The Dead Milkmen is a satirical punk band formed in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band initially consisted of Joe Genaro ("Joe Jack Talcum"; guitar, vocals), Dave Schulthise ("Dave Blood"; bass), Dean Sabatino ("Dean Clean"; drums), and Rodney Linderman ("Rodney Anonymous"; vocals, synth).
The band's musical style could be described as jangly, driving punk rock with a steady supply of irreverent humor as evident from the song titles "My Many Smells", "Taking Retards to the Zoo" and "If You Love Someone, Set Them On Fire." Linderman and Genaro both sing with heavy Philadelphia accents often sounding exaggeratedly snotty.
The group recorded eight studio albums, one live record, and a large number of EPs and self-released cassettes before disbanding in 1995. In 2008, after a small handful of reunion shows during their 13 years of inactivity, the group announced its plans to continue performing and work on new material with new bassist Dan Stevens replacing the deceased Schulthise.
History
Early years (1983-1987)
The band began as Genaro's bedroom home-recording project. After creating characters and a mythological backstory for the band, Genaro was later joined by his friend Garth in writing and recording early home demos. Linderman (originally the drummer) joined the group in this embryonic home-recording stage prior to Garth's departure to join the United States Air Force; Schulthise and Sabatino, respectively, joined prior to the band's first public performances. Sabatino was the only member of the group with previous experience in rock groups, having played in the two-piece new wave band Narthex. The band has claimed that the Dead Milkmen name comes from a character named "Milkman Dead" in Toni Morrison's book Song of Solomon.
In 1985, after a few self-released cassettes, the group's debut LP entitled Big Lizard in my Backyard was released in 1985 on Restless Records, a subsidiary of Enigma Records. Their music received some airplay on college radio stations but was rarely heard on commercial radio. The most successful song from this record was "Bitchin' Camaro," which became a signature tune. Because of its improvised dialogue intro, it remained a favorite at live shows.
Their next two LPs, Eat Your Paisley (1986) and Bucky Fellini (1987), saw the band continue to embrace lyrical humor. Eat Your Paisley's single "The Thing That Only Eats Hippies" was a hit in Australia and got some rotation on the radio, and also became the first Dead Milkmen music video. "Instant Club Hit (You
All Dead Milkmen lyrics
- Air Crash Museum
- All Around The World
- Anderson, Walkman, Buttholes And How!
- Ask Me To Dance
- At The Moment
- Bad Party
- Beach Party Vietnam
- Beige Sunshine
- Belafonte's Inferno
- Big Deal
- Big Lizard
- Big Scary Place
- Big Time Operator
- Bitchin' Camaro
- Bleach Boys
- Born To Love Volcanos
- Brat In The Frat
- Chaos Theory
- City Of Mud
- Cousin Earl
- Crystalline
- Dance With Me
- Dean's Dream
- Depression Day Dinner
- Do The Brown Nose
- Dollar Signs In Her Eyes
- Don't Deny Your Inner Child
- Earwig
- Epic Tales Of Adventure
- Everybody's Got Nice Stuff But Me
- Fifty Things
- Filet Of Sole
- Girl Hunt
- God's Kid Brother
- Going To Graceland
- Gorilla Girl
- Happy Is
- Helicopter Interiors
- Here Comes Mr. X
- How It's Gonna Be
- Howard Beware
- I Against Osbourne
- I Am The Walrus
- I Can't Stay Awake
- I Dream Of Jesus
- I Hate Myself
- I Hate You, I Love You
- I Hear Your Name
- I Started To Hate You
- I Tripped Over The Ottoman
All lyrics are property of their respective owners and are strictly for non-commercial use only.