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Double Nickels on the Dime
Studio album by Minutemen
Released	July 1984
Recorded	November 1983–April 1984
Studio	Radio Tokyo Studios, Venice, California
Genre	Hardcore punk post-punk post-hardcore
Length	81:01
Label	SST (028)
Producer	Ethan James
Minutemen chronology
The Politics of Time (1984) Double Nickels on the Dime (1984) Project: Mersh (1985)

Double Nickels on the Dime is the third album by American punk trio Minutemen, released on the SST Records in July 1984. A double album containing 45 songs, Double Nickels on the Dime combines elements of punk rock, funk, country, spoken word and jazz, and references a variety of themes, from the Vietnam War and racism in America, to working-class experience and linguistics.

After recording new material, each band member selected songs for different sides of the double album, with the fourth side named "Chaff". Lyrics for several songs on Double Nickels on the Dime were written by friends such as Henry Rollins of Black Flag, Jack Brewer of Saccharine Trust, and SST co-owner Joe Carducci.

Double Nickels on the Dime is seen not only as Minutemen's crowning achievement, but, according to critic Mark Deming, "one of the very best American rock albums of the 1980s". The album now appears on many professional lists of the all-time best rock albums, including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 77 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s". Despite this, the full version of the album is only available on vinyl.

Background

Minutemen were formed by guitarist D. Boon and bassist Mike Watt, both from San Pedro, California, in 1980. After their previous band, The Reactionaries, disbanded in 1979, the pair continued to write new material and formed the band with drummer Frank Tonche a year later. Minutemen signed to the Californian independent record label SST Records following their second gig. George Hurley, the former drummer of The Reactionaries, replaced Tonche as drummer soon afterwards. The Minutemen were noted in the California punk scene for a philosophy of "jamming econo"; a sense of thriftiness reflected in their touring and presentation. They soon released numerous recordings through SST and their own label, New Alliance Records, while touring with hardcore punk bands like Black Flag and Hüsker Dü.

In January 1983, Minutemen were asked by ex-Blue Cheer keyboardist and local producer Ethan James to contribute a song to Radio Tokyo Tapes, a compilation named after the Californian studio where James worked. The band agreed and contributed three songs to the compilation, with James recording them all for free. These three songs, and another five recorded in May 1983 for a total of $50, were included in their 1983 EP Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat. The band had recorded solely with SST engineer Spot prior to the recordings. However, they were so impressed by the sessions that they enlisted James to record their next full-length album; Watt later commented: "Ethan, although not knowing us much, tapped right in." After their European tour in mid-1983 with Black Flag, Minutemen entered Radio Tokyo Studios in November to record their next studio album.

Recording and production

Minutemen originally recorded an "album's worth of material" with James in November 1983 in Radio Tokyo Studios. However, after hearing labelmates Hüsker Dü's double album Zen Arcade (1984), which had been recorded a month earlier, Minutemen decided to write more material. Watt later commented: "It wasn't really a competition even. When I wrote 'Take that Hüskers!" in it was acknowledging that they gave us the idea to make a double album." Unlike Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, Minutemen did not have a unifying concept when they started the album, but soon decided that the record's concept would be their cars.

The band wrote almost two dozen more songs for a second recording session with James in April 1984. Double Nickels on the Dime was then mixed on a single eight-track in one night by James and cost $1,100 to record. Several songs on the album were recorded elsewhere; a studio-recorded cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Don't Look Now" was replaced with a live version of the song, and according to Watt, "Love Dance" was written at Ian MacKaye's Dischord House.

For sequencing, the band decided that each band member would be allocated a side of the record, an arrangement inspired by Pink Floyd's 1969 double album Ummagumma. The band drew straws to select songs; Hurley won the draw and decided to pick his solo track "You Need the Glory", followed by Boon and Watt. The fourth side of the record was named "Side Chaff", an admission that the songs present were the leftover songs.

Music

Watt refers to the album as being the band's art record in the documentary We Jam Econo: The Story of The Minutemen. The songwriting styles of Boon and Watt on Double Nickels on the Dime contrasted. Boon tended to write the band's anthems, and often explored wider political issues. "This Ain't No Picnic" was an example of his approach. Exploring racism and the strife of the working class with both gravity and humor, he composed the song after his supervisor would not let him listen to jazz and soul music on the radio at his day job, calling it "nigger shit".

Watt favored complex and abstract lyrical themes, exemplified by songs such as "The Glory Of Man" and "My Heart and the Real World". Influenced by James Joyce's novel Ulysses (the subject of "June 16th") and the stream of consciousness literary technique in general, Watt's lyrics were often complex and philosophical. On "Take 5, D.", Boon felt that the lyrics were "too spacey". Watt agreed to rewrite the song, adding: "There ain't nothing going to be more real." He found a new set of lyrics: a note from a friend's landlady about a leaking shower.

Double Nickels on the Dime contained several inside jokes that were missed by the band's audience. Watt later remarked: "No one knew what the fuck we were talking about. We'd explain it to people and they'd say, 'I don't get it, what's so funny about that?' And we couldn't tell them because it was our whole angle on the rock & roll, our worldview on the music scene."

Packaging

The album was named Double Nickels on the Dime as a reaction to the Sammy Hagar song "I Can't Drive 55," a protest against the federally imposed speed limit of 55 miles per hour on all U.S. highways in place at the time. Minutemen decided that driving fast "wasn't terribly defiant"; Watt later commented that "the big rebellion thing was writing your own fuckin' songs and trying to come up with your own story, your own picture, your own book, whatever. So he can't drive 55, because that was the national speed limit? Okay, we'll drive 55, but we'll make crazy music."

The band illustrated the theme on the cover of Double Nickels on the Dime, which depicts Watt driving his Volkswagen Beetle at exactly 55 miles per hour ("double nickels" in trucker slang) traveling southbound through downtown Los Angeles, where Interstate 10 ("The Dime" in trucker slang) meets the San Pedro Intersection of Route 11/110, also known as the Harbor Freeway, toward the band's hometown of San Pedro, California. "The title means fifty-five miles per hour on the button, like we were Johnny Conservative." Dirk Vandenberg, the band's "buddy/contributor," took photos from the backseat as Watt drove under the sign to San Pedro; it took three circuits of the highway and two days of photography before Minutemen were happy with the cover. Vandenberg later commented on the cover art: "There were three elements that Mike wanted in the photo: a natural kind of glint in his eyes reflected in the rearview mirror, the speedometer pinned exactly at 55mph, and, of course, the San Pedro sign guiding us home". However, when the cover was presented to SST, "someone botched the cropping for the print and cut off the end of the word Pedro."

In 2020, Watt revealed that the front cover of the album was also inspired by the cover of Kraftwerk's 1974 album Autobahn.

Release

SST Records released Double Nickels on the Dime on double vinyl in July 1984. SST delayed the release of Zen Arcade by Hüsker Dü so that both albums could be released simultaneously. After the release of Double Nickels on the Dime, Minutemen toured almost constantly to promote the record. One 1984 tour saw the band playing 57 dates in 63 days. The album sold fifteen thousand copies during 1984, a respectable amount for a band on an independent record label. As of 2008, Double Nickels on the Dime remains Minutemen's best-selling record.

No singles were released to promote Double Nickels on the Dime, but SST did press a sampler EP that was sent to radio stations. Titled, "Wheels of Fortune," the sampler put nine of the album's "deep cuts" onto one side of a 12" record and featured an etching by Raymond Pettibon on the other. The band also released two videos, "This Ain't No Picnic" and "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" (a cover of a song by Van Halen, which the aforementioned Hagar would eventually join), as "flyers". Made for $440 by a University of California, Los Angeles graduate, Anthony Johnson, "This Ain't No Picnic" was Minutemen's first video and was later nominated for an MTV award. It features the band playing amidst rubble as a fighter plane "piloted" by Ronald Reagan, edited from public domain footage, fires at them. The video of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", released by SST as a promotional video, was a 40-second recording of a live performance.

In August 1987, Watt and producer Vitus Matare remastered Double Nickels on the Dime for a CD release. To ensure that the CD would be compatible with all players, they omitted all car jams except Boon's, and three songs: "Mr. Robot's Holy Orders", "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" and "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand". Watt commented later that the remix was a "nightmare" and "totally worse than the Ethan James mix." Watt reverted to the original mix for a 1989 CD release of Double Nickels on the Dime, but did not include the previously omitted songs. In a January 2006 interview, Watt announced his intention to discuss a remastered full Double Nickels on the Dime CD release with SST owner Greg Ginn.

"This Ain't No Picnic" was tapped to be Minutemen's first ever music video, directed by Randall Jahnson and shot in black and white for $450. The "plot" has the Minutemen singing the song in a barren field that is about to be bombed by then-president Ronald Reagan (as seen in clips from a public domain war film he starred in).

Critical recognition

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Boston Phoenix
The Great Rock Discography	8/10
MusicHound Rock
Pitchfork	9.5/10
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10
The Village Voice	A−

Upon its release, Double Nickels on the Dime received critical acclaim from a range of American critics; however as a regional independent record label, many of SST's releases did not attract attention from British music magazines. Robert Palmer of The New York Times called the album "more varied musically than any of their earlier disks", adding that the band "think of themselves as town criers, addressing their young constituencies directly with lyrics that apply to the life styles they share, teaching such values as tolerance of cultural, racial and sexual differences". The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau described Boon as a "somewhat limited singer" but "a hell of a reader, with a guitar that rhymes", and remarking "this is poetry-with-jazz as it always should have been". Christgau later said that he underrated the album on its original release. Double Nickels on the Dime placed at number 14 in the publication's end of year Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Reviewing the album in February 1985 for Rolling Stone, David Fricke awarded the album three and a half stars, and also praised Boon's technique, stating: "The telegraphic stutter and almost scientific angularity of singer-guitarist D. Boon's chordings and breakneck solos heighten the jazzier tangents he dares to take," but that "Double Nickels on the Dime's best moments go far too quickly."

Later reviews have also been positive: AllMusic's Mark Deming described Double Nickels on the Dime as a "quantum leap into greatness" for Minutemen, describing the album as "full of striking moments that cohere into a truly remarkable whole" and awarding a full five stars. Journalist Michael Azerrad, profiling Minutemen in his book Our Band Could Be Your Life (titled after a lyric from "History Lesson – Part II"), named Double Nickels on the Dime as "one of the greatest achievements of the indie era" and described it as a "Whitman's sampler of left-wing politics, moving autobiographical vignettes, and twisted Beefheartian twang". Several publications have raised their rating of the album in the years since its release; Rolling Stone re-reviewed Double Nickels on the Dime for the 2004 Album Guide and gave it its classic rating, a full five stars.

Legacy

Although not commercially successful upon its release, Double Nickels on the Dime marked the point at which many punk bands began to ignore the stylistic limitations of the hardcore scene. According to American Hardcore: A Tribal History author Steven Blush, Double Nickels on the Dime was, along with Zen Arcade, "either the pinnacle or downfall of the pure hardcore scene." Watt later commented that Double Nickels on the Dime was the "best album I ever played on."

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2019, the listeners of KEXP-FM ranked it the 223rd greatest album of all time (out of 666).

* designates unordered lists.

The album inspired a collection of comics and drawings entitled Double Nickels Forever. The book features work by 58 artists based on 45 songs from the album. The album was also featured as an entry in Continuum International Publishing Group's 33 1/3 series of books. Michael T. Fournier authored the book which breaks the album down song by song to analyze its creation.

Track listing

Original vinyl release

Differences

All released CD versions omit songs to ensure player compatibility. The tracks removed include "Mr. Robot's Holy Orders", "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love", "Little Man with a Gun in His Hand", "Don't Look Now" and "Dr. Wu". The 1989 CD release restored the last two songs in place of three of the "car jams". All online and streaming versions use the 1989 CD track listing.

Wheels of Fortune EP

One-sided record sent to radio stations to promote Double Nickels on the Dime

1. "Glory of Man"
2. "Nothing Indeed"
3. "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing"
4. "History Lesson (Part II)"
5. "Maybe Partying Will Help"
6. "Storm in My House
7. "Jesus and Tequila"
8. "Don't Look Now"
9. "Dr. Wu"

Personnel

All information taken from the 1989 CD release of Double Nickels on the Dime:

Minutemen

• D. Boon – vocals, guitar
• Mike Watt – bass; vocals on "Take 5, D.", "Dr. Wu", and "The Politics of Time"
• George Hurley – drums, vocals

with:

• Joe Baiza – guitar on "Take 5, D."
• John Rocknowski – guitar on "Take 5, D."
• Dirk Vandenberg – guitar on "Take 5, D."
• Ethan James – producer and engineer

Notes

1. ^ Fournier, 2007. p. 9
2. Pell, Nicholas (August 29, 2013). "TOP 20 HARDCORE ALBUMS IN HISTORY: COMPLETE LIST". Retrieved May 28, 2022.
3. Musician (129-134 ed.). Amordian Press. 1989. p. 23.
4. Doyle Greene (March 10, 2014). The Rock Cover Song: Culture, History, Politics. McFarland & Company. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-7864-7809-5.
5. ^ Deming, Mark. "Double Nickels on the Dime – Minutemen". AllMusic. Retrieved July 25, 2005.
6. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. May 31, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
7. ^ "Best Albums of the 1980s". Slant Magazine. March 5, 2012. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
8. ^ Azerrad, 2001. p. 67
9. Azerrad, 2001. p. 68
10. Fournier, 2007. p. 2
11. Fournier, 2007. p. 7
12. Fournier, 2007. p. 8
13. Fournier, 2007. pp. 9-10
14. ^ Azerrad, 2001. p. 81
15. ^ Fournier, 2007. p. 10
16. ^ Azerrad, 2001. p. 82
17. Fournier, 2007. p. 29
18. Fournier, 2007. p. 102
19. Fournier, 2007. p. 63
20. Fournier, 2007. p. 12
21. ^ Azerrad, 2001. p. 83
22. Truck Stop Report: Trucker CB Radio Codes, Cities / Locations / Places.
23. Interstate Guide: History of Interstate 11/110
24. Azerrad p.82.
25. ^ Fournier, 2007. p. 11
26. Watt, Mike (May 21, 2020). "not a fuckin accident: I asked my buddy dirk vandenberg to somehow capture this and he fuckin did". Twitter. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
27. Azerrad, 2001. p. 182
28. ^ Azerrad, 2001. p. 84
29. "Minutemen – From Double Nickels On The Dime (Wheels Of Fortune)". Discogs. 1984. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
30. ^ Fournier, 2007. p. 69
31. "mike watt talks w/michael t. fournier about "double nickels on the dime"". Hootpage.com. Archived from the original on 2014-11-17. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
32. Ruggles, Brock (2008). Not So Quiet on the Western Front: Punk Politics During the Conservative Ascendancy in the United States, 1980--2000. p. 87. ISBN 9780549929307.
33. "The Boston Phoenix 1984-10-02: Vol 13 Iss 40". Internet Archive. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
34. Martin C. Strong (1998). The Great Rock Discography (1st ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN 978-0-86241-827-4. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
35. Gary Graff, ed. (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (1st ed.). London: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-0-7876-1037-1.
36. Masters, Marc (November 13, 2016). "Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
37. Fricke, David (January 22, 1997). "Double Nickels On The Dime". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
38. ^ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Minutemen". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. pp. 545–546. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
39. Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Minutemen". Spin Alternative Record Guide (1st ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
40. ^ Christgau, Robert (February 5, 1985). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
41. Palmer, Robert (September 23, 1984). "New Rock From The Suburbs". The New York Times. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
42. Christgau, Robert (August 14, 2001). "Getting Their Hands Dirty". The Village Voice. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
43. "The 1984 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. February 18, 1985. Retrieved October 28, 2007.
44. Fricke, David (February 14, 1985). "Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade / Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2007.
45. Dimery, Robert, ed. (2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-1371-3.
46. "KEXP Listeners' Top 666 Albums of All Time". KEXP. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
47. "Blender Selects the 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time". Blender. October 18, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
48. Dahlen, Chris (November 20, 2002). "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s — 017: Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
49. "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. September 10, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
50. "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
51. "40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. April 6, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
52. "The 25 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rocklist. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
53. "100 Alternative Albums". Rocklist. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
54. "The 50 Most Essential Punk Records". Rocklist. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
55. "Top 101-200 Albums of All Time". Stylus Magazine. March 22, 2004. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
56. "Top 20 Hardcore Albums In History: Complete List". LA Weekly. August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
57. "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s". Fact. June 24, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
58. "The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums". Paste. July 13, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
59. "The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s". Paste. January 13, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
60. "50 Greatest Punk Albums Of All Time". Revolver. May 24, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
61. "The 50 Best Punk Albums Of All Time". Louder Sound. March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
62. Terry, Chris (March 19, 2015). "Double Nickels Forever: A tribute to Double Nickels on the Dime and the Minuteme: Various Artists, 180 pgs". Razorcake. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
63. "Double Nickels Forever". Retrieved March 9, 2020.
64. "The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime". Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
65. Terry, C.T. (April 13, 2011). "Double Nickels on the Dime: By Michael T. Fournier". Razorcake. Retrieved March 9, 2020.

References

• Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991. Little Brown and Company, 2001. ISBN 0-316-78753-1.
• Fournier, Michael T. Double Nickels on the Dime 33⅓. Continuum, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8264-2787-8.

External links

• Complete lyrics Archived 2009-01-31 at the Wayback Machine
• Double Nickels on the Dime at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)

• 1984 albums
• SST Records albums
• Minutemen (band) albums