A double album of startling variety and dazzling genre-spanning scope from the Southern California hardcore scene. You ain’t heard nothing like it.
Formed in San Pedro, California, the trio of Minutemen - D. Boon (guitar, vocals), Mike Watt (bass, vocals) and George Hurley (drums) - became central to the SST Records roster, with short, sharp, and political songs that were rooted in DIY values. Dubbed "provocative art-punk minimalists", the trio emerged from the Southern California hardcore scene but quickly distinguished themselves with a compact explosion of ideas that were as indebted to funk and free jazz as they were to punk. Minutemen’s songs fitted with punk’s minimal and straight-to-the-point ethos; taut and muscular music that rarely lasted close to two minutes, but instead of simply going again, they were moving onto a new idea as fast as possible. One of their most quoted lyrics - “We jam econo” (later used as the title for this great Minutemen documentary) referenced the cheap Econoline van that they drove and slept in to save money, but would become a guiding phrase for underground culture. Short, honed and always evolving.
Recorded in early 1984 at Radio Tokyo Studio (Venice, California) Double Nickels on the Dime is wildly ambitious, with forty-three wide-ranging tracks across four slabs that balance their punk urgency with sharp musicianship and ideas that reach far beyond any genre. Inspired by label mates Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade, the trio pushed themselves to full stretch, expanding their scope for a sprawling statement of their own… “take that, hüskers!”
Minutemen wrote, recorded, and sequenced songs democratically, with each member contributing equally. There are just no limitations; broken down noise, boisterous Southern rock (specifically on ‘Corona’ that would take on a life of its own decades later as the theme to Jackass), funk-bass pounding, proto-new wave starkness, Sprechgesang and dozens of other routes with urgency, experimentation, humour, and political commentary. Remaining inherently punk, the album is entirely about recognising confines and simply operating outside of them. Both the title and the cover are brilliant examples of this, with the sleeve depicting Mike Watt driving his Volkswagen at exactly 55 miles per hour ("double nickels" in trucker slang) travelling southbound through downtown Los Angeles, where Interstate 10 ("The Dime") meets the San Pedro. Driving home, being part of something and knowing what actually needs rallying against, a parody of mainstream rock excess - specifically Sammy Hagar’s "I Can't Drive 55". They avoided punk’s limitations without losing its urgency and its potency.
"the big rebellion thing was writing your own fuckin' songs and trying to come up with your own story, your own picture, your own book, whatever. So he can't drive 55, because that was the national speed limit? Okay, we'll drive 55, but we'll make crazy music."
- Mike Watt
Instead of following a theme, Double Nickels on the Dime collects dozens of short, direct statements that together form a portrait of the band’s outlook: economic, self-reliant, and critical of conformity. The sound is dry and unpolished, recorded with clarity rather than gloss, and that simplicity gives the record its lasting impact. Still considered a cornerstone of American independent music, it would inspire and shape generations of DIY artists, influencing Fugazi, Pavement, and Sonic Youth amongst dozens more.
From its pounding funk grooves to its hissing and knotty folk guitars, Double Nickels on the Dime is an extraordinary collection of songs. Immediate and utterly essential.