Forgotten Album of the Month: King Missile

Forgotten Album of the Month: King Missile

With it being almost a year since this thing got started, I figured it would only be wise to dedicate the Forgotten Album of the Month to the first artist I covered here: King Missile. While most people know them solely for “Detachable Penis,” the rest of the album that song came off of, 1992’s Happy Hour, deserves to be remembered as well for being one of the best college rock records of the decade.

Kicking off with one of their greatest songs, “Sink,” which is basically a combination of the same four lines repeated many different ways with many swirling textures behind it, the album is brilliant in its melding of spoken word/prose and great alternative rock. “Martin Scorsese,” a demented tribute to one of the greatest film directors ever is pure genius but one of the best songs is “It’s Saturday,” a song with just John S. Hall rambling on and Roger Murdock having a ball with a drum solo. The album just never ceases to amaze with its musical revelations and almost thought-provoking lyrics.

Of course, the album’s centerpiece is “Take Me Home,” a six-minute epic with Hall talking about beating and basically sadomasochism with Dave Rick going for guitar hero status by just seemingly pulling random tricks out of his bag without really trying. The whole record goes on this way by pulling off the amazing and interesting while not trying to go over the top with it.

While the whole record is just excellent, all anyone focused on was “Detachable Penis,” while still a good song, not one of the best on the record. Even though the record’s basically been out of print for years, there are many good, cheap places to find it, so go and do; I think you’ll be more than pleasantly surprised.

http://www.spike.com/video/king-missile/2789667 (Detachable Penis)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQKS4_Y7QCI (Martin Scorsese)
http://www.veoh.com/collection/King-Missile-Music-Videos/watch/v16531414xWB5ZcHZ# (Why Are We Trapped?)

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