(Credit: Press)
As the name attests, Butthole Surfers were among the most controversial and provocative bands of the late 20th century. The Texan group began as a proponent of the state’s blossoming hardcore movement in the 1980s and evolved to become a beast of their own: a surreal, psychedelic nightmare.
Moving into the 1990s, the band once again revised their sound into a more radio-friendly phase, beginning with 1990’s alt-radio hit ‘Pepper’.
Matador Records have now announced a special reissue series celebrating Butthole Surfers’ most esoteric and provocative spell of the 1980s.
The reissue series includes the albums Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac, Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician, Hairway to Steven and piouhgd, alongside EPs and other material recorded during the band’s “strange, grotesque, and ultimately unparalleled first decade,” as the new press statement puts it
Although physical releases are in the pipeline, with more information expected soon, these albums are now licensed to Matador Records and are available on streaming services now.
“The most surprising and rewarding chapter to write was the Butthole Surfers chapter,” he said. “I’d always thought of them as a bunch of drug-addled reprobates – which maybe they were – but it turned out to be more complicated than that.”
Revisit John E. Smoke below.
