The Minutemen (band)

The Minutemen were a punk rock band from San Pedro, California comprising singer/guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley. They recorded in the late 1970s and early 1980s, ending when Boon died in a car accident in December 1985.

Legacy

From 1999 until the show's cancellation, an instrumental version of the Minutemen's song "Corona" (off Double Nickels) was the theme song of the MTV television show Jackass.

Related Topics:
1999 - MTV - Jackass

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In 2000 Watt, as administrator of the Minutemen's publishing, allowed the auto maker Volvo to use the D. Boon instrumental "Love Dance" (from Double Nickels...) in a car ad. Watt's motivation for licensing the song was actually generosity rather than greed, as Boon's royalties at the time were being paid to his father, who was suffering from emphysema; Watt simply refers to the decision as a way for D. Boon to help his father from beyond the grave.

Related Topics:
2000 - Volvo - Emphysema

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Since 2001 Watt and Hurley have done occasional gigs, mainly in the L.A. area except for two December 2004 shows in England, playing Minutemen songs as a duet with no guitarist. At some of these gigs, Watt would set up one of D. Boon's old guitars and amps on the side of the stage where Boon used to stand. Rather than cheapen or "vampire" the Minutemen name, these performances, at Watt's insistence, are to be billed strictly as "George Hurley and Mike Watt". They are also now involved in an improvisational music group, Unknown Instructors, with members of Saccharine Trust and Pere Ubu.

Related Topics:
2001 - December - 2004 - George Hurley and Mike Watt - Unknown Instructors - Saccharine Trust - Pere Ubu

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The group's career is chronicled in the book Our Band Could Be Your Life, a study of several important American underground rock groups whose title is taken from the lyrics to the Double Nickels track "History Lesson Pt.2"; and the film We Jam Econo — The Story of the Minutemen, which charts the band's history through interviews with Watt, Hurley, Henry Rollins, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other California punk rock contemporaries (Billboard Review). The film premiered at the Warner Grand Theatre in the Minutemen's hometown of San Pedro in February 2005.

Related Topics:
Our Band Could Be Your Life - Underground rock - Flea - Warner Grand Theatre - February 2005

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In 2003, Watt released his own book on the Minutemen, Spiels of a Minuteman, which contains all of Watt's song lyrics from the Minutemen era as well as the tour journal he wrote during the Minutemen's only European tour with Black Flag, essays by former SST co-owner Joe Carducci, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, and Blue Öyster Cult lyricist and longtime Watt hero Richard Meltzer, and illustrations by Raymond Pettibon that had been used in all of the Minutemen's album artwork. The book, released by Quebec-based publisher L'ole De Cravan, is published in both English and French.

Related Topics:
2003 - Joe Carducci - Sonic Youth - Thurston Moore - Blue Öyster Cult - Richard Meltzer - Raymond Pettibon - Quebec - L'ole De Cravan - English - French

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The Minutemen track Sickles and Hammers was covered by Sebadoh on 1991's Sebadoh III, while Jem Cohen and Fugazi dedicated their 1999 film Instrument to the memory of D. Boon.

Related Topics:
Sebadoh - Jem Cohen - Fugazi - D. Boon

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Sublime sampled "History Lesson Part II" from Double Nickels... as part of their song "Waiting For My Ruca" in 1992. Watt repaid this salute by appearing in Sublime's video for "Wrong Way" in 1996. On their eponymous debut LP, San Diego-based indie rockers Pinback sampled Hurley's drum intro to the Double Nickels track "It's Expected I'm Gone"; in his honor, the band named the track "Hurley."

Related Topics:
Sublime - Indie rock - Pinback

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