Listen to Horsegirl cover the Minutemen on ‘History Lesson, Part II’
In the long and storied annals of punk rock, ‘History Lesson, Part II’ serves as a solid line of demarcation. Crafted by California weirdos the Minutemen, ‘History Lesson’ serves as its own myth-making tool. Canonizing the personal exploits of Mike Watt and D. Boon, ‘History Lesson’ also helps put a place marker at this particular point in music, where pogoing and calling yourself a “corndog” was about the most punk rock thing you could do.
Even more punk rock was the idea that you didn’t have to play punk rock to be punk rock. Minutemen had the energy and aggression of punk, but they also had an insatiable thirst for genre-blending. Whether it was loopy polkas, southern-friend country songs, spoken word interludes, or classic rock covers, Minutemen were experts in deconstructing the standard tropes of punk music and rebuilding them based on a DIY attitude. Minutemen were one of the first bands to say that punk rock wasn’t in the sound – it was in the attitude.
Now, over 35 years since the song’s original release, teenaged post-punk upstarts Horsegirl have covered the legendary track. Retaining the song’s iconic lead guitar line, the soft drawl of the song’s spoken word vocals fit the sound of Horsegirl perfectly. This time, instead of “real names”, it’s “middle names” that are the proof of authenticity.
“‘History Lesson Part II’ has always been a punk manifesto for us,” the band explain in a statement. “It was an unusual pick to cover considering the lyrics are so specific to Minutemen, but we thought there was something appealing too about recording a ‘History Lesson’ that doesn’t actually give you any history on us.”
Indeed, a couple of Minutemen-specific lines are swapped out to make reference to the members of Horsegirl, but it’s nothing egregious or anything to get worked up about. In fact, it shows that ‘History Lesson’ is a malleable track, one that any band can write its own history into. Just change some names and details, and boom, you have your very own history lesson, even if your career is just getting started like Horsegirl’s is.
Check out the cover of ‘History Lesson, Part II’ down below.
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