Generic Flipper, the debut album by Flipper, remains the most absorbing full-length LP to emerge from the early San Francisco punk scene. A constant source of imitation for so-called “noise rock” bands, it has yet to be surpassed in its nihilistic glee.Recorded between October 1980 and August 1981 and released in 1982 on the indispensable Subterranean Records, this album functions as a chaotic, sticky mass of individual personalities: the magma-like bass eruptions and dual vocals of Will Shatter and Bruce Loose, Ted Falconi’s icy guitar scraping and the relentless beat of drummer Steve DePace. At times playful and taciturn, paranoid and absurd, Generic charts a deliberate path that willfully chances destruction.In early ’80s punk, when the hardening default was “faster-shorter-louder,” Generic subverts the nascent hardcore scene with a strictly applied regimen of turgid-slower-heavier. The lyrics are bleak, yet unnervingly beautiful. “Ever” sets the tone with trademark restraint—“Ever wish the human race didn’t exist? And then realize you’re one too?”—while closer “Sex Bomb” is a churning, 8-minute epic with looping bass, saxophone accompaniment and electronic effects of dropping bombs.Tons of indie bands have attempted to recreate Flipper’s mix of acidic guitar, metallic bass sludge and sardonically brilliant lyricism, using the seemingly effortless template they pioneered; however, the effect usually drives listeners right back to Generic. While most of their contemporaries wilt under direct comparison, No Trend, the Butthole Surfers, feedtime and Church Police are a few who can stand the frigid heat.
LP $27.00
04/17/2026
***From the archives of SF's famous Target Video comes this monster release from the classic original early ‘80s line up of FLIPPER. Capturing extreme and scorching performances from 1980 and 1981, this DVD helps form a picture of the band that slowed down punk rock and made the kids suffer in the "louder faster" days of hardcore. An intense blend of noise, punk and drone music coupled with an in your face attitude and performance style made Flipper one of most "out there" bands of the early ‘80s scene. This DVD features stellar performances from Berkeley and the Kezar (San Francisco) and is a (mostly) unreleased and incredible snapshot into the other side of American Hardcore.
DVD $14.50
02/19/2008