Customer Reviews

Punch Line

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The Minutemen at their best were pure poetry, propelled by raw power and a funky punk sensibility. Their 1981 release "The Punch Line" is their finest effort.

The band came out of the L.A. punk scene, working class kids chumming around with bands known for blasting noise - crude, loud, and blunt - bands like Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and Lawndale. But with their ears opened by listening to records by Wire and others, they realized that they needn't fit their music into any genre. And they didn't. The music was loud, and fast, and driving, but often too intricate and much too tight to qualify as hardcore punk.

The lyrics, always spare at first, explored history, politics, and philosophy with remarkable sophistication, and in a way that no other punk band quite matched. Punk music often conveys a political - or anti-political - message, but often in a rather juvenile fashion. Not so the Minutemen - they were existentialist philosopher poets. And they managed to pull it off without even a hint of pretense. The Minutemen were real. They were genuine.

The band's early music wasted no time with the plodding repetition that characterizes most rock music. Each song made its point, both musically and poetically, and the band moved on to the next. It was said that they took the name "Minutemen" because they confined every song to a minute. And on "The Punchline" we find that every one of the 18 songs, on what was originally issued as a 12-inch 45 rpm EP, is indeed under a minute in length.

But oh, what they packed into each song.

In "Disguises," for example, it takes guitarist D. Boon 45 seconds to drive home the point that racism is not merely an external social problem - but something that requires every one of us to look into our own souls. The song is not preachy. It's not annoyingly didactic, as most moralizing songs are. D. Boon simply looks within his own soul, shares what he sees - and the band moves on.

In "Monuments" drummer George Hurley and bassist Mike Watt examine social conditioning and cultural knowledge in a 48-second statement of existentialist epistemology.

With the album's title track, "The Punch Line," bassist Mike Watt recalls General George A. Custer's last stand at the Battle Little Bighorn in a song of just 40 seconds - a song that is both charming and shocking in its austere realism.

"History Lesson" is astounding. Guitarist D. Boon manages to summarize 100,000 years (or more) of human history - spiritual, intellectual, and political - from Stone Age to nation states with nuclear weapons, in a 37-second song of fewer than fifty words. I count 47 words in the lyrics, as they were sung.

No one else - and I mean no one - compacts so much into one song.

Maybe I'm biased. I confess, I loved going to Minutemen shows in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, at the Cathay de Grande, the Stardust Ballroom, the Club Lingerie, the Lhasa, and even on a boat cruising San Pedro harbor with the Minutemen, the Meat Puppets, and Lawndale. Their music's cathartic effect and lasting spiritual content helped me to deal with the stresses of three years of law school, and after. I mourned D. Boone's untimely accidental death in December 1985.

But I do believe, most sincerely, that the Minutemen were one of the most remarkable rock bands that ever played. I believe "The Punch Line" is their finest record. And "History Lesson," well, the song still leaves me trembling in awe.

Eric Alan Isaacson

As with all MinuteMen records, this one simply rules. Fresher now than it was fifteen years ago. A wonderful introduction to their lighthearted militarism. Jangly guitars, poems disguised as songs, and a warm genuiness not exuded by anyband before or since. Check it out, dude.

A very short in length record with some songs lasting 20-50 seconds long. The music is fantastic and don't confuse The Minutemen with most of the punk rock era they came from, they are very original and unlike any other band. The Punch Line is a perfect intro because it features some of the earliest and best music. I recommend buying it as Post-Mersh, Volume 1, which includes both "The Punch Line" and "What makes a man start fires?". Then buy or at least listen to all other Minutemen records. "Search" is a perfect first song by the way.

In 15 minutes you realize this band could be your life. Opens up your brain and carves a trail forever. How can so much transpire in such a short time? Is it possibly to fit a lifetime into a such a short span? Best punk album ever, hands down.

It's a bit of a stretch to call this an album since they usually do very short songs, like 30 seconds to 1 or 2 minutes long though they often got 20 to 30 songs in each of these albums. Whatever it is, the MINUTEMEN were on a musical journey that no one ever did before or since. GANG OF FOUR and the BIG BOYS did what we could call punk funk if you like, particularly the BIG BOYS. The MINUTEMEN just made music the way they wanted and lots of it. One of the most prolific bands ever, at least one album each year of their existance and extensive touring, constant touring or recording actually, is what it appears to have been. Of course, the tragedy of this band is that d boon died in a car crash in late 1985 and that was the end of the band which started about 1980.

The other classic albums they did, to these ears, are My First Bells a comp of various compilation trax and 7"s, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat, What Makes a Man Start Fires? and maybe their opus, the 2xLP Double Nickels on the Dime. I don't include the Politics of Time or Ballot Result because they both have many trax that are weakly recorded live songs. Musically, they rule, but recording quality wise it's a little disappointing. Course, Ballot Result was supposed to be redux versions but they just pillaged the archives instead due to the terrible lose. To me Jimi Hendrix, John Belushi and d boon were the three biggest losses to the culture with their premature passing. God bless them each and, in the meantime, in our short time on this earth, I encourage you to sample these tunes and if you dig 'em and if you don't I just don't get it, dive into this record and the other 4. All 5 should be a staple in any record collection, particularly that of a punk. There's some Post-Mersh releases SST did. Feel free to buy them, it's the same music. Coolness. chrisbct@hotmail.com

The Minutemen were hardcore punk, but they were so much more...the shared the anger and power of other bands but could slow it down and add a lot more musicianship to the fold.
i think the kids call this musical chops.
simply put this is amazing, good stuff for the intellectual and stoner punks to agree on

This is a great album. It has all the punch and power and fun and joy as their other albums. When I think of their great albums, this is #1 or #2 for me.

Supposedly a full length album, this second document of the Minutemen's strength runs no longer than most ep's, and should really be considered as such. That said, it lags sadly behind the awesome "Paranoid Time" which came before it, and doesn't have a song as neat as "If Reagan Played Disco" on the "Bean Spill" ep which followed it. So what does The Punch Line have?

It's got lots of neat stuff like "Search" and "Gravity", but most of these sounds were better fleshed out on later albums. If you're a collector, (or just along for the ride) stop here and have a listen. Then move on to the REAL thing... The Minutemen would not look so back again.