Customer Reviews

The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime (33 1/3)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When "Double Nickels" came out, I was a teenager in a small town, playing in my own punk rock band. And just as D Boon sang about how "punk rock changed our lives", mine was never the same afterwards -- Minutemen and "Double Nickels" taught me that punk rock was a state of mind, not a cliche I had to adhere to.

So, for me, as a fellow devotee, Fournier had a lot to live up to with this title -- which he does superbly. Seeing as Mike Watt is one of the great self-mythologizers of all of rock (he was even then), Fournier has precious little new information about the subject whatsoever to bring to the table. He instead chooses to delve, song-by-song, into the album itself, musing on whatever he can muster from his own interviews and pre-existing spiels.

If Fournier has a real short-coming here, it's in his presentation of the music itself -- while he readily handles all of the lyrical density and inside-lingo of the Minutemen and "Double Nickels", most fans know that D Boon, Mike Watt, and George Hurley were supremely ambitious musicians, reaching light years ahead of their supposed abilities to incorporate sounds from the Pop Group to James Blood Ulmer, and created songs unlike anything at the time; Fournier seems to have a limited-at-best grasp on the musical concepts he's trying to describe.

But, for most readers, that's a minor quibble. Highly enjoyable, and a must-read for anyone trying to approach this record now, a couple of decades out-of-context.

Fournier, aside from proving years and years of fanhood and research for this book, has proven himself a biographical writer worth noting. His writing contains more relevant and interesting material than I could have asked for, while managing to trap my interest for pages on end. A worthy investment for anyone, whether a new or life long Minutemen fanatic.

Mr. Fournier's book came to my mailbox with great anticipation. A feeling not unlike the time of many summers past when buying records directly from SST back in the early 1980s. I can distinctly remember getting Double Nickels on the Dime via mail order, having previously lost my mind on the first full-length What Makes a Man Start Fires. Double Nickels killed me, and continues to do so to this day (though I still don't understand wtf is up with SSTs reluctance to properly issue all tracks from the double LP in it's entirety... some day maybe.) To say that the Minutemen changed my life would be an understatement. From all of the press accolades, I venture to say that Mr. Fournier and I are in the same boat. He even teaches a course on punk rock (warning flag in hindsight). Expectations thus = high.

In my corndog years back in the logging hills of northern California (Pedro north anyone?), I was an SST devotee. I bought everything. Even though Black Flag had been the initial taste, I quickly gravitated toward the Minutemen with their first single, Paranoid Time. I ordered everything that was available, and lived for the updated flyer of available titles that came with each purchase. (It's cool to look back inside those records and see the still primitive paste up approach that would eventually fade away as the 80s wore on.) I suspect there are many out there that share this experience of pre-easy access to anything and everything. Mail order ruled the day. I (mistakenly) assumed that Mr. Fournier came from the same time period, and would be weaving more of a hands-on personal account along the way of his discovery of the record that also blew my ears off on first listen.

I should have done more research.

Having been burned before with the 33 1/3 series (granted, a lot of these folks are not writers, so you take what you get), I resurfaced hope and figured there was no way to get this book wrong. There is no easier way to put it than that. It's interesting, but just doesn't work. I don't want to ding Mr. Fournier for his enthusiasm, nor his interesting anecdotal research, but I take something away from this book that leaves me hopelessly unsatisfied. I can't fault a guy for loving the Minutemen, no matter what time in life one discovers them. The songs are dissected and explored in a straight track-by-track fashion, but in such a way (that for me), the lack of context of having been there during the time period in which they were written and released really grates on my brain. It's all too academic. For all of their genius, complexity and intellect, the Minutemen were simple and pure. There was no hubris to sort through, no formulaic baggage. I find the latter to be my biggest stumbling block with this book: there is a struggle to break free from the thesis of musicological academia, yet it remains tethered to it's structure. In the end, you'll read this as "old, grey-muzzle, bitter-guy review," and I suppose you'll be right because it's completely my own issue. I expected to connect with someone revisiting the greatness of this record having experienced it's context in real time, rather than through the lense of everything else that followed in it's wake. Writing about great music (great art of any medium) is always a risk, so I do offer kudos to Mr. Fournier for trying to capture the spirit and story in the most passionate and informative way he can. I was just bummed.

So kids, check the used book stores. You should be able to find my copy in near mint condition for a quarter or so, or... better yet: buy the album and then go start your own band.

This 33 1/3 was a lot of fun to read. The Minutemen are one of those bands who have a wall of in-jokes around them that both insulate them from listeners as well as appeals to them. Fournier does a great job of digging deep and asking the right questions to his interviewees, so in the end there's not that diminishing effect of someone explaining a joke to you. Good stuff!

Well Researched, Plentiful interviews never seen anywhere else from Mike Watt, Ian Mackaye, David Rees (Get Your War On), and others. Aside from the welcome and useful information on such a keystone punk album of the early 80's, Fournier's breadth of popular culture knowledge and his quirky sense of humor will definitely engage the reader. A+

I have a lot of favorite albums but this album is my #1 favorite album of all.

I was delighted to find a 33 1/3 issue has been made regarding this album. This book goes through the album song by song and adds a lot of well researched facts and interesting commentary.

This album spoke to me like no other. Good job Michael Fournier!

If your into The Minutemen and love "Double Nickels on the Dime" check out this little gem. The book goes through the album with a fine tooth comb, it provides some inside info on each song and the album as a whole. This is a great gift for any fan of the band.

An excellent read, quite econo in its own right. With a great level of detail, shared in an interesting fashion, this is the best of the 33 1/3 books I've read to date, and will keep me looking for more of them. I loved the fact that they took so much effort to get the cover shot just right for the record, only to have it cropped on them at the end! Classic! Also, great to read about how the energy of the scene at the time just cross fueled so many important artists.

It's nice to know that at least one other Concord resident finds this record worthy of such great praise. Although I was bit skeptical of such a youngster dissecting one of my all-time faves, Mr. Fournier's well-researched and interesting take on Double Nickles makes it well worth a read for any fan (even casual) of The Minutemen. Not much new ground is covered about the band, but that makes little difference. Fournier is deft at casting a critcal eye on the sprawling 2LP set, while not falling into too many fanboy musings, unlike other books in this series. So run out and buy this. And Michael, next time your in C-town, look me up and I'll fill you in on some humorous Watt stories from our many conversations during the 1980's and 90's.