alright.  let's talk about motherfucking wipers.  i kinda tried to shoot the shit with steel about them a couple times but he didn't seem interested, so i am posting here.  they're an incredible '77 punk band out of portland (this came as kind of a shock to me, because on a few of the first songs i heard, the vocalist sounded kind of like he had a british accent, but maybe that was just something he was trying to emulate).  anyway, they have three main albums: is this real?, youth of america, and over the edge.  they released like four others over a pretty long period of time, but from what i've heard of them, their earlier stuff is far superior, so i would suggest their first three.  those are also the ones that have been remastered and rereleased with a bunch of bonus tracks on them.

i call them punk, and they most definitely are punk, but they deviate from traditional punk in a few ways, i think.  obviously punk is still pretty much a guitar-driven genre, so i think it's of note that their guitar work veers away from their contemporaries pretty frequently.  i would call them more melodic, and they also have a tendency to use very shrill or very dark guitar tones, giving their music what i think is a pretty distinctive sound.  they're also not particularly SLOPPY.  they're not as tight as say, the clash, but their studio albums are a lot cleaner than what you might expect of an early punk band with a fairly small following.  they tend to not be as traditionally catchy as shit like THE RAMONES or whatever, but this is part of why they are so goddamn good, because they are still pretty catchy, but at the same time really just do not sound like many other bands, musically.  also unlike a lot of punk acts at the time, their songs aren't especially short; for example, they recorded a six-minute instrumental, and the title-track off their second album is over ten fucking minutes; neither of these are really something a lot of bands along that same vein do!  suffice to say, they are not your standard punk band and were kind of pushing the genre, i thought.  i dunno maybe catamites or someone who knows more about punk than i do will come in and explain in more detail.  anyway, here are some songs:


this is a great example of the darker guitar tone i was talking about, and how it lends a unique quality to their music.  it's also an awesome song.

this is the title track off their first album.  it's one of their poppier, more traditional songs

one of their more melodic tracks, complete with guitar solo!!!

title track off their third album

long instrumental off their second album.  also tight as hell

random song off their second album

decent example of the shrillness i was talking about, in the intro, and just a good song.  i tried uploading our past life, which is a 90-second instrumental off over the edge, because it's a much better example of them being shrill as hell and how it gives them an incredibly distinct sound, but there was something weird about the mp3

anyway, yeah.  that's a pretty solid collection of some of their better songs, and i think it's a fair representation of the different styles they hit on their various albums (shrill, melodic, dark, traditional catchy punk, and so on).  so yes in conclusion if you dont like them you are gay

i first found out about these guys after reading kurt cobains journals or a biography of him or something. the wipers rule!!!

these guys have always stuck out in my mind because yeah like what panda said. they're not the stereotypical powerchord/2min songs punk band. they really are pretty innovative. it's a shame they're not more popular than they are!

yeah, cobain's journal is pretty good.  i bought it because darkwhite told me it was cool, but his list of TOP 50 BANDS or whatever is great.  like i already knew about a lot of them but if i hadn't, he would've gotten me into some good shit.  he really had excellent taste in music


also shep i just checked and he wrote like A BLURB and no one talked about them so whatever

i mean, in 77, the biggest punk bands were probably british.  i assume that was just him kind of being the UGLY DUCKLING you know?  like he was not british, but so many of his fellow punk acts were, that singing with a british accent probably seemed like a natural, stylistic thing to do.

edit, also what a dumb name. hey I like wipers. wipers, wipers,

is this a serious comment

i don't know, is it?  when all the music you listen to is sung in a certain way, that doesn't seem like an accent; it seems like part of the music itself.  like a characteristic of punk was THAT KIND of vocal style, i think.  imo it's not any dumber than drawing any other type of stylistic element from others in the scene you're in.

ahaha yea i had THE BEST OF IDLEWILD for a while but then i deleted it because i didnt care for them.  but yeah i don't have a problem with changing your accent but i guess it depends on why like you said!  if you think it sounds better or if it is a stylistic decision then that's fine, but if it is just so you will be MORE MARKETABLE because people are used to american accents or whatever, then that's pretty wack i think.  i'm inclined to think it was the former in the case of wipers, though.