Show #132: We Jam Econo (The Minutemen)

August 9th, 2007

I chose the subject of this week’s show by virtue of having seen a documentary about the band. Last weekend I watched We Jam Econo: The Story of The Minutemen. It had been years since I’d heard any Minutemen (the last probably being something from Double Nickels on the Dime) and I didn’t listen them until long after the band had broken up after the death of guitarist/singer D. Boon. As a documentary, it was pretty good. The live footage was great to watch but it did get bogged down at times in D. Boon hagiography. And the surviving band members, Mike Watt and George Hurley, aren’t glamorous rock stars and consequently they don’t have the most exciting screen presence. Still, there were some great live performances and I got a good overview of their career.

D. Boon and bassist/singer Mike Watt hailed from San Pedro, California and they met each other in their early teens when the former fell out of a tree in a park next to the latter. They quickly became great friends. The Minutemen were formed in 1980 and, in the space of five years, became one of the most influential punk/hardcore bands in the United States. While the movie featured interviews with Flea and Thurston Moore, it would have been nice if the extent of the band’s influence was elaborated upon a bit more.

The band’s sound was not exactly traditional punk. We Jam Econo illustrates just how talented a drummer Hurley was. His playing really propelled the songs along in much just as Keith Moon’s did for The Who. Watt’s bass has a springy and sometimes percussive sound which complimented his melodic style. And D. Boon’s guitar wasn’t just hammering out crunchy riffs. There was punk rock along with some funk and even some jazz plus bits of just about everything. In their early days, songs generally were under a minute but they did eventually veer towards epics songs spanning almost three minutes. We’ve got 22 songs in this week’s show yet it clocks in at just under 50 minutes.

(Photos found here.)

This is likely a soundboard recording, though not mixed overly well. The concert took place on 1 March 1985, about nine months before D. Boon’s death and the end of The Minutemen. It was at The Stone in San Francisco.

Setlist:

King Of The Hill
Retreat
Toadies
The Big Foist
Corona
Take Our Test
Hey Lawdy Mama
Mr. Robot’s Holy Orders
Don’t Look Now
Ack Ack Ack
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
Beacon Sighted Through Fog
The Only Minority
Badges
The Cheerleaders
Green River
This Ain’t No Picnic
History Lesson (Part 2)
Little Man With A Gun In His Hand
Tour Spiel
It’s Alright
Lost On The Freeway Again

Download show

The Minutemen

I was pleasantly surprised to find that YouTube actually has some footage from this show. You can see D. Boon, who was no small man, hop and dance around the stage.

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