I was reading the sleeve notes on the Gibson Bros.' "Memphis Sol Today!" record (which features Jeffrey Evans and Jon Spencer) and I noticed they printed "Support Free Speech: boycott Norton Records!"

Does anyone know the story behind that and if the "beef" still continues to this day?

In the book "We Never Learn", the author briefly mentions the beef, but doesn't explain it (that I am aware of). 

That thread wasn't very articulate, but I think it's easy to get the gist.
 
Ali Want said:

There's a thread on the Terminal Boredom board which explains a little more: http://terminal-boredom.com/forums/index.php?topic=24544.0 and I seem to recall (although based on somewhat hazily-remembered conversations with Howland and Evans) that it was all sorted out somewhere along the line.

Ali:

After reading the terminal-boredom post, i almost wished i hadn't, cause now everytime i look at the back of the Gibson Brothers/Workdogs LP, Punk Rock Truck Drivin' Song Of A Gun, i'm seeing those initials....it did make me laugh out loud for a minute (or 2) at the utter stupidity of it all!!

Ali Want said:

There's a thread on the Terminal Boredom board which explains a little more: http://terminal-boredom.com/forums/index.php?topic=24544.0 and I seem to recall (although based on somewhat hazily-remembered conversations with Howland and Evans) that it was all sorted out somewhere along the line.

Thanks for the help. In the "We Never Learn" book, he does mention that it was a "brief" beef, implying that it didn't last too long or cause any major problems, considering the people in both bands/camps were amicably hanging out together (to some extent) at each other's shows (according to the book).

I was just curious about the story, considering how influential the members of each band are in our little arena of crusty rock.

This was discussed on the Bomp List many moons ago:

http://bomplist.soybomb.net/2000/04/msg00605.html

I seem to remember that basically the Gibson Bros. had sampled a piece of an A-Bones' record and that caused a ruckus. No credit was supposedly given, etc. Or maybe they'd made some rude noise after the 'Bones sample (and *still* not given credit or paid for the use or something like that.)  The Norton folks objected to the use, at any rate and the Gibsons obviously didn't like being given crap for it. Or, at least, that's the little I remember about it.

There's a thread on the Terminal Boredom board which explains a little more: http://terminal-boredom.com/forums/index.php?topic=24544.0 and I seem to recall (although based on somewhat hazily-remembered conversations with Howland and Evans) that it was all sorted out somewhere along the line.