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The Dead Milkmen don’t know what they’re doing on MTV’s ‘120 Minutes’ but they don’t like Morrissey
02.06.2015
12:36 pm
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A dedicated alt-rock fan on YouTube recently uploaded some choice clips from 120 Minutes, and the best find in the bunch is most likely this extended clip with Philadelphia indie rock mainstays the Dead Milkmen, in which they played one quite rare cut and one track they almost certainly only played during this appearance.

In early 1989 the Dead Milkmen were riding high indeed, thanks to the biggest commercial success they’d ever have, the well-nigh irresistible “Punk Rock Girl,” which had become a major crossover hit off of 1988’s Beelzebubba. This clip lasts nearly 22 minutes, skillfully editing out all of the videos and commercials and leaving just several solid minutes of vintage Dead Milkmen banter as well as two striking live performances. The second song they played was called “The Puking Song,” which eventually ended up as one of the miscellaneous tracks on the Smokin’ Banana Peels EP, which was released a year later. Host Kevin Seal makes a big deal about that “The Puking Song” is “unavailable in any store” so it’s my supposition that they may have written it for this appearance. In any case, it’s gross and funny in a way that only the Dead Milkmen did so entertainingly and so often.
 

 
The other song is billed as “Save the Rainforest,” but that title is pretty clearly a bit of sneaky subterfuge because—the song is actually about not wanting to appear on 120 Minutes! I’ve seen this song listed on Dead Milkmen forums and stuff as “Save the Rainforest,” but that’s sheer silliness, that is not the title of the song. The true title of the song is (if anything) “We Don’t Want to Be Here.” Actually, judge for yourself, here are the lyrics, which I believe you won’t find anywhere else on the Internet.
 

We don’t know what we’re doing here!
Trapped inside of your TV
Forced to host 120 Minutes
For some free publicity
There’s no Debbie Gibson or Tiffany
But you might have to sit through some Morrissey
We don’t want to be here
We don’t want to be here
We’d rather be at home!

Stick your head into the toil of tomorrow
Become one with the cosmic head
Stay up late, call in sick
Tune in, turn on, drop dead!
You won’t have to look at much Kevin Seal tonight
But you’ll have to look at us instead!
We don’t want to be here
We don’t want to be here
We’d rather be in bed!

[guitar/whistling solo]

There’s no Debbie Gibson or Tiffany
But you might have to see the Cowboy Junkies
We don’t want to be here
We don’t want to be here
But it’s better than drinking alone! (several times)

 
Of course, the title could be “Save the Rainforest” if you accept that the subterfuge is part of the song or something like that. As far as I can tell, this track, which obviously makes sense only if you’re actually performing it at MTV for a taping of 120 Minutes, doesn’t appear on any Dead Milkmen albums or EPs. As you can see (or hear) for yourself, they went out of their way to make fun of Morrissey in the song, but they weren’t done with His Holy Pompadour just yet.

During one of the interview segments, after Joe Genaro had finished demonstrating a drum-playing panda toy to everyone, Rodney Linderman tells a story about walking into a bar and seeing a guy eating a steak, drinking beer, and punching a guy in the face and then stealing his best gal, with the punchline being that it was Morrissey, who clearly “eats steaks, drinks beer, and chases women,” har har.

Just for bookkeeping’s sake, Kevin Seal mentions that they’ll be playing videos from Lou Reed, the Beatnigs, the Smiths, Thelonious Monster, Elvis Costello, Hugo Largo, XTC, the Wonder Stuff, Depeche Mode, the Pursuit of Happiness, Thrashing Doves, and Throwing Muses. We also see part of a Jane’s Addiction video. They also spend a good chunk of time discussing the Plimsouls. The episode must have taped in late March of 1989, because according to a crawl late in the clip, the Dead Milkmen had gigs at D.C.‘s 9:30 Club, Chapel Hill’s Cat’s Cradle, and Atlanta’s Cotton Club in early April.
 

 
via Slicing Up Eyeballs
 

Posted by Martin Schneider
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02.06.2015
12:36 pm
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