The Mummies

The Mummies are an American garage punk band from San Mateo, California formed in 1988. The band maintain a webpage, but, consistent with their DIY aesthetic, shun social media including Facebook and Twitter.

Band history

Showmanship

Originally hailing from San Mateo, California, the band was formed by Trent Ruane (organ, vocals), Maz Kattuah (bass), Larry Winther (guitar) and Russell Quan (drums). They became a key part of San Francisco's burgeoning garage punk scene, along with The Phantom Surfers. With influences of surf rock, 1950s and 1960s garage rock bands such as The Sonics and more contemporary garage punk bands like Thee Mighty Caesars the Mummies eschewed the contemporary rock music of their time. Their first show was at the Chi Chi Club in San Francisco in December 1988. The Mummies are especially known for their matching, tattered mummy costumes they wore on stage and their impertinent and insulting attitude that they brought with them. They created and promoted the concept of 'Budget Rock', which rejected professionalism and star status in favor of a simplified do-it-yourself (DIY) aesthetic. As part of this concept they performed and recorded only on outdated and often damaged equipment. For a tour vehicle they used a garishly painted 1963 Pontiac ambulance. As part of their lo-fi manifesto, they released their music only on vinyl for many years, allowing 'official' CD format releases only in the 2000s.Billy Childish would later say that The Mummies were the only garage group he really loved.

Girl U Want

"Girl U Want" is a 1980 single by the American new wave band Devo. It was the first single released from the album Freedom of Choice.

Song Information

"Girl U Want" was inspired by the song "My Sharona" by The Knack. The lyrics, in typical Devo style, describe a relationship marked by unrequited love/lust for a woman. "Girl U Want" was first performed in December 1979 in a similar arrangement to the album version.

Music video

In the music video, Devo performs for a group of young women in the style of a performance from The Ed Sullivan Show, with two robotic backup dancers, one male and one female. Further implying the televised nature of the performance, the color in the video is deliberately altered to make the red of the band's Energy Dome headgear look almost purple. The band wears the silver naugahyde suits from the cover of Freedom of Choice, and mime the song with Moog Liberation synthesizers.

During the video, the camera focuses on the girls in the audience exaggeratedly enjoying the performance, including one girl who is visually implied to "wet" herself, which transitions to a scene of General Boy controlling the backup dancers. At one point, Mark Mothersbaugh pulls aside the curtain behind the band to show an overweight man on a vibrating exercise machine, attempting to drink a milkshake to the ecstatic reaction of the audience. As the video ends, girls in the audience are shown holding signs with icons, including an electrical outlet.