST, 1985)
33, 40, 41, 46, 51, 66, 70: 3-Way Tie (For Last) (LP, SST, 1985)
36: English as a Second Language (Talking Package) (various artists LP, 1988, U.S. Freeway/Enigma)
6, 62, 67, 68: "Ballot Result" (double LP of live and unreleased music, SST, 1986)
72: "Ballot Result" cassette release (ditto)

(Note: All non-SST-CD tracks are available at Corndogs.org except for "Clocks.")

D. Boon: guitar except on 32, lead vocals except on instrumentals and *
Mike Watt: bass, *lead or shared vocals on 1, 3, 9, 22, 44, 53, 56, 57, 61, 63
George Hurley: drums, *shared vocals on 57
Songwriting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 42, 43, 44, 48, 50, 54, 55, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 65, 68 by Watt
5, 6, 13, 37, 53, 60 by Boon/Watt
7 (contrary to credits), 9, 14, 20, 23, 30, 34, 47, 52, 57 by Hurley/Watt
10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 24, 28, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 49, 51, 64, 70, 71 by Boon
31 by Boon/Cooper/Crane/Hurley/[Dirk] Vandenberg/Watt
33, 46, 66 by Kira/Watt
45 by [Joe] Carducci/Boon
56 by [Martin] Tamburovich/Watt
67 by Sambia
69 by [Chuck] Dukowski/Boon
72 by Boon/Hurley/Watt

More joyous Minutemen links

Video: 1985 interview material [from IRS's The Cutting Edge?] with Fear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TeekNb0E00

"9:30 May 2" analyzed at ILM
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=38677

Book: 33 1/3 book on Double Nickels on the Dime
http://www.amazon.com/Minutemens-Double-Nickels-Dime-33/dp/0826427871/ref=cm_pdp_review_teaser_product/103-3233196-3135803

A History of San Pedro Punk
http://www.angelsgateart.org/shows/punk_rock.html

A History of San Pedro Punk flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelsgate/sets/450090/

Video: "Ack Ack Ack Ack" (Urinals cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmvopN-hLZk

Video: "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" (Van Halen cover)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YGybnHed8gw

American Hardcore
http://www.sonyclassics.com/americanhardcore/

Answers.com page
http://www.answers.com/topic/minutemen-band?cat=entertainment

"Ask Mike Watt" archive at TalkBass
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archive/index.php/f-55.html

D. Boon MySpace page tribute
http://www.myspace.com/dboonspage

D. Boon obituaries
http://www.sidemouse.com/boon.htm

Big Boys Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Boys_(band)

Black Flag Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Flag_(band)

James Brown Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown

Captain Beefheart Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Beefheart

Chimpomatic interview with Mike Watt
http://www.chimpomatic.com/articles/mikewatt/index.php

Robert Christgau Minutemen reviews
http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Minutemen
http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/ourband-01.php
http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Mike+Watt
http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=firehose

The Clash
http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2006/11/complicated_cla.php

Byron Coley article on the Minutemen from 1985
http://www.sidemouse.com/bcoley.htm

John Coltrane
http://www.johncoltrane.com/

Corndogs.org
http://corndogs.org

Creedence Clearwater Revival Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creedence_Clearwater_Revival

CD: D. Boon & Friends
http://www.geocities.com/box_o_plenty/001.html
http://box-o-plenty.com/

"D. Boon in the Present Tense" (L.A. Weekly)
http://www.amazon.com/Sam-Minuteman-Can-Read-Book/dp/0064441075

Movie/video: The Decline of Western Civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_Western_Civilization

Blog: Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth?
http://doyouwantnewwaveordoyouwantthetruth.blogspot.com/

Dos MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/dosasintwo

LP: Double Nickels on the Dime (buy the vinyl of this, which has all 45 songs; but buy all the CDs, too)

Double Nickels on the Dime Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Nickels_on_the_Dime

Chuck Dukowski interview at Perfect Sound Forever
http://www.furious.com/Perfect/chuckdukowski.html

Dusted interview with Mike Watt after Minutemen "reunion"
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/176

Book: Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Van-Road-Black-Flag/dp/1880985241

Green Hills Memorial Park, Rancho Palos Verdes (D. Boon's grave)
http://www.greenhillsmemorial.com/

Book: Hardcore California: A History of Punk and New Wave
http://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-California-History-Punk-Wave/dp/086719314X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3233196-3135803?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187649489&sr=1-1

Hey Taxi (with George Hurley in 1980)
http://www.michaelandspider.com/past2present.html

The History Lesson tribute band
http://www.myspace.com/thehistorylesson

Husker Du database
http://world.std.com/~thirdave/hd.html

"I miss D. Boon" graffiti
http://www.flickr.com/photos/schlabotnik/131461984/

Interpunk (place to buy Minutemen records)
http://www.interpunk.com/

TV: IRS's The Cutting Edge (had segment on the Minutemen)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284720/

Video: "Joy at Sea" concert at Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/profile_video_blog?user=eurekamikefilm

Audio: Live at the 9:30 Club 1985 bootleg
http://hangoverhard.blogspot.com/2007/03/minutemen-live-at-930-club-washington.html

Live Music Archive page
http://www.archive.org/details/Minutemen

Martin Lyon Minutemen photos
http://martinlyon.com/minutemen/photos-minutemen.html

lyrics at Lyricwiki
http://lyricwiki.org/Minutemen

Maximum Wattage
http://www.maximumwattage.com/

Maximum Wattage message board
http://www.maximumwattage.com/phpbb2/

Meat Puppets
http://www.themeatpuppets.com/

Minuteflag MySpace page tribute
http://www.myspace.com/minuteflag

Video: Minutemen 1984 video
http://homepage.mac.com/jme/iMovieTheater9.html

Book: The Minutemen and Their World
http://www.amazon.com/Minutemen-Their-World-American-Century/dp/0809001209

"The Minutemen - Arguing with the Fish" by Joe Carducci
http://www.hootpage.com/hoot_carducci-spielsofa.html

Minutemen at Emusic
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Minutemen-MP3-Download/11613983.html

Minutemen at Live Music Archive
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=Minutemen%20AND%20mediatype%3Aetree%20AND%20collection%3Aetree

Minutemen discography
http://www.idiot-dog.com/music/minutemen/indexm.html

Minutemen lyrics
http://www.go2lyrics.com/minutemen-lyrics-artist.html

Minutemen MySpace tribute page
http://www.myspace.com/theminutemen

"Minutemen: One Reporter's Opinion"
http://www.angelfire.com/ny/lowbrow/minutemen2.html

Minutemen page at Information Overload
http://mitglied.lycos.de/RaFuchs/musik/minmen/index.htm

Minutemen page at Kill from the Heart
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cch223/usa/minutemen_main.html

Minutemen page at Stuk on Earth
http://www.stukonearth.com/minutemendiscography.html

Minutemen page by John Chedsey
http://www.ssmt-reviews.com/db/searchrev.php?artistID=746&showReview=true

Minutemen thread at ILM
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=4415

Minutemen Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minutemen_(band)

Movie: My Char-Broiled Burger With Brewer (2000)
http://www.chicagoreader.com/hitsville/000818.html

one MySpace blogger's opinion
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=149961403&blogID=298495448

Audio: Non-Plussed interview
http://www.corndogs.org/misc/minutemen_nonplussed_interview_1981.mp3

Blog: Number One Hit Song
http://www.numberonehitsong.com/

CD: Our Band Could Be Your Life: A Tribute to D. Boon and the Minutemen
http://littlebrotherrecords.com/ourband.html

Book: Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991
http://www.amazon.com/Our-Band-Could-Your-Life/dp/0316063797

Our Band Could Be Your Life review and essay
http://citypages.com/databank/22/1083/article9800.asp

Website: Party With Me Punker
http://www.partywithmepunker.com

Peck Park, San Pedro
http://www.laparks.org/dos/parks/facility/peckPk.htm

Perfect Sound Forever interview with Mike Watt
http://www.furious.com/Perfect/mikewatt.html

Raymond Pettibon Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Pettibon

The Plugz Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plugz

CD: The Pop Group, Y

"Punk is whatever we made it to be" D. Boon sticker
https://www.cafepress.com/hoothelp.18163361

Book: Rock and the Pop Narcotic
http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Pop-Narcotic-Joe-Carducci/dp/188098511X

Rockbill interview with the Minutemen
http://sidemouse.com/rockbill.htm

Rolling Stone article from 1985
http://www.thirdav.com/zinestuff/rs452.html

Rough Trade (all Minutemen CDs and records available through here)
http://www.roughtrade.com/

Saccharine Trust
http://www.saccharinetrust.com/

Sacred Grounds coffee house, San Pedro
http://www.sgrounds.com/

Book: Sam the Minuteman
http://www.amazon.com/Sam-Minuteman-Can-Read-Book/dp/0064441075

San Pedro High School Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_High_School

Sidemouse: Watt Makes a Man Start Fires: A Mike Watt Tribute Page
http://sidemouse.com/

Sonic Youth
http://www.sonicyouth.com/

Book: Spiels of a Minuteman
http://www.oiedecravan.com/soon.html

SST Records at Emusic
http://www.emusic.com/browse/l/b/-dbm/a/0-0/1400116533/0.html

"The SST Records Story"
http://www.furious.com/Perfect/sst1.html

SST Records Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SST_Records

SST Superstore (doesn't appear to be working)
http://sstsuperstore.com/

Suburban Voice interview with the Minutemen
http://www.sidemouse.com/minutemen.htm
http://www.operationphoenixrecords.com/suburbanvoiceminutemen.html

Tar Babies
http://tarbabies.us/bartabbies/

Today in San Pedro Punk
http://www.angelsgateart.org/blog/?cat=15

Tom Troccoli on George Hurley and Spot
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=36525

Tom Troccoli interview (talks about D. Boon)
http://www.markprindle.com/troccoli-i.htm

Tom Troccoli's Minutemen set-lists cached
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:LFQuTjniSAwJ:www.sidemouse.com/troccoli.htm+%22Tom+Troccoli%22+minutemen&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

Trouser Press Minutemen discography
http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=minutemen

Truly Need #10 interview with the Minutemen
http://www.dementlieu.com/~obik/arc/other/mmen_tn10.html

Book: Ulysses
http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Modern-Library-James-Joyce/dp/0679600116

The Urinals Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Urinals

Varmintcong interview with Mike Watt
http://www.varmintcong.com/wattinterview.htm

Audio: "Vietnam" acoustic plus commentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q02GH4Vxqg

Radio/audio: The Watt from Pedro Show
http://twfps.com/

Mike Watt Hoot Page
http://www.hootpage.com/

Watt interview about Double Nickels
http://www.hootpage.com/hoot_watt-fournier06intrvw.html
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=59436154&blogID=247122916

Mike Watt/Minutemen discography at Sony
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/Watt/disco.html

Mike Watt music MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/wattfrompedromusic

Mike Watt MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/wattfrompedro

Mike Watt Yahoo message group
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/mikewatt/

Book: We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk
http://www.amazon.com/We-Got-Neutron-Bomb-L/dp/0609807749

Movie/video: We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen
http://www.theminutemen.com/

We Jam Econo MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/wejamecono

We Jam Econo review links (I was too harsh on it; the movie's way inspiring)
http://blogs.citypages.com/ctg/2005/08/party_with_me_punker_in_a_movi.php

Wire
http://www.pinkflag.com/

Wire Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_(band)

Brad Zellar tribute to Double Nickels [I'll have to clean this up]
http://mt.laweekly.com/min/pscholtes/2004/04/i_hate_1984_the_minutemen.php

Minutemen at the 1984 Los Angeles Street Scene, photos by Eric Stringer, from the Maximum Wattage message board.

Brave Ear Magazine, Winter '86 No. 3

Thank you to Peter Rabid's 1985 Minutemen special on his WORT-FM show in Madison, New Needles, for inspiration in making this tape and other similar recent tapes for friends and Toasty. Whoever stole my tape of that show, and my An-Aesthetic zine with the Minutemen, out of my high-school locker, I hope you kept them all these years. Thanks to Nate Patrin for burning me songs from Corndogs.org, and to Sonicfreak for burning me that 1984 show. More links, graphics, and thoughts to come... Discussion thread at DUNation.