Have You Ever Heard Of...

Flipper?

Flipper is a Californian Hardcore punk band that was formed in 1979 and split up at 1987. What sets Flipper apart from other Californian HC punk bands at the time was that they played at a slower pace, with an emphasis on playing noisily, and very badly.

The reason why Flipper was so successful was because they are able to upset their audience, and at the same time gain their undivided attention and curiosity at the same time.

Their debut single, "Love Canal"/"Ha Ha Ha", was widely derided, not only for its offensive cover art, but its bizarre sound, and yet sold many copies in the underground, thus the Flipper ethos was laid down: to be bad in ways no band had ever been bad before, that they were so good at it they even failed in failing out from music, but rather due to drugs.

Their first proper album, Generic Flipper, was widely received and became a hit in the underground hardcore punk scene, and this was soon followed Gone Fishin, which had a darker sound.

Their third album, Public Flipper Ltd was famous as retaliation on John Lyndon (aka Johnny Rotten) who was alleged to have stolen the cover art and concept of Flipper's Generic album for his band, Public Image Ltd.

How influential are they?

For starters, grunge icon Kurt Cobain was a big fan of Flipper, and he often wore self-made Flipper T-shirts, and can be seen in the In Utero's booklet pictures as well as on the band's first performance on Saturday Night Live in 1992.

Secondly, the early sounds for Jane's Addiction are actually influenced by Flipper's rolling rythms and repetitive lyrics.

And the fact that two of its former members became musical legends in their own way:

One of them is Moby. Yeah, that same guy who we all know as a electronic musician.



Another one of them is Krist Novoselic, also known as the bassist for Nirvana.



Now listen to some of their songs, and you'll see why I like them.

This is "Way Of The World", which is my fave Flipper song:



This is "Sacrifice"



and this is my other favorite, "Ha Ha Ha"



These guys are plain legends.

To quote Henry Rollins:

"They were just heavy. Heavier than you. Heavier than anything...When they played they were amazing."

And that's from one of the most intense singers in the history of hardcore punk.