Shuffle Aces: Butthole Surfers – Dracula From Houston

Not exactly an obscure track, but one that I heard this morning for the first time in ages and it reminded me what a great rock anthem Dracula From Houston really is. Butthole Surfers were formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas back in 1981. Locked into the 80s hardcore punk scene, they quickly became known for their weird live shows, and a sound that included elements of psychedelia, noise, punk rock and, later, electronica, as well as their use of sound manipulation and tape editing.

Their name has always been an issue with more conservative media a bit concerned about ever saying it in full. It reportedly came from an early song, but prior to that they’d appeared under a bunch of awesome names – how about these beauties: The Dick Clark Five, Nine cm Worm Makes Own Food, The Vodka Family Winstons, Ashtray Babyheads, Ed Asner Is Gay, Fred Astaire’s Asshole, The Right To Eat Fred Astaire’s Asshole, and The Inalienable Right To Eat Fred Astaire’s Asshole.

Although well respected by their peers and with a strong fanbase, Butthole Surfers had little commercial success until 1996’s Electriclarryland. Dracula From Houston appeared on their last full release, Weird Revolution and is a much more radio friendly track than a lot of their early stuff, but you can’t deny how catchy it is.

 One of my favourite verses from the song contains perhaps the only reference to the bassoon is rock music:
Starin’ in disbelief out at the gloom
I was forced with remorse to learn the bassoon
I got real good in about six years
Started playing out for a couple of beers
Then one day I was playin’ at the gig
And in walked the monkey with a couple of funky friends
He came right over and said
“This is what you’ll do, you’re gonna get a bike
You’re gonna paint it blue”

Official Website: http://www.buttholesurfers.com/

You can find all the Shuffle Ace tracks – including this one – on a Spotify playlist here.

Shuffle Aces is a series of posts that highlights a song of the week that “shuffling” has brought forth. With all the streaming services it’s not just an iPod on shuffle mode that we use to discover new stuff, but the principle remains the same: hit play and wait to see what gems come forth.