Generic is mostly sludgy and sloooowww for punk, especially considering the early 80’s California punk sound which was, decidedly, not. Compared to their contemporaries, Flipper’s tracks are epic in length. The dirgey, head-banging (slowly) “(I Saw You) Shine” clocks in at well over 8 minutes. Usually I’d get bored but the bass line is kinda great and there’s some pretty good guitar licks. Also epic is “Sex Bomb” (just under 8 minutes), one of Flipper’s most well-known tracks. Flipper released that song as a single in ’81 and recorded a new version for Generic. One reviewer says about “Sex Bomb” – “[it’s] the closest thing ’80s punk ever created to the beer-fueled genius of the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie,” and a song with a great beat that you just can’t dance to.” It even has saxophone! Also great is “Way of the World,” which actually is a bit danceable, if totally nihilistic (lyrics include “There are hearts no longer beating, And there’s entrails still on the floor. That’s the way of the world.”), “Life” which has a Gen-X shrug about…life, and punk blues-riff laden “Nothing” which is actually an ass-shaker, though sloppily so. “Living for the Depression” is really the only high-speed punk song on the LP and it’s a real ripper for Flipper.

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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.

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Love Canal, the waterway/neighborhood in New York, was a BIG DEAL in the late 70′s after the discovery that Hooker Chemical Company dumped tons and tons of toxic waste, causing a public health crisis including birth defects and cancer. The scandal eventually helped the creation of the Superfund project for environmental cleanup. “Love Canal” lyrically decries the incident:

We set sailing
Floating down the love canal
We set sailing
Drifting down the love canal
We seem strange
Our bodies are breaking down
We are breeding
Our children look like monsters
We are breeding
Not to children but to monsters
We feel pain
Poison is killing our every cells
We are bitter
Poison is killing our very cells
We are dying
Our common grave is the love canal
We are dying
Our common grave is the love canal

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