The Punch Line

The Punch Line

Infobox Album
Name = The Punch Line
Type = Album
Artist = The Minutemen


Released = 1981
Recorded = 1981
Genre = Punk
Length = 15:00
Label = SST
Producer = Spot
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:tb4uak8k5m3v link]
Last album = "Joy"
(1981)
This album = "The Punch Line"
(1981)
Next album = "Bean-Spill"
(1982)

The Punch Line is the first full-length album and third record release by influential punk/alternative trio The Minutemen, and the fourth-ever release from SST Records. To the average listener, "album" may be a minor misnomer as the total playing time for all eighteen songs is a mere fifteen minutes even; however, the album proved to be an early milestone release for both the band and SST.

"The Punch Line" is also notable for being the only album to feature lead vocals from all three Minutemen. Bassist and primary songwriter Mike Watt sings lead vocals on several tracks, including the opening track "Search", "Ruins", and the last three tracks of the album, "Gravity", "Warfare" and "Static", while drummer George Hurley does a lead vocal (referred to on the album's back cover as "giv(ing) a speech") in the middle of "Ruins".

The title track makes fun of General George A. Custer's death at the hands of Sitting Bull during the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Another track on the album, the instrumental "Song For El Salvador", reflects D. Boon's support of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in El Salvador. (Boon was a member of the NGO Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, or CISPES).

Even though the group's name was a reference to their personal and political ideology and not a reflection of the average length of their songs, only two of the songs on "The Punch Line" pass the one-minute mark. Most average between thirty and forty-five seconds.

The Minutemen, seeking to be as economical as possible in recording their first album, recorded "The Punch Line" during one late-night session (when studio time was the cheapest), recorded on previously used tape, and recorded the songs exactly in the order in which they appeared on the record. Overdubs were minimal if anything; Hurley's vocal on "Ruins" was actually cut during the basic track stages and picked up by the overhead drum mics.

Spot revealed during his interview for the Minutemen documentary "We Jam Econo" (preserved in the DVD's deleted scenes section) that the first pressing of the record was done with what he considered to be an inferior mastering job and set of stampers; he took possession of the stampers in order to prevent further pressings from being done, forcing a remaster that was used on all vinyl pressings since then.

"The Punch Line" also appears on the "My First Bells" cassette and the "Post-Mersh Vol. 1" CD. The opening track, "Search", represented The Minutemen on the second "Rodney On The ROQ" compilation album on Posh Boy Records, while four other songs, including the title track, were featured on the compilation cassette "The Future Looks Bright Ahead", jointly issued by Posh Boy and SST in 1981.

Track listing

ide one

#Search – 0:51 (Hurley, Watt)
#Tension – 1:18 (Tamburovich, Watt)
#Games – 1:01 (Boon, Watt)
#Boiling – 0:58 (Hurley, Watt)
#Disguises – 0:45 (Boon)
#The Struggle – 0:40 (Boon)
#Monuments – 0:48 (Hurley, Watt)
#Ruins – 0:49 (Hurley, Watt)
#Issued – 0:38 (Hurley, Watt)

ide two

#The Punch Line – 0:40 (Watt)
#Song For El Salvador – 0:31 (Boon)
#History Lesson – 0:37 (Boon)
#Fanatics – 0:30 (Watt)
#No Parade – 0:50 (Boon)
#Straight Jacket – 0:58 (Watt)
#Gravity – 0:55 (Hurley, Watt)
#Warfare – 0:54 (Hurley, Watt)
#Static – 0:50 (Boon, Watt)

Musical personnel

*D. Boon - guitar and vocals
*Mike Watt - bass and vocals
*George Hurley - drums, lead vocal in the middle of "Ruins"

Other personnel

*Spot - record producer, recording engineer

Artwork

*D. Boon - front cover
*George Hurley - back cover


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