I remember when Thurston Moore was interviewed after the release of Dirty. There were suggestions that because Sonic Youth had hired Butch Vig after his work with Nirvana on Nevermind, that they were somehow riding the wave of the zeitgeist rather than being one of it’s instigators. Moore defended his choice by telling the interviewer that the reason why they asked Vig to produce Dirty was because he admired his work on the Cows 7 inch single Guns and Beer. He then went on to wax lyrically about the importance of the Cows as a forbearer of the early 1990’s punk revival.
I remember after reading that interview I really wanted to hear the Cows but somehow 15 years went past before I ever got my hands on one of their records. The Cows came out of Minneapolis and as a four piece produced a shit load of records before calling it quits in the mid 1990’s. Most of the Cows back catalogue is now sadly out of print. This record is no exception. It cost me a small fortune on ebay and in fact it is the most I have ever paid for a record.
Sexy Pee Story is a puerile, hardcore, subtlety free, straight-up punk rock record. Like some of their fellow travelers like Chrome Cranks and Killdozer, the Cows never made it big. While the major labels were throwing money at every two bit grunge band out of the Pacific North West, the only Midwestern underground band that managed to get a major label recording contract was Babes in Toyland (have a listen to Spanking Machine when you get a chance and try to figure out what that A&R guy was thinking). The problem the Cows had (despite their geographic location) was their music was gimic free, they couldn’t be fucked writing a melody, hook or tune. They specialised is big fat slabs of scuzzy rock. It was just never going to sell well (just ask the fools that signed Tad).
Sometimes in these posts I ponder why a band remained in the underground. I know why the Cows did and I bet they never cared less.
Ducks Battle Satan 