When I first heard about the Supersuckers it was a time without Facebook, with limited access to the internet, with cassettes, CDs, records, hanging out drinking coffee with friends and all that. A time when the spread of information and “new” music was done by word of mouth and by tape trading before going to the record store to invest in a new discovery. In short, a time that seems very, very distant.
The Supersuckers, who will always carry the heavy badge of Lemmy, who famously said “if you don’t like Supersuckers, you don’t like rock’n’roll”, are coming –AT LAST- to Greece for three shows in Athens, Thessaloniki and Volos and this is something for which we will owe eternal gratitude to Made Of Stone Records.
To celebrate this, before we see them in person, we “recorded” a cassette like in the old days! Some of the songs you will find below may be played in Greece, or maybe not, but that doesn’t matter, because what you will see below are some personal choices and favorites, both classics and deep cuts, which are somehow a guide for this amazing band…
Just press “PLAY”…
SIDE A
1. “Rock’n’Roll Records” (Motherfuckers Be Trippin’) – You are not making a tape without this one! The perfect start, first concert track, kick-off for an unbridled rock’n’roll party! When I was playing in Texas club, a million years ago, it was played every night with its epic video making everyone at the club turn to the screen!
2. “The Evil Powers of Rock ‘n’ Roll” – the title track from the band’s second best album, but also the most underrated in America according to Eddie Spaghetti.
3. “Dirt Roads, Dead Ends and Dust” (The Evil Powers of Rock ‘n’ Roll) – an epic road song from a band that has traveled millions of miles on dirt roads, dusty highways and faced dead ends so many times.
4. “Must’ve Been High” (Must’ve Been High) – the band’s country alter ego came out with this album that was totally country. It got a lot of heckling and certainly caused confusion, but it’s an integral part of their DNA. For the record, I once bought “Must’ve Been Live”, which was a live recording of the country repertoire thinking I was going to hear electricity…
5. “Born with a Tail” (The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers) – Back in the ’90s without YouTube, social media and music platforms, releasing a music video was a big deal and this was one of their first, which left its mark on the years that followed.
SIDE B
1. “Dead Inside” (Suck It) – a song that was definitely influenced by Eddie Spaghetti’s adventure with cancer, which he thankfully beat. The lyrics are dark proving that the band is not just about partying and having fun, but can be much more serious.
2. “Sleepy Vampire” (Motherfuckers Be Trippin’) – again from “(Motherfuckers Be Trippin'”, which for me is their best album, a power ballad if I could describe it that way, starting off languidly with acoustic guitar only to kick in the gas a little later. Arguably one of their most classic albums.
3. “Creepy Jackalope Eye” (La Mano Cornuda) – a classic that is played almost every night bringing us back to the early days of the band, when they unknowingly moved from Arizona to Seattle because someone told them they would be a success there and they fell into the clutches of grunge…
4. “Pretty Fucked Up” (Motherfuckers Be Trippin’) – Another flirtation with country on one of their most recognizable songs. The point is how everything changes over time and not always for the better.
5. “Hey Ya!” – If you didn’t catch it, it’s a cover of OutKast’s big hit from 2003, more proof of how cool and unpretetious the Supersuckers are!
Yiannis Dolas
