Butthole Surfers “Rembrandt Pussyhorse” released 30 years ago on this date, April 18th, 1986. Touch and Go Records. Weird, experimental, art noise meets punk meets industrial meets goth. Pulling some descriptor quotes from Allmusic, mostly in context: “tweaked…distinct queasiness…totally nuts…a strong slice of homegrown art/psychedelia gone to a murky hell.” Their cover of Guess Who’s “American Woman” is ridiculous – in a good way: industrial drums and a screaming stark guitar with dissonant echo chamber vocals, enough to make me actually want to listen to this tired song again. If Wiki is to believed, the opening track “Creep in the Cellar’s” (which sounds pretty normal with a lovely piano intro reminiscent of Patti Smith – until you listen to the lyrics about the creep taking off his skin) violin part was “the result of Butthole Surfers purchasing a used 16-track tape, on which a country & western band had previously recorded. Upon playing their mix of “Creep in the Cellar,” the band discovered they had inadvertently kept one of the country band’s channels, which contained a backwards violin track. Liking the way it worked with the song, they opted to keep it. They were also too tired to care about editing it out.” The last track on the album is a reprise of “Creep in the Cellar” – “In the Cellar” – which feels very PiL-like.

Oh there’s a creep in the cellar that I’m gonna let in
There’s a hole in his brain where his mind should’ve been
When he starts talkin’ backwards your head starts to spin
And he really freaks me out when he peels off his skin, yow!

Oh there’s a creep in the cellar with his hands in the air
And he lies to his mother but she doesn’t care
When the fists are flying backwards and the ballroom is bare
Cause the turkey’s talkin’ backwards, it’ll raise up your hair
Oh there’s a creep in the cellar that I’m gonna let…in

We saw the Butthole Surfers play at the Rave/Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee on July 16th 1996 (Reverend Horton Heat, the Toadies and the Supersuckers also played). One of the loudest and hottest shows I’ve ever been to – I’m pretty sure we had to leave during the Surfers’ set as my ears were ready to bleed and we were at the point of passing out from dehydration. (We were there more to see the Rev and the Toadies anyway.)