Flipper “Sex Bomb” 1981. Subterranean Records. 7″ single b/w “Brainwash” on red vinyl. A couple of weeks ago I heard that Moby was selling his record collection (Moby: “I would rather you have them then me, because if you have them, you’ll play them, you’ll love them…the money will go to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. So everybody wins. Well, except me, because now I don’t have any records.”) and I thought it would be hilarious to have a record once owned by Moby. (I should note I’m not a huge Moby fan though he does have a few songs I like.) I headed to his online record store to check out what was available. I got on about 20 minutes after it went live, found a few things but as I was browsing, items I had selected were disappearing from my cart. By the time I checked out I ended up with only his Flipper 45 and one other album and his inventory was way way down.

I have no idea where Moby picked up Flipper’s “Sex Bomb” so the chewed up condition of the sleeve could be a result of regular wear-and-tear at a used record shop or he has a shitty storage system.

Flipper was a fairly niche punk/experimental band but if any of their songs could be considered a hit, “Sex Bomb” was it. “In 1982, they were the toast of rock critics across the country with their post-hardcore punk masterpiece “Sex Bomb.” Clocking in at over seven minutes, possessing one riff played over and over (and sloppier and sloppier), with vocalist Will Shatter screaming rather than singing (total lyrics: ‘She’s a sex bomb/My baby/yeah’), it was a remarkable record: loud, proud, defiantly obnoxious, and relentlessly dumb. But in it’s own gleeful and intentionally moronic way it was (and remains) a perfect record.” (Allmusic) It’s sludgy, chaotic, screamy and catchy as hell. The B-side, “Brainwash,” is lo-fi and hardcore punk fast with lots of long pauses and the only lyrics are choppy unfinished sentences that each finish with the line “Nevermind. Forget it. You wouldn’t understand anyway.” Very weird but very cool.