Flipper was one of the most important American bands of the early 1980s, as they were perhaps the first to realize that you could be punk as fuck and heavy as fuck at the same time. Punk had generally disdained riffage of the Sabbath-y variety (some would say musicianship tout court), and in fact, one of Flipper’s more enduring charms is ... well, I don’t even know what the fuck genre they do belong to. Allmusic says they’re “hardcore” but I’d opt for a term like drone punk or sludge rock before hardcore even occurred to me. But of course, they have elements of both and some other stuff too. They were a mighty influence on the Melvins, Kurt Cobain loved them—hell, Krist Novoselic joined the band in 2006—and you’d have to imagine that Gibby Haynes was intimately familiar with their catalogue.
I’ve been playing Generic Flipper a lot recently and you won’t be surprised to learn that in an absurd time such as ours, that album is simply the ideal soundtrack. Politically and spiritually speaking, we’re on a majorly baaaaaad trip, and that’s exactly what that album is, the ultimate bad trip—but catchy and rude and smart and riffy, all at the same time.
Today’s clip finds Flipper at the B Square in Berkeley, the date was July 28, 1980. Flipper had not released a lick of material yet. The mighty singles “Sexbomb/Brainwash” and “Love Canal/Ha Ha Ha” wouldn’t come out until 1981, and for Generic Flipper you’d have had to wait until April 1982. They’re well on their way though, plenty of attitude and personality to burn.
According to the intro to the clip, this is the only video footage in existence of “The Wheel,” which here lasts a good 13 minutes and at certain points incorporates the Stones’ “Shattered” just for kicks.
Setlist:
Lowrider
Friends
Brainwash
One by One
Ha Ha Ha
Oh Oh Ay Oh
Love Canal
The Wheel
End Of The Game
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Here’s an incredible unreleased 1982 studio session from Flipper!