1984 album in review: Minutemen -- Double Nickels on the Dime

"We don't write songs, we write rivers"--Mike Watt

Minutemen bassist Watt nails it with this quote, and who--outside of his bandmate/soulmate D. Boon--would know better.

This band from San Pedro, California never wrote conventional songs. Their songs are like brief journal entries put to music. Sometimes they are more like disjointed thoughts put to music. And sometimes, the instrumental interplay between Mike Watt's active and bouncing bass, D. Boon's jagged guitar stabs and beat poet-like vocals, and George Hurley's jazzy, syncopated drumming are enough to make the lyrics inconsequential. As Watt said in the above quote, the Minutemen's songs are best described as rivers: they start from a little trickle, twist and turn in unexpected directions before spilling out into a larger body of water. Then they start all over again, only to take a completely different direction

The Minutemen created their own little world with their own private language, and they offered everyone an invitation to enter. Some who accepted the invitation only remained briefly before deciding to leave, while others stuck around even if they didn't quite understand what was happening at first--and were ultimately rewarded.

The Minutemen were on SST Records, just like Husker Du. (I covered the Husker's 1984 album Zen Arcade earlier this year). The story goes that when the Minutemen heard that their friends and label mates Husker Du were recording a double album, the boys from Pedro decided that they had to make their own double album. So, the Minutemen recorded an 80+ minute album of between 43-45 songs (depending on what edition one owns). They titled it Double Nickels on the Dime.

Before getting too far into discussing Double Nickels, let's backtrack to Mike Watt and D. Boon, the two working- class, autodidact musical geniuses that were the heart and soul of The Minutemen.

Watt's family moved from San Pedro from Virginia when Mike was a boy. His father was in the U.S. Navy and had been transferred to the naval base in Pedro. As related in the excellent documentary We Jam Econo: the Story of the Minutemen, Mike Watt and Dennes ("D") Boon met in a park in Pedro and became fast friends. They shared common interests and outlooks on life and soon began playing music together. These two nerdy, intellectual misfits eventually added cool surfer dude drummer George Hurley on drums. (Though Hurley attended the same high school as Watt and Boon, the comparatively handsome and athletic Hurley didn't hang out in the same social circles as the geekier Watt and Boon).

Six or so years of playing music together led the Minutemen to their crowning achievement, Double Nickels on the Dime. The title is a play on Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55." Instead of driving fast, the Minutemen are driving 55 ("double nickels") on Interstate 10 ("the dime") into San Pedro. It's all part of the Minutemen's unique sense of humor and private language, and it took me years before I had any idea what the title referred to. I think it was probably Michael Azerrad's book Our Band Could Be Your Life (or maybe the We Jam Econo doc) that hipped me to what the album title meant. (The album  cover shows Mike Watt behind the wheel of his Volkswagen driving on I-10 to Pedro, Watt's face in the rearview mirror, and the speedometer on 55. It took several attempts before the photographer was able to get the shot lined up with all the elements in place. The end result was, essentially, the Minutemen saying, "Hagar's rebellion can be driving too fast, while ours will be NOT in our driving, but in our music."

I'd love to say that I was on the ground floor with this album, and that I was a 16-year-old who was cool enough to obtain this record when it hit the shelves in '84 (or '85, '86, '87). In truth, it wasn't until the 1990s that I even found a copy of this record--the 1989 CD issue, to be exact. The record is so dense and unlike anything before or since that I was not immediately on board. I was one of those folks who got the invitation, didn't get what the hell was going on, but stuck with it anyway until it all finally clicked.

It's important to stress that this music doesn't work as simple background music. It requires the listener to drop what they are doing and fully immerse themselves in the Minutemen's world. That's the best way to listen to Double Nickels. Let Watt, Boon, and Hurley take you on a trip on their "song rivers". If you dig what you hear, then look at the lyric sheet, but don't expect to fully understand what Watt and Boon mean with their words. Though the songs are full of fascinating imagery, political philosophizing, historical references, and humorous of turns of phrase, their meanings are often a mystery. They are the glimpses into the brains of Watt, Boon, and Hurley and are not always easy to penetrate. But do they really need to be fully understood to be enjoyed? Definitely not.

I won't bother to go through every song on Double Nickels, as that would be a boring slog. There are a few songs, among the 45, that are key to the album: "Cohesion," "Corona," "This Ain't No Picnic," and "History Lesson, Part II." For anyone unfamiliar with Double Nickels, I direct them to these songs. "Cohesion" is an instrumental that features D. Boon playing beautiful flamenco guitar. It is easily the "least punk" track on the album. (However, depending on how one looks at it, maybe it's actually the "most punk" because of how audacious it is). "Cohesion" demonstrates that these guys were serious musicians who had a sensitive side and makes it all the more tragic that D. Boon died in a car accident the following year. It would have been fascinating to see how he developed as a musician and songwriter.

"Corona" is perhaps best known now as the theme song of the MTV show Jackass. Musically, it demonstrates how Mexican music had an influence on the Minutemen, as the song is similar to norteno. (And, no, I didn't know what the hell norteno was until I did research. I'd probably simply describe "Corona" as owing a lot to Mexican folk music). Norteno often deals with socially relevant subject matter, and this is the case with "Corona." D. Boon was inspired by a trip to Tijuana and the lyrics empathize with the working class/poor people Boon encountered there.

"This Ain't No Picnic" is the most conventional rock song on the album, and the video did get airtime on MTV. It's an anthemic and even poppy tune about how much D. Boon hated his day job and his asshole boss.

"History Lesson, Part II" is perhaps the most straightforward and emotionally naked song the band ever recorded. It's essentially a biography of Boon and Watt and how music changed their lives. (The line "Our band could be your life" was borrowed by Michael Azerrad for his seminal punk rock book Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991). It's a song I can barely get through without shedding a tear. Boon and Watt had the most powerful platonic love imaginable, and music truly did transform and save their lives.

As I mentioned a little earlier, D. Boon died tragically in December 1985 at the age of 27, and that was the end of the Minutemen. Mike Watt was understandably distraught and wanted nothing to do with music anymore. However, in 1986, a young Minutemen superfan from Ohio, Ed Crawford, traveled out to San Pedro and convinced Watt to strap on his bass again (and George Hurley to get back behind the drum kit). fIREHOSE was born and flourished for well over a decade, and Mike Watt's love for music was reborn. He's been busy ever since.

And that, my friends, is my take on Double Nickels on the Dime. If you've never heard it, give it a try. If you already know and love it, immerse yourself again in its warm, eccentric glow again.

Minutemen in 1982 (L to R): Mike Watt, D. Boon, George Hurley. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)