Many punks today look back at the eighties punk scene and think of it as a golden age of hardcore. This is not strictly true. Sure there were the greats: Black flag, Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion etc, but at the same time there were a lot of generic hardcore bands who all sounded the same. The idea behind Flipper was to break away from the generic hardcore that infested the punk rock scene at the time. Instead of playing fast hardcore punk, they took the hardcore sound and slowed it down, creating a unique sound.

The Original Line Up

The early line up consisted of Bruce Loose(Vocals, Bass), Will Shatter (Bass, vocals), Ted Falconi (Guitar) and Steve DePace (Drums). They formed in San Francisco, USA, in the late 70's. At one of their gigs one could expect to hear either Bruce or Will Shouting about how meaningless life is over a distorted guitar and loud bass lines. This would go on untill the band members either got bored and handed their instrument to an audience member and wandered off, or passed out. It seems that at a Flipper gig there was practically no divide between the band and the audience. On a live recording, an audience member jumps on stage and starts singing into the mic on a song that was meant to be an instrumental and the band go on playing as though this is perfectly normal.

Their first album was released on subterranean records in 1982 and was mockingly called "Generic Flipper". The debut is considered by most Flipper fans to be the essential Flipper recording, containing Flipper's best known songs such as "Ever", "Life", "Way of the World" and "Sex Bomb".

Flipper released two live albums and one more studio album with the original line up.

Flipper's Second Incarnation

In 1987 Will Shatter died of a heroin overdose. The following year Flipper released a compilation consisting of some songs from "Generic" and "Gone Fishin'", but was mostly a collection of their early singles.

In 1990 Flipper released another album, "American Grafishy" with John Dougherty playing Bass.

In 1993 Bruce Loose damaged his spine in a car accident and has been unable to perform live.

In 1997, ten years after Will Shatter's death, John Dougherty also died of an overdose.

Flipper's Legacy

Despite the fact that their fanbase was small, Flipper were very influential. To see the extent of Flipper's influence on modern day popular music, just look in the sleave of Nirvana's "In Utero" and you will see Kurt Cobain wearing his homemade Flipper T-shirt. Kurt Cobain never hesitated to credit Flipper as an influence (especially on the early material). REM covered "Sex Bomb" on a fan only single and Mudhoney's Mark Arm wrote the liner notes to "Sex Bomb, Baby!". Dead Kennedys front man Jello Biafra once stated that Flipper were one of the best punk bands and Bruce is even given a "special thanx" on the casing of "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables"¹, although he is refered to by his birth name.

Discography

Album - Generic Flipper
LP, 1982, Subterranean,
CD, 1992, Def American,
CD, 1999, Sony / Columbia,

Blow'n Chunks
CS, 1984, ROIR,
CD, 1990, ROIR,
CD, 1992, ROIR / Danceteria,
CD, 1997, Overground Records,
CD, 2001, ROIR,

Gone Fishin'
LP, 1984, Subterranean,

Public Flipper Limited Live 1980 - 1985
2LP, 1986, Subterranean,

Sex Bomb, Baby!
LP, 1988, Subterranean,
CD, 1995, Infinite / American,

American Grafishy
CD, 1990, Def American,
CD, 1993, American Recordings,

Nürnberg Fish Trials
LP, 1991, Musical Tragedies,

Links

A Fansite

An article on Bruce Loose and Will Shatter

SF Weekly Article On Flipper