HOOSIER PSYCHOPATHS
The Under Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for June 2016 is the Gynecologists, a truly wild, truly outrageous punk rock band from Indiana whose bandleader Tommy Afterbirth “came up with the idea of recording and pressing the vilest gross-out novelty record EVER”. Which of their 30-some songs he meant is difficult to know for certain – probably it was the one about The Brady Bunch that he was already working on, “Sex Orgy with the Bradee Bunch” (the misspelled name was probably used to avoid potential lawsuits). The boys used the record label name Vomit Productions for their first release, where the front cover included a photo of Tommy Afterbirth’s own dog’s poop.
The best info on the band comes from the voluminous liner notes written by John Barge for the compilation CD, Hoosier Psychopaths (2007); Barge had been in a punk rock band called the Panics. The original version of the liner notes – including the quote given above – appears on a website on Indiana music called www.musicalfamilytree.net .
The most comprehensive compilation album of the Gynecologists, a CD called Hoosier Psychopaths on Gulcher Records, has 30 songs, including each of their recordings in order; besides the two I have already discussed, they include two cassette-only releases, A Goat . . . You Geek (1984) and Auto-Erotica Asphyxia & Various Moldy Turds (1994). According to John Barge, their latter album included a host of other guest musicians and characters: Dave Death, Bob Tangleweed, Lumpy Repellant, Kevin Drake, Buster Hyman, and Frankie Camaro. (The Bukkake Hit Parade liner notes have several other “special guests” in their list: Ricky Retardo, Mrs. Food, Bejhan Mirhadi, and Tina Chang). There are also a half-dozen unreleased rarities on Hoosier Psychopaths; three show two titles, so there might be nine actually.
The vinyl album by the Gynecologists that I have, Bukkake Hit Parade (2002) – “bukkake” is a term used in Japanese pornography that is appropriate, but I will let you look it up if you wish – has a different name for the drummer, Pippy Longstocking. (Pippi Longstocking is a popular character in children’s literature having unusual pigtails who was created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren). Despite the apparently comprehensive Hoosier Psychopaths, and unless some of their songs have multiple titles, the 13 cuts on Bukkake Hit Parade include more than a few songs that aren’t on the CD: “Nancy Reagan on Crack”, “M.A.S.H.E.R”, “Dahmer’s Diner”, “Across 110th Street”, and “Sally Struthers’ Tears”.
(June 2016)
