Shellac-The Rude Gesture (A Pictorial History) (1993)

Artist: Shellac

Title: The Rude Gesture (A Pictorial History)

Label: Touch 'n Go

Format: 7"

Catalog Number: TG123

Year of Release: 1993

Country and Year of Edition: US 1993 "Cut Your Hair" painted in gold along with the traditional "The Rude Gesture a pictorial history" stamp

Sell Price: $36.97

Sell Date: 5/8/24

Condition: NM/NM

Discogs Last Sold 5/99/24 VG+/VG+ $10.74

Low: $3.74

Median: $15.21

Average: $17.64

High: $49.99 perfect copy with insert

Current low price: $10.74

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 20

Have/Want: 3137/540

Where Sold: Madison Heights, MI

Time It Took To Sell: 9 years

Where and When Bought: new late 93/early 94 at Venus Records on St. Marks NYC

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

With the unexpected passing of Steve Albini Tuesday night, the old maxim that nothing sells records like an obituary cleared out the remaining Shellac records that I had up at an inflated price for peculiarities with the releases. In the spirit of Albini ethics and poker playing, I didn't bother to jack the prices up and I think one I lost and one I won. I get to why when I get the other piece out of storage. I'll let it be a surprise. This one maybe was the one I won.

The first two Shellac singles came out the same time in October, 1993. I always thought the one with "Wingwalker" (the one titled Uranus) came out first, but Discogs has them listed as the same October 10th release date. The Rude Gesture (A Pictorial History) has the earlier catalog number. I'm pretty sure I found "Wingwalker" first and maybe this one a month later. This particular copy I bought a second time in early '94 thinking it was a third single because of the cover variation that paints CUT YOUR HAIR in huge gold letters. Well that accident became my reward because I was able to flip that variation of nearly $40 after years of inquiries at a higher price to the point that it was already sitting in my apartment in a box of cancels and returns.

As for this record, it wasn't the monolithic release that "Wingwalker" or the debut 1994 album Shellac At Action Park was and I was a little surprised that I really only remembered the one great thing on these three tracks (besides the then new overall sound and cast of characters of course). That was because of the award winning line "alot of people think she's crazy/and I think/I think she's alright" as well as a concluding "he lied to her/with a perfectly straight face!" That Weston/Trainer soldiered on to deliver an unexpectedly posthumous album next week with further touring in the works gives one pause. Albini was possibly the most important voice of his g-g-generation, one that dominated Nirvana, PJ Harvey and the Pixies completely on their records he recorded even if there were tweaks, regrets and beratements in historical context.

Even though he mellowed with age, Albini's musical reputation and foundation was predicated on an unflinching spotlight on the ugliness of humanity with a wink. Who could forgot the motorcycle crash autopsy "split head" photo encased in black plastic for the limited edition of the Headache EP? The gleeful outro giving voice to a 5 year old resident of "Jordan, Minnesota"? The musical transcription in real time of the suicide of Budd McFarland by the short lived band Rapeman whose title was taken from a Japanese black comedy manga series. What my mother called "sick humor" Albini took to a grand scale. You couldn't imagine Ministry's The Land of Rape and Honey in 1988 without what Big Black and Albini's early engineering work accomplished before Electrical Audio (founded 1997) was a thing.

I was sickened when I read Ben Sicario's reduction of this important voice to "angry, screaming vocals" in the New York Times one sentence assessment of Big Black and Shellac in Albini's initial obituary yesterday. Needless to say, "Budd," "Kerosene," "Precious Thing," "Hated Chinee," "Wingwalker" or "House Full of Garbage" didn't make the cut in Christopher R. Weingarten's 10 Essential Recordings later in the day in the Times. One thing should be noted that "screaming" or yelling is often part of a quiet-loud approach that involves speaking and conversational quotes in the lyrics. Yelling and yes, sometimes "screaming" is required just as it happens in real life in real conversations. One dimensional anger was not what Albini was ultimately about. He was much too smart to be reduced to "Edgelord" or whatever dismissive prattle some idiot drools. Ultimately, it was serious social commentary and it filtered in views on the business of music that he was engaged in and even hard left politics to some extent.

I became a Big Black fan in early '86 just starting at WICN in Worcester when I was getting requests for the bands earlier music (before The Hammer Party reissued the Lungs and Bulldozer EP's we didn't have and was forced to play something from the Racer-X EP which was all the station had. When Atomizer came out later that year, that really sealed the deal for me. I was shut out of seeing the band live due to being underage until the last blast tour in Providence at the Living Room right before Songs About Fucking came out. I also got to see Rapeman's early set at the Rat (the 18+ show I just made the cut and had to leave before the 21+ one) and many many Shellac shows over the years in various places, most recently Brooklyn's Bell House in 2018. There was a clear recording hierarchy for bands that rely on loud guitar-bass-drums-vocals and Steve Albini was the mountaintop whether High On Fire or Gogol Bordello or Kudgel (or NirvanaPixiesPagenPlant). Steve Albini was known as an engineer AFTER he built a reputation as a recording artist. Albini was to alt rock what Rick Rubin was to mainstream rock in a sense in terms of being a figurehead "producer," but Rubin didn't have that level of cred as a recording artist with his short lived Hose.

So engrained was Steve Albini (the snobbery of indie rock vinyl and analog aesthetes I swear comes from him) in the last 40 years of Rock music was that he racked up mention after mention in this blog. Over 30, although some of the 37 links below might mention Big Black or Shellac. I can think of no better tribute since you get a pretty good idea of his influence particular from the mid 80's to mid aughts and beyond from reading these, even if the act in question didn't record with him directly. I think it gives a pretty good idea of what he did and how it impacted a generation. Hell, I even mention him in passing with my own one-off entry. It should be noted that my complete Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac collection sold years prior to the start of this blog, save this record written about and the other one coming in a few days.

"You Got It All Dad! We're Gonna Hit!"

For further review: Compilations, Productions, Influences and Passing Mentions:

Happiness Is Dry Pants (1987)

Ground Rule Double (1996)

The Lounge Axe Defense and Relocation Compact Disc (1996)

Urge Overkill-Strange I...(1986)

Tar-Play To Win b/w Mel's (1988)

The Wedding Present-Bizarro (1990)

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (1992)

Kudgel-Chicken Pump b/w Now (1993)

Seam-Kernel (1993)

Fred Schneider-Just...Fred (1996)