Live PCPPEP

Live PCPPEP is a live EP, and first official live album, by American punk band Butthole Surfers, released in September 1984. All songs were written by the Butthole Surfers, and recorded live at The Meridian in San Antonio, Texas on March 25, 1984.

This was the Surfers' final album on Alternative Tentacles. Live PCPPEP and 1983's Butthole Surfers were reissued as the Butthole Surfers/Live PCPPEP CD on Latino Buggerveil in 2003. The Latino Buggerveil re-release also contains two additional live songs from the Meridian show, "Gary Floyd" and "Matchstick."

Live PCPPEP is the first of three Surfers albums to feature clown imagery on the cover, the others being 1987's Locust Abortion Technician and 1995's The Hole Truth... and Nothing Butt. The clown illustrations on its front and back covers were later combined and recolored for The Hole Truth...'s front cover. In a bit of a rarity for the band, the back cover includes the album's track listing.

Music

The Surfers' first official live recording primarily contains performances of songs from the band's 1983 debut EP, Butthole Surfers (a.k.a. Brown Reason to Live, a.k.a. Pee Pee the Sailor), leading some fans and critics to joke that they released the same album twice. This isn't strictly the case, as Live PCPPEP also has one track from the then-upcoming album, Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac ("Cowboy Bob"), as well as another that's technically never been released on a Surfers studio album ("Dance of the Cobras", a tape experiment made out of a recording of "Woly Boly").

Butthole Surfers

Butthole Surfers is an American rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second drummer from 1983 to 1985, 1986 to 1989, and 2009. The band has also employed a variety of bass players, most notably Jeff Pinkus.

Rooted in the 1980s hardcore punk scene, Butthole Surfers quickly became known for their chaotic and disturbing live shows, black comedy, and a sound that incorporated elements of psychedelia, noise, punk rock and, later, electronica, as well as their use of sound manipulation and tape editing. Butthole Surfers have a well-reported appetite for recreational drugs, an evident influence on their sound.

Although they were respected by their peers and attracted a devoted fanbase, Butthole Surfers had little commercial success until 1996's Electriclarryland. The album contained the hit single "Pepper" which climbed to number one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart that year.

Butthole Surfers (EP)

Butthole Surfers is the debut studio EP by American punk band Butthole Surfers, released in July 1983. It is also known as Brown Reason to Live and Pee Pee the Sailor (see "Title controversy"). All songs were written and produced by Butthole Surfers.

The album was originally released on Alternative Tentacles. Butthole Surfers and 1984's Live PCPPEP were reissued as Butthole Surfers/Live PCPPEP CD on Latino Buggerveil in 2003. The 12-inch vinyl version is still available from Alternative Tentacles, and is listed as Brown Reason to Live.

The center label on Butthole Surfers' vinyl printings invites listeners to erroneously play the record at "69 RPM," a joke referencing the famous sex position. The album's back cover features a mildly distorted image of famed Mexican luchador Santo. Kurt Cobain listed the EP in his top fifty albums of all time.

Music

Butthole Surfers introduced themselves to the world with seven songs full of throbbing bass, crashing drums, and heavily distorted guitar topped off with largely nonsensical, barely intelligible lyrics, alternately sung by lead vocalist Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary. Haynes also plays saxophone and drums on some tracks. Unlike later Butthole Surfers albums, no electronic instrumentation is present.

Butthole Surfers/Live PCPPEP

Butthole Surfers/Live PCPPEP is the third compilation album by American punk band Butthole Surfers, released in January 2003. All songs were written by Butthole Surfers.

This compilation contains the entirety of the band's first studio EP, Butthole Surfers, and its first live EP, Live PCPPEP, neither of which had previously been available in CD format. The live songs were recorded at The Meridian in San Antonio, Texas on March 25, 1984. Both releases were originally published by Alternative Tentacles. Vinyl records of Butthole Surfers are still available from that label, under the name Brown Reason to Live.

The album also contains four bonus tracks (15-18). Two of them, "Gary Floyd" and "Matchstick," are live songs from the Live PCPPEP concert. The third bonus track, "Sinister Crayon," was previously only available on the double-LP version of the compilation Humpty Dumpty LSD. "Something" is an early demo, which was also released on the compilation The Hole Truth... and Nothing Butt.