A Short History of the Boredoms

The Boredoms carried on where Hanatarash left off. Hanatarash were led by Yamatsuka Eye, a long time noise pioneer who started the Boredoms because he almost lost one of his legs during a Hanatarash gig. The Boredoms continued this musical extremism, though they dropped the Hanatarash formula of using live power tools and other dangerous industrial equipment during their live shows. The band came together in 1986, in the Japanese city of Osaka. They quickly released an EP called 'Anal By Anal', which, as the title suggests, was not an attempt at gaining a Christmas number one. Each of their subsequent albums was an individual piece of work, in the same way that Zappa's was. Each album had a central theme, a starting point. Then, with the help of some empathetic musicians, the central theme became a whole, a tangible thing. So, 'Anal By Anal' was about bottoms.

The release 'Osozeran No Stooges Kyo', which means 'The Stooges Craze in Osozeran', came out in 1986 and is just noise. Well, with some Yamatsuka shouting and wailing added for good measure. Shimmy-Disc's Mark Kramer, who also knew the Butthole Surfers, offered the band a deal. They recorded 'Soul Discharge' for the label in 1989 and became talk-of-the-town for a while. Sonic Youth, the Beastie Boys and Nirvana all could be said to be patrons.

'Soul Discharge' and the next release, 'Pop Tatari' are easily the band's most accessible records, though the instrumentation is entirely free-form and the energy is relentless. Their following output was full of crazy experimentation in jazz, lounge, ska, surf, rock, you name it, they like a crossover did the Boredoms. They played Lollapalooza and set about deconstructing the rock formula by the use of sheer noise.

After singing briefly with Warner Brothers Reprise offshoot, the Boredoms released 'Super Ae' in 1998. It's a set of long meandering jams and sets out a blueprint for the post-noise rock they had helped to create. The production on the album was great, the former aggression and attitude had become a little watered down, but they were still more than capable of blowing you away with their noisy, experimental trips.

The Boredoms were responsible of putting Japan on the worldwide alternative rock map. They shared a love of noise along with the likes of Sonic Youth and the Butthole Surfers, but they made music which was uniquely different to American post-hardcore noise bands. They merged psychedelia, some free jazz, industrial, hardcore and a whole lot more to produce, probably, the most uncommercial back catalog in the history of the major label music deal. Something to be proud of.