Shuffle Aces: Minutemen – This Ain’t No Picnic

There are lots of bands that are well known within their genre but have somehow never become more than an historical footnote to me. Case in point: I’ve always been aware of the Minutemen and their role in the world of hardcore, but I’m not sure I ever listened to their work. I was recently listening to the excellent Sound Opinions podcast that featured an interview with Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. It was enough to tip me over the edge and I listened to the album they recommended: Double Nickels On The Dime.

The track here – This Ain’t No Picnic – is a good sample, but really this post is about the album. It’s an amazing collection of 45 songs, almost all under two minutes that was really revolutionary when it was released back in 1984. The musicianship of D.Boon (guitar/vocals), Mike Watt and George Hurley (drums) is amazing, especially on some of the slower tracks where there’s a jazz-like feel to what they do. I’m sure a lot of readers won’t see this as a hidden gem as they will have been well aware of the band and their brilliance for a long time, but if, like me, they’ve somehow passed you by, it’s well worth listening to the entire Double Nickels album.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minutemen_%28band%29
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Minutemen

You can find all the Shuffle Ace tracks – although I’m afraid not this one as it’s not available on Spotify – 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.