The Meatmen

The Meatmen
Background information
Origin	Lansing, Michigan, United States
Genres	Hardcore punk
Years active	1980–1997, 2008–present
Labels	Touch and Go Positive Caroline Pravda Go Kart Meat King
Associated acts	The Fix (band) Blight
Members
Tesco Vee Leighton Mann Daniel Gillies John Lehl
Past members
Rich Ramsey Gregg Ramsey David Howse See below

The Meatmen are an American punk band headed by Tesco Vee originally from 1980 to 1997, and reformed in 2008. They are currently still touring and recording.

The Meatmen made fun of the hardcore punk scene of the time. The band was known for their stage antics, and for songs with colorful song titles such as "Tooling for Anus", "1 Down, 3 To Go" (a reference to the murder of former Beatles member John Lennon), and the Suck Trilogy of "Crippled Children Suck," "French People Suck," and "Camel Jockeys Suck." They also covered "What's This Shit Called Love?" by The Pagans, as well as The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" for the compilation The World Still Won't Listen: A Tribute to The Smiths.

Members

The original band that existed for two years was formed by Rich and Gregg Ramsey, David Howse and Tesco Vee. After making their name, the Meatmen later had a revolving door cast when Tesco moved to D.C. Other members of the band after Tesco's move to D.C. included Brian Baker and Lyle Preslar of Minor Threat, Todd Swalla of Necros, Jim Forgey, Eliot Rachman, Mike Achtenbourg, Graham McCulloch, Eric Zelzdorf, Stuart Casson, James Cooper, Mark "Gooly" Kermanj,Tommy "Dog" Cohen also TVHP days, Norman Voss, Mark Davis, Mark Glass, and Rob San Pietro.^[1]

Reunion

Reuniting in 2008, new members included, Ian "The Pit Viper" Sugierski on drums (of Superchrist and Wolfbait), Dave Malosh on guitar (of Wolfbait and The Paybacks), and Andy "Lord Vapid" Lucas on bass. This lineup went on to tour the U.S. through 2009 and performed on the "Cover The Earth" album.

In 2010, Vee recruited 3 members of Detroit-based rock band, CHAPSTIK, not long after touring the U.S. together the previous year. The lineup quickly became the newest iteration of "Tesco Vee's Hate Police," and transformed into "The Meatmen" shortly after. The current lineup includes guitarist Leighton Mann (aka Hal Seitan), bassist Dan Gillies (aka Biff Baloney, although recently adding the name Danny Dirtbag to his short list of aliases), and John Lehl (aka Swarthy "Bun-Length" Franklin) on drums.

You Still Suck

In the late 1970s and 1980s major record companies began recycling music from glam metal bands to sell "greatest hits" albums and alleged live bootlegs. Such albums required a minimal effort to produce and could be quite lucrative. 1988's We're the Meatmen ... and You Still Suck! fit brilliantly with the motif. Its overproduction, perfect timing and execution of the music, and "arena-style" crowd noises suggest it may have been recorded completely in a studio, or at least doctored to create the illusion of performance in an arena or other large venue.

Smith (2005) claims that "throughout different media contexts, the laugh has been presented as the ultimate expression of the human, and its mechanical reproduction serves as a lightning rod for anxieties concerning authenticity and the social dimensions of mass media consumption."^[2] On the other hand, Lieberman, et al. (2009) have found no significant effects of laugh tracks on perceived humor^[3] but suggest that it may be a moderate enhancement of comic appeal under certain narrative conditions. The audience sounds on We're the Meatmen and You Still Suck are the cock rock equivalent of a laugh track. Applause acts as a sort of "confederate of masses" in the listening experience. It provides a concert-like experience that occurs between the listener and the physical (or digital) medium. Yet, in the case of We're the Meatmen and You Still Suck, one might argue that the audience sounds have an effect on some listeners precisely because of the album's existence and placement within the greater context of American consumerist culture.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1985 - War of the Superbikes (Positive)
• 1986 - Rock & Roll Juggernaut (Caroline)
• 1990 - Crippled Children Suck (Touch & Go)
• 1994 - Toilet Slave (Meat King)
• 1995 - Pope on a Rope (Pravda)
• 1996 - War of the Superbikes, Vol. 2 (Go Kart)
• 2009 - Cover The Earth (Meat King)

EP

• 1982 Blüd Sausage (Touch & Go)
• 1983 Crippled Children Suck (Touch & Go)
• 1984 Dutch Hercules (Touch & Go)
• 1997 Evil in a League With Satan (Go Kart)

Live

• 1983 - We're The Meatmen...and You Suck!! (also contains tracks from the Blüd Sausage EP) (Touch & Go)
• 1988 - We're the Meatmen...And You Still Suck!!! (Caroline)

Compilations

• 1991 - Stud Powercock: The Touch And Go Years 1981-1984 (Touch & Go)

Other releases

• 1981 - Demo

Video

• 2008 - The Devil's in the Details, Vol. 1

References

1. ^ Huey, Steve. "Biography" Allmusic. Retrieved on April 30, 2007.
2. ^ Smith, J. (2005). The Frenzy of the Audible : Pleasure, Authenticity, and Recorded Laughter. Television New Media 2005 6: 23.
3. ^ Lieberman,E.A., Neuendorf, K.A., Denny,J., Skalski, P.D., & Wang, J. (2009) The Language of Laughter: A Quantitative/Qualitative Fusion Examining Television Narrative and Humor. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 53(4), 497-514.

External links

• The Meatmen at Allmusic