THE JESUS LIZARD/NIRVANA – PUSS/OH THE GUILT (TOUCH AND GO)
With hindsight this is quite probably the best/greatest split single and also quite possibly the beginning of the end for one of the bands.
This record was supposedly being arranged for release before Nevermind broke so when it came out it was almost as if it had been something of an afterthought for one of the bands and something of a sheepish first time appearance for the other.
It was always The Jesus Lizard track “Puss” that wiped the floor with the Nirvana off cut. In “Puss” you have perhaps one of the greatest 100 songs of all time possessing guitars so dense and solid but still fully under control it serves as a rare example of a real bulldozer of band playing/performing at the height of their powers. Later in the middle of the song and there is that drum break this was a moment that proved just painful when listened to through headphones late at night so that the parents would not overhear and become terrified of the frenzied horror brand of music their son was now listening to.
The whole way through David Yow’s vocals just sound truly insane exhibiting the eloquence of a man on an extensive criminal rampage. “Give me something to stop the bleeding” – is one of the great opening lines of any record, just what the fuck is he singing about? As you delve further into the words of the piece, of the coherent moments you are able to pick out the chorus of “get her out of the truck” only serves to further confirm that something horrific is going down on this scene and in this man’s mind. Of all those metal bands that had their lyrics analysed and disembowelled never once did I ever hear anything like this in a song. As Yow’s vocals are split between headphones it feels and sounds as if there is a devil sat on each shoulder. There’s something very damaged about this band.
As you pick yourself up off the floor and head to the Nirvana you have to concede that you are being met with something of an anticlimax. Here was the biggest band in the world being taken apart by people sharper and weirder than themselves, this was a giant killing.
The Nirvana “Oh, The Guilt” was almost a demo. Famously recorded during the same session at the “great” “lost” Nirvana “You Know You’re Right” the sad reality was even though it wasn’t a bad song it didn’t sound like a band that was on fire and did bear more than a passing resemblance to another song called “Curmudgeon” that had appeared on the b-side of “Lithium”. This was not why Nirvana had sold millions of records or why we loved them, they had no changed the face of music with material like this.
Upon release there was a frenzied buzz about this record and the limited edition nature of the quantities. On the week of release me and two friends skived off school and headed up to Colchester on the train to purchase the record from a shop called World Class that also specialised in an amazing line of live bootlegs while behind the counter Ben the owner would bob to rave and jungle music with a scary coolness and menace. The night before the video for “Puss” had played on 120 Minutes on MTV and there truly was a real buzz surrounding this release. With the "be quick or it will be gone" mentality/nature of the release I was actually heard aloud debating whether it might even make number in the charts.
In the end it reached eleven in the UK charts making it one of the major new release entries that week and producing the now infamous brief clip of The Jesus Lizard’s video on Top Of The Pops. It felt like the victory was ours.
Needless to say the single dropped like a turd out of the charts the following week and suddenly it was almost as if it had never happened. For months, almost years later CD single copies of the record remained available at inflated prices, especially in April 1994.
With amazing cover art from Malcolm Bucknall and the painting “Old Indian And White Poodle” that perfectly compliments the music held within, this is/was a single in a league of its own.
How green was our fucking valley?
Thesaurus moment: comet.
The Jesus Lizard
Nirvana
With hindsight this is quite probably the best/greatest split single and also quite possibly the beginning of the end for one of the bands.
This record was supposedly being arranged for release before Nevermind broke so when it came out it was almost as if it had been something of an afterthought for one of the bands and something of a sheepish first time appearance for the other.
It was always The Jesus Lizard track “Puss” that wiped the floor with the Nirvana off cut. In “Puss” you have perhaps one of the greatest 100 songs of all time possessing guitars so dense and solid but still fully under control it serves as a rare example of a real bulldozer of band playing/performing at the height of their powers. Later in the middle of the song and there is that drum break this was a moment that proved just painful when listened to through headphones late at night so that the parents would not overhear and become terrified of the frenzied horror brand of music their son was now listening to.
The whole way through David Yow’s vocals just sound truly insane exhibiting the eloquence of a man on an extensive criminal rampage. “Give me something to stop the bleeding” – is one of the great opening lines of any record, just what the fuck is he singing about? As you delve further into the words of the piece, of the coherent moments you are able to pick out the chorus of “get her out of the truck” only serves to further confirm that something horrific is going down on this scene and in this man’s mind. Of all those metal bands that had their lyrics analysed and disembowelled never once did I ever hear anything like this in a song. As Yow’s vocals are split between headphones it feels and sounds as if there is a devil sat on each shoulder. There’s something very damaged about this band.
As you pick yourself up off the floor and head to the Nirvana you have to concede that you are being met with something of an anticlimax. Here was the biggest band in the world being taken apart by people sharper and weirder than themselves, this was a giant killing.
The Nirvana “Oh, The Guilt” was almost a demo. Famously recorded during the same session at the “great” “lost” Nirvana “You Know You’re Right” the sad reality was even though it wasn’t a bad song it didn’t sound like a band that was on fire and did bear more than a passing resemblance to another song called “Curmudgeon” that had appeared on the b-side of “Lithium”. This was not why Nirvana had sold millions of records or why we loved them, they had no changed the face of music with material like this.
Upon release there was a frenzied buzz about this record and the limited edition nature of the quantities. On the week of release me and two friends skived off school and headed up to Colchester on the train to purchase the record from a shop called World Class that also specialised in an amazing line of live bootlegs while behind the counter Ben the owner would bob to rave and jungle music with a scary coolness and menace. The night before the video for “Puss” had played on 120 Minutes on MTV and there truly was a real buzz surrounding this release. With the "be quick or it will be gone" mentality/nature of the release I was actually heard aloud debating whether it might even make number in the charts.
In the end it reached eleven in the UK charts making it one of the major new release entries that week and producing the now infamous brief clip of The Jesus Lizard’s video on Top Of The Pops. It felt like the victory was ours.
Needless to say the single dropped like a turd out of the charts the following week and suddenly it was almost as if it had never happened. For months, almost years later CD single copies of the record remained available at inflated prices, especially in April 1994.
With amazing cover art from Malcolm Bucknall and the painting “Old Indian And White Poodle” that perfectly compliments the music held within, this is/was a single in a league of its own.
How green was our fucking valley?
Thesaurus moment: comet.
The Jesus Lizard
Nirvana
