History Lesson-Part II

My wife got me a great gift. Years ago I had a shirt of the Minutemen album What Makes a Man Start Fires? Like most of my great shirts, it disappeared in one of the five or six times I moved since I got the shirt. My wife, probably tired of hearing about how much I miss the shirt, found a new one for me online and bought it for my birthday. She is a great wife.

So, I guess this all just goes to prove how much I love the Minutemen. I first heard of the band by picking up Mike Watt's first solo album Ballhog or Tugboat, an album that featured Eddie Vedder. I really dug the album, and it not only introduced me to Watt, but also Sonic Youth and "Maggot Brain." Pretty transitional album.

After reading in the Spin Alternative Record Guide that Double Nickels on the Dime was the widely believed classic of the Minutemen catalog, I picked it up. And I was confused as hell. I had already cut my teeth on Alien Lanes, so it wasn't the short songs that threw me off. I just wasn't sure what to make of this odd band. It didn't last long, though. A couple listens to the album and I was a big fan. It is one of the coolest albums out there, and if you haven't checked it out, do so as soon as possible.

"History Lesson-Part II" is the autobiographical hit from the album. I've always dug the song, but thought about 15 other songs were better on the album (this isn't a slight on the song; the album has forty some songs on it, all of which are good!). Then I saw the documentary We Jam Econo. The best scene of an extraordinary documentary features the band sitting down, running through this great number. I watched it over and over before finishing the movie. It captures everything that is so wonderful about this great band, and has made this song my favorite of an impressive catalog.