San Francisco’s The Mummies were kings of the 1990s garage punk “budget rock” scene. Known for their outrageous and insulting stage antics, the group, clad in tattered bandages, straight tore shit up until their demise on New Year’s Day of 1992—as the video at the end of this post will attest. Since their break-up, the group has reunited several times, and are currently scheduled to headline The Burger Boogaloo festival, hosted by John Waters, the weekend of July 4th, this year… Maybe…
You see, The Mummies (or someone posing as them?) recently posted a punk-as-fuck open letter to Burger Records, which had a lot of ticket-holders on the Internet scratching their heads.
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Now, we’re in no position to second-guess The Mummies’ intentions or veracity of their letter—so we’re not going to speculate one way or another whether or not the group intends to ditch their Burger Booglaoo gig.
We will, however, point out what many fans of the group already know: that the Burger Records “fuck off” letter seems to be an homage to an earlier “fuck off” letter sent to Sub Pop Records back in 1993.
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According to The Underestimator:
The Mummies` reply to Sub Pop`s offer to include them on their monthly singles collection was a fake Sub Pop Singles Club bootleg self-release with this “Fuck You” note, back in the early `90s, when Sub Pop had become a major player in the record business, signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, and many more grunge bands from Seattle.
The Mummies put out their own “bootleg” Sub Pop “Singles Club” 45, with that letter included, as the ultimate two middle fingers in the air punk gesture.
The discogs entry for this “unofficial release” indicates:
Released in response to Sub-Pop requesting the band appear on a Singles Club release. The record’s sleeve copies the layout of a Singles Club single, but it is not a Sub-Pop release. The labels on both sides of the record are blank.
Could this even happen in 2015 without serious legal repercussions?
This gesture may have itself been inspired by Sub Pop’s own infamous “Dear Loser” rejection letter:
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You see, in the early ‘90s EVERYONE was an asshole.
Let’s hope The Mummies reconsider their stance against the Burger Boogaloo “love in” before July 4th…
Because the world needs THIS: