Flipper
Flipper, 1980. Clockwise from top left: Steve DePace, Ted Falconi, Bruce Loose, Will Shatter
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California,  United States
Genre(s)	Punk rock Noise Rock
Years active	1979-1987 1990-1995 2005-present
Label(s)	Subterranean Records American Recordings
Members
Bruce Loose Ted Falconi Steve DePace Krist Novoselic
Former members
Will Shatter (deceased) John Dougerty Ricky Williams Bruno DeSmartas

Flipper is an influential punk/noise band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979, continuing on in often erratic fashion until the mid-1990s, then reuniting in 2005. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (597x806, 336 KB)Flipper, 1980 promotional photo. ... San Francisco redirects here. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Lightning Bolt Live at the Southgate House 2005. ... See also: Musical groups established in 1979 Record labels established in 1979 1979 in music (UK) // Stevie Wonder uses digital audio recording technology in recording his album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants. ... See also: Musical groups established in 1987 Record labels established in 1987 // January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ... See also: 1990 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1990 Record labels established in 1990 list of years in music // January 21 - MTVs Unplugged premieres on cable television with musical guest, Squeeze February 6 - Billy Idol is involved in a serious motorcycle accident, resulting in several broken bones. ... See also: 1995 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1995 Record labels established in 1995 // January 18 - Jerry Garcia wrecks his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California. ... See also: 2005 in heavy metal music 2005 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 2005 Record labels established in 2005 Albums released in 2005 January 1 - In most of Europe, copyright expired on a number of classic pop and rock-and-roll songs recorded in 1954 and earlier, including... Present redirects here. ... In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... American Recordings is a Los Angeles-based record label headed by record producer Rick Rubin. ... Krist Anthony Novoselić II (born May 16, 1965) is an American rock musician best known as the bassist for Nirvana. ... San Francisco redirects here. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

History

Initial impact

Flipper was founded by former members of the Sleepers and Negative Trend. Founding member and original vocalist Ricky Williams was fired from the band before any recordings were made because he was deemed too messed up to remain in the band. Negative Trend was an early San Francisco punk rock band, active from 1977–1979. ...

Flipper made their first recordings available in late 1979 via the SF Underground 7" compilation series released through Steve Tupper's newly-formed Subterranean Records. In 1981, a 7" comprising "Love Canal/Ha Ha Ha" followed, and the original lineup made two full-length studio albums on Subterranean, 1982's Generic and a 1984 follow up Gone Fishin'. Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... See also: Musical groups established in 1981 Record labels established in 1981 list of years in music // January 10 - Revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance opens at Broadways Uris Theatre, starring Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith February 14 - Billy Idol leaves the band Generation... An album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. ... See also: // January 21 - Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart: it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40. ...

Flipper's music was very shambolic and noisy, and often considered "slow" for a punk band of the time. In many early shows, the band had half the audience onstage with them singing backup vocals, and encouraged horn players to join them for their anthem, "Sex Bomb"; the crowding onstage usually knocked the stringed instruments out of tune. Guitarist Ted Falconi installed spikes in the head of his guitar to help prevent this, but blaring, out-of-tune dissonance became part of the band's signature sound.

Flipper was often as strongly in league with conceptual art and atonal music as with rock or punk. They were originally known in San Francisco as a band that 'everybody hated,' and who bombarded the city with graffiti far more than they actually played.^{[Neutrality disputed — See talk page]} Years after the band's demise, its spray-painted dead fish logos were still visible in San Francisco (although signs on the city's Clipper Street have since been reverted from "Flipper Street"). (Other notable places to find their fish logo include the Berlin Wall, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, and the bathrooms of the Vatican in Rome.) Atonality in a general sense describes music that departs from the system of tonal hierarchies that are said to characterized the sound of classical European music from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOV Wikipedia policy is that all articles should be written from a neutral point of view. ... East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall, November 20, 1961. ... The Eiffel Tower (French: , ) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris. ... The Great Wall of China (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Long wall) or (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The long wall of 10,000 Li (里)[1]) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ...

Some say that Flipper's charm as a band lies in their ability to upset audiences, while attracting their undivided attention and curiosity at the same time. Their first single, "Love Canal"/"Ha Ha Ha", was widely derided, not only for its offensive cover art, but its bizarre sound, and yet sold many copies in the underground. "Ha Ha Ha" was also considered by some to be derivative of "Lifetime Problems," the b-side of the Dicks' single "Dicks Hate the Police," which had caused a big stir the previous year. This, in brief, was the band's concept: to be bad in ways that no band had ever been bad before. However, in true Flipper fashion, they even failed to fail, and their audience continued to grow as their outlandish approach appealed to those seeking something different.

Two more singles on Subterranean followed, "Brainwash"/"Sex Bomb Baby" and "Old Lady That Swallowed The Fly"/"Get Away" before Album (also known as Generic Flipper). Their debut LP sees the drone and blare molded into startlingly effective songs, with a lyrically bleak outlook, but humane vulnerability in the vocals, and flashes of genuine musicianship. It is widely considered a classic album of this era. The mayhem contained on the disc is infectious as Will Shatter repeats "Life! Life! Life is the only thing worth living for!" Similarly, "Sex Bomb Baby" is a seven minute track with only one lyric, "She's a sex bomb, my baby, yeah.", intertwined with a raucous yet melodic musical interplay.

The follow-up studio album in 1984, Gone Fishin, was even darker and artier than the first LP. It featured the disorientating opening track "The Lights, The Sound, The Rhythm, The Noise", the haunting "Survivors of the Plague" and the decrying of the war machine in the song "Sacrifice". The multi-colored delivery step van pictured on the cover was also where Ted Falconi lived when the group was not on the road. The van, along with figures representing the band and their equipment could be cut out and folded with Subterranean offering extra covers through a small mail order fee.

In 1984, the ROIR cassette label released a live Flipper document of a CBGB's performance entitled "Blow'n Chunks" that became available on CD in 1990, and goes in and out of print. A 2001 reissue includes four outtakes from the live sessions. The performance included material from all phases of the band's existence thus far. See also: // January 21 - Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart: it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40. ... An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline for Music. ... CBGB (Country, Blue Grass, and Blues) was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ...

John Lydon's Public Image Ltd was widely accused in the US of stealing the cover art and concept of Flipper's album, Album. Consequently, Flipper entitled their 1986 double live album, Public Flipper Ltd. The album unfolded into a board game complete with a cutout spinner and game cards with Subterranean once again providing extra covers through mail order. John Joseph Lydon (born January 31, 1956), also known as Johnny Rotten, is an English rock musician. ... Public Image Ltd (PiL) is a band formed in 1978 by John Lydon, formerly and later Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. ... See also: Musical groups established in 1986 Record labels established in 1986 // 1986 - Goo Goo Dolls are formed in Buffalo, New York. ...

The original lineup began splintering after a long debauched period of touring, and singer and core member Will Shatter eventually died in 1987 of a drug overdose after forming A3I (Any Three Initials, a punk outfit whose title mocked the prevalence of acronymic band names). Subterranean packaged the band's most popular recordings in a greatest hits collection titled "Sex Bomb Baby" released in 1987. The initial release featured several different hand drawn covers and the cassette edition and later CD rerelease featured three bonus tracks. The term drug overdose (or simply overdose) describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced. ...

After Will Shatter

By the early 1990s, the band resurfaced with a new single on Subterranean called "Someday"/"Distant Illusion" and began performing again. Bruce Loose had become a heroin addict by this point. After Loose allegedly stole the band's master tapes from Subterranean's warehouse, he and DePace brokered a deal with powerful Los Angeles-based music industry figure Rick Rubin. Rubin used his attorneys to quash Subterranean's claim to the music and soon re-released Album Generic Flipper and the singles compilation Sex Bomb Baby on his Infinite Zero label. Even with Henry Rollins onboard as the latter label's A&R, the label soon went defunct. By 1997, Flipper's groundbreaking music went largely out of print, with Rubin still holding onto the rights, though tentative plans have been made for the band's catalogue to be re-released on Rubin's American Recordings in 2007. For other uses, see Heroin (disambiguation). ... Frederick Jay (Rick) Rubin (born March 10, 1963 in Lido Beach, New York) is an American record producer and is currently the co-head of Columbia Records. ... Henry Rollins (born February 13, 1961 as Henry Lawrence Garfield) is an American singer and songwriter, spoken word artist, author, and actor. ... In the music industry, Artists and Repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record label company that is responsible for scouting and artist development. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... American Recordings is a Los Angeles-based record label headed by record producer Rick Rubin. ...

As part of the legal settlement Subterranean Records was awarded the right to reissue its Flipper records on vinyl in the United States.

The band continued playing from 1990 to 1995, pursuing a more straightforward rock sound and attempt to cash in on their notoriety. In 1992, the new lineup released "American Grafishy" on Rick Rubin's Def American imprint; this is their only recording that is still consistently (legally) available. Their demise was again forthcoming due to another death by heroin overdose, this time that of replacement bass player John Dougherty. Frederick Jay (Rick) Rubin (born March 10, 1963 in Lido Beach, New York) is an American record producer and is currently the co-head of Columbia Records. ... American Recordings is a Los Angeles-based record label headed by record producer Rick Rubin. ...

Loose once commented to SF Weekly on the band's history as "like Spinal Tap, except the bass player keeps dying". A SF Weekly newsstand on Sansome Street in San Francisco SF Weekly is a weekly free newspaper in San Francisco, California. ... For other uses, see Spinal Tap (disambiguation). ...

In 2002 Bruce Loose, father of a teenager, using a cane to get around (following a horrific car accident), resurfaced with a one off gig at Berkeley's 924 Gilman Street space as "Not Flipper". Falconi is somewhat reclusive. DePace is reportedly shopping Flipper stories to potential publishers. He lives in the L.A. area and works in the animation industry. The 924 Gilman Street project, aka the Alternative Music Foundation, is the Berkeley, California street address, and the official business name, of the all-ages, non-profit, collectively organized music club usually referred to by its fans simply as Gilman. ...

The original members of Flipper, barring the late Will Shatter (with Bruno DeSmartass replacing Shatter once again as he had done for a 1982 tour), reunited to support CBGB on August 22 and 28, 2005. Singer Bruce Loose appeared on stage with a cane. This line-up of Flipper then continued to play live again beginning in 2006, with plans for a new album to be released and recorded in 2007. is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In December 2006, Shatter was replaced by Krist Novoselic on bass for a tour of the UK and Ireland, as well as several US shows. ^[1] The song "Scentless Apprentice", which the band recorded (without Novoselic) for a 2000 Nirvana tribute album, was added to the band's setlist. Krist Anthony Novoselić II (born May 16, 1965) is an American rock musician best known as the bassist for Nirvana. ... Scentless Apprentice is a song by the American rock band, Nirvana. ...

In May 2007, Novoselic announced in an interview with Mike Watt that a new Flipper album is expected for release in fall of 2007. The album is recorded by Jack Endino, the famous sound engineer who recorded Nirvana's debut album Bleach. Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957 in Portsmouth, Virginia) is a bass guitarist, singer and songwriter, best-known for co-founding the punk rock bands The Minutemen and fIREHOSE; as of 2003, he is also the bassist for the reunited Iggy Pop & The Stooges. ... Jack Endino is a music producer based in Seattle, USA. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands such as Mudhoney and Soundgarden, but is probably best known for producing the first Nirvana album, Bleach, released in 1989. ... This article is about the American grunge band. ... Bleach was the debut album by Nirvana, released in June 1989 through Sub Pop. ...

Influence on other musicians

Kurt Cobain was a great fan of Flipper and often wore self-made Flipper t-shirts, e.g. in the booklet pictures of Nirvana's In Utero and on the band's first performance on Saturday Night Live in 1992. Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. ... This article is about the American grunge band. ... In Utero is the third and final studio album by the American grunge band Nirvana, released on September 21, 1993 by Geffen Records (DGC). ... This article is about the American television series. ...

In the documentery American Hardcore, Moby, who has come to fame as a techno-ish pop star, stated that he fronted for Flipper while singer Rick Williams was in jail because he "knew all of their songs". American Hardcore is a documentary directed by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush. ... Not to be confused with Mooby. ...

Members

Current members

• Bruce Loose - vocals
• Ted Falconi - guitar
• Krist Novoselic - bass
• Steve DePace - drums

Former members

• Ricky Williams- vocals
• Will Shatter - bass, vocals
• John Dougerty- bass
• Bruno DeSmartas- bass

Discography

Studio Albums

Album - Generic Flipper is the debut album by the San Francisco band Flipper. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Gone Fishin is a 1984 LP album, the second studio release by San Francisco punk/noise band Flipper. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Def American was a record label which was founded by record producer Rick Rubin after he left Def Jam in 1989. ... Def American was a record label which was founded by record producer Rick Rubin after he left Def Jam in 1989. ...

Live albums

An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline for Music. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Overground, a boy group from Germany, is the result of the third season of the international television sensation Popstars - The Duel, a precursor to the Idol shows. ...

Singles

Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Subterranean Records is a record label based in San Francisco California. ... Matador Records is a record label, famous for a roster of highly-respected indie rock artists and bands. ...

Other appearances

• "Earthworm" on SF Underground (1979)
• "Falling", "Lowrider" and "End of the Game" on Live At Target (1981)
• "Ha Ha Ha" on Let Them Eat Jellybeans (1981)
• "Sacrifice" on Not So Quiet On The Western Front (1982)
• "Life" on Rat Music for Rat People (1982)
• "Ever" on Eastern Front (1983)
• "Ever" and "Sex Bomb" on The Wanna-Be-An-Indie-But-Got-Too-Much-$ Sampler (1992)
• "Some Day" on SXSW (1993)
• "Love Canal" and "Get Away" on Infinite Zero Promotional CD #2 (1994)
• "Ha Ha Ha" (live) on Old School Punk (1998)
• "Scentless Apprentice" (Nirvana cover) on Smells Like Bleach (A Punk Tribute To Nirvana) (2000)
• "Sad But True" on "A Punk tribute to Metallica" (2001)
• "Ha Ha Ha" on "American Hardcore's Official Movie Soundtack" (2006)

Let Them Eat Jellybeans is a compilation album released by Alternative Tentacles in 1981. ... Eastern Front may refer to one of the following. ... South by Southwest (SXSW, Inc. ... Scentless Apprentice is a song by the American rock band, Nirvana. ... This article is about the American grunge band. ...

References

External links

• Flipper (Yahoo category)
• Flipper - Fansite
• PUNKCAST#1023 live video from North Six NYC, Aug 24 2006