VARIOUS – THE BEAVIS
AND BUTTHEAD EXPERIENCE (GEFFEN)
Back in late 1993 this
was an undignified return of Nirvana to
record. Kurt was still around (just
about) and he hardly appeared to have much in common with Beavis and Butthead,
indeed in many ways they were the audience Cobain appeared fearful of appealing
to. However the sad reality was this
compilation shared a label with the band and thus strings were shorter to pull.
With the benefit of
hindsight to include “I Hate Myself And Want To Die” on a cheap and nasty album
like this feels painfully crass. The
title of the track (and almost their final album) was not so much a cry for
help, more a painful reality that nobody really took seriously. What a fucking situation.
It begins with crowd
cheering then the cartoon pair making guitar noises before said Nirvana off cut
drops in all during the course of the first CD track. And a Nirvana off cut always tended to be of ten times the value
of most bands. Sounding straight off In
Utero it has trademark Albini drums and a gnarly guitar snarl. It made the album worth buying to me.
Then reality kicks in
as Anthrax follow first conversing with Beavis and Butthead in an excruciating
manner before delivering a naff and pointless cover of “Looking Down The Barrel
Of A Gun” by the Beastie Boys. The pair
was always more Headbangers Ball than 120 Minutes.
By this stage the joke
has already worn wafer thin ahead of appearances by big hitters such as
Aerosmith, Run DMC, Megadeth and White Zombie.
That said the Megadeth contribution “99 Ways To Die” isn’t bad (thanks
to a decent hook) even if Dave Mustaine does sound like Beavis on it.
Things turn wacky was
Primus, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Jackyl chip in with the expected contributions,
although for a while I did find myself partial to the term of “Mental
Masturbation” as used by the latter.
At the eleventh hour
the Red Hot Chili Peppers manage to storm proceedings with a spot on cover
version of “Search And Destroy”, a take faithful and ballsy enough to held up
to The Stooges’ original. For this
collection though, its too little too late to up the overall stakes.
Then it all ends with
the abortion that was their “duet” with Cher and their version of “I’ve Got You
Babe” complete with dig at Sonny Bono.
It’s a fucking mess, as was most of the album. Time has not been kind.
Never buy into
nostalgia.
Thesaurus moment:
morbid.
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