I love The Buthole Surfers, especially if you don't need drugs to have a trip. Any good ones? I can see where Gibby Haynes is coming from on the Greatful Dead for the 80's concept. If The Dead's jams were truly psychedelic, you'll be seeing a thirty foot tall Gibby Garcia monster dancing on the stage in a leotard & fishnets. Wonder what Jerry Garcia made of the BHS?
John Battles said:
You've got a point. I remember Gibby or Paul saying "We're not a Hardcore band , we're more or a Grateful Dead for The 90's." ( A LOT OF PEOPLE THOUGHT THEY WERE A HARDCORE BAND , AND SLAMMING , OR MOSHING , WAS STILL COMMON , EVEN DURING THE SLOWER SONGS. But , the quote was from the 80's , they were looking forward to the 90's....).
BUT , unlike The Dead , who (Barring maybe their VERY early shows.) , were'nt Psychedelic at all , I thought The Surfers were more like an Elevators for the 80's (By 1988 , I'd given up on them , and stopped apologizing for their inconsistencies.). Their shows were frequently unpredictable and increasingly Psychedelic. Of course , a lot of people were "TRIP - pin" before the show began. Others , like myself , were TRIP - pin' , anyway , with no drugs involved . THAT's Psychedelia , and that's where , I maintain , The Dead failed. If they were truly Psychedelic , their boring jams would still make it to the expressway of your skull , without the use of psychedelics. "Pepper" was a hit , of course , but The Butthole Surfers MIGHT HAVE HAD A HIT , SOONER , IF THEY'D CHANGED THEIR NAME. It took The Dead over 20 years to score a hit , and this was after playing football stadiums. Were both hits a fluke ? I dunno . I remember The Dead only getting nominal airplay (For which I thank them.) , they could have had a hit , much sooner, To me , they had the sufficient dullness to pull it off.....But , I admit , Garcia said something I liked , "There was a time we would have sold out , on some level , but, no one was buying .".