Six Definitive Songs: The ultimate beginner’s guide to Butthole Surfers
San Antonio band the Butthole Surfers remain one of rock music’s most distinctive outfits. Ostensibly an alternative group, their oeuvre covers more ground than the tag suggests. While they may have emerged from the underground hardcore punk scene of the 1980s, they gradually moved away from their origins by expanding their use of electronics and textures to really dumbfound their critics and fans.
Formed in the Texan city by frontman Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981, Butthole Surfers have seen a handful of band members come and go. However, Haynes, Leary and drummer King Coffey have been in place since 1983. Together, they created a sound that is essentially indefinable but best described as Butthole Surfers – a paradox that confuses almost everyone in the process. Across their work, noise rock, psychedelia, dance and other forms are mixed with Haynes’ surreal black comedy to create a kaleidoscopic menagerie that continues to convert new followers to their cause.
From Red Hot Chili Peppers to Jim Jarmusch, Butthole Surfers can count a range of respected creatives among their devotees. This is largely because they always continued to develop their artistry, building upon each album with more dazzling artistic flourishes, meaning that each offering was more robust and surprising than the last. In 2017, Leary confirmed that the book is not yet closed on Butthole Surfers by saying: “It’s time to make a new Butthole Surfers album”. Despite this assurance, the record is yet to materialise, with fans eagerly awaiting their return.
Fear not, as we have just the antidote in store. We’ve listed Butthole Surfers’ six definitive songs to reflect their brilliance and save us from the mire society presently finds itself in.
Butthole Surfers’ six definitive songs:
‘Cherub’ – Psychic… Powerless… Another Man’s Sac (1984)
An early highlight of the band’s, ‘Cherub’ appeared on their debut album, 1984’s Psychic… Powerless… Another Man’s Sac. An extended cut boasting a palpable sense of atmosphere and a droning bassline that even The Fall would be proud of, it was one of the earliest indicators of the madcap hijinks that Butthole Surfers would continue to provide across their long career.
Speaking of The Fall, the song might is best characterised as post-punk. If they’d released it today, it’s a guarantee it’d be at the top of Radio 6’s weekly chart. Clearly, they need to make a return.
‘Creep in the Cellar’ – Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986)
Another earlier piece by Haynes and the gang, ‘Creep in the Cellar’ is one of the more downbeat moments in their back catalogue. Carried by an unexpectedly emotive piano line and a jarring fiddle, the song is one of the band’s most concise pieces, although Haynes juxtaposes this by discussing the unsettling creep he’s threatening to let in.
Interestingly, the violin was included by accident. This resulted from the band purchasing a 16-track tape that a country and western band had previously owned. After playing their mix of the song, they discovered that they had inadvertently kept one of the country act’s channels, which contained a backwards violin track. It worked, so Butthole Surfers decided to keep the fiddle. More pointedly, though, they were too tired to edit it out.
‘Who Was in My Room Last Night?’ – Independent Worm Saloon (1993)
Perhaps the band’s best track, ‘Who Was in My Room Last Night?’ is Butthole Surfers to a tee. Thoroughly batshit and fuelled by energy so authentic it’s remarkable they were able to capture it on record, it sees all four band members shine, with particularly eye-catching performances by Haynes and Leary.
It also contains one of Leary’s most famous riffs, a total earworm. Augmenting the song’s quality is the equally surreal video, which features Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
‘Dust Devil’ – Independent Worm Saloon (1993)
The stylistic counterpart to the previous entry, the track kicks off the same way, with the heavy bass and fuzzy guitar kicking in before Haynes lets out some unhinged screams.
A speed-infused piece where Leary’s guitar work shines again, his noisy solos echo that expected of Duane Denison of The Jesus Lizard, one of the era’s other most prominent alternative acts, and fellow Texans. Turn this one up.
‘The Lord is a Monkey’ – Electriclarryland (1996)
Electriclarryland saw Butthole Surfers refine their craft and take their music to greater swathes of listeners than ever before. Some of this can be attributed to the swaggering grit of ‘The Lord is a Monkey’.
The track starts by languidly oozing the band’s penchant for LSD with an attitude-laden beat before bouncing between a pulsating wall of sound that concludes with one of Leary’s signature solos.
‘Pepper’ – Electriclarryland (1996)
By far the most famous piece by the band, ‘Pepper’ fuses the slacker trip-hop of Beck’s early work with Haynes’ typical style of surrealism and a hefty dose of psychedelia. Unsurprisingly, it has been a favourite of stoners since it was released.
Strangely anthemic, during the chorus, Haynes sings: “I don’t mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows I can taste you on my lips and smell you in my clothes / Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies / You never know just how to look through other people’s eyes”.
A moment of rare beauty, it is this cut that is credited with opening up the masses to the brilliance of Butthole Surfers.
