I dig your groovy hips
I dig your barbecued lips
It’s all about context isn’t it? in some circumstances the above could be a highly threatening, possibly the last thing your victim heard before the freezer door shut, in another context it could be a slightly unhinged come-on, which it is here on Boss Hog I Dig You. I bought it because I had a serious man-crush thing going for Jon Spencer. I saw the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion open for the Beastie Boys at Manchester Academy in 1995 and they just blew them off stage, they really did and the Beasties were/are my favourite band. I bought Orange and was blown away. Then when I found out that he had a second band going with his wife, I wanted in.
I heroically didn’t let the fact that said wife Cristina Martinez was a seriously hot chick deter me and so I picked up the 12″ of I Dig You on April Fool’s Day 1996. Frail man that I am I also rather fell for the cartoon chick on the cover*, fishnets, bikini bottoms and an unfeasibly tight crop-top being perfectly practical attire for gardening/playing in the sand as far as I’m concerned. Oh yes.
In fact never let it be said that 1537 shies away from confronting sexual politics head-on. Martinez, right from the very first Boss Hog show, which she played in the nude, has never been afraid to show her feminine strength and reject societal norms by reclaiming her body as her art, as opposed to something to be gawped at by men – all by, seemingly, freeing herself on a pretty regular basis from the tyranny of wearing any clothes at all^. Whether this is a genuinely feminist statement, a high-minded rejection of norms, or a great way to sell records to lusty simpletons like myself who, fancying themselves as rather high brow, wouldn’t be seen dead making eyes at whichever pop phenomenon was making it big in the charts that month by parading around in their under garments. There’s a difference. There really is. Albeit it tends to get blurry after this remove and all you’re left with are pictures of Martinez lolling around in her birthday suit. It’s all about context, again.
Since Christina and Spencer had met in Pussy Galore** musically I was expecting something a bit closer to that nihilistic punk strop, what we got though is almost a punked up disjointed take on Tom Waits Rain Dogs, a less rocky take on the Blues Explosion. ‘I Dig You’ contains the only vaguely threatening use of marimbas I can think of. It’s a strange track, I keep waiting for it to achieve lift-off and it never does so it was an odd choice for a single. I don’t want to sound like the sex-pest I possibly am but I am rather taken with Martinez’ sultry, sulky tones.
The B-sides were two non-album tracks, ‘Hell Mary’ which sounded like a particularly raucous witch singing along to ’96 Tears’ and ‘Soultrap’, which is really good. In fact ‘Soultrap’ is everything I hoped ‘I Dig You’ would be, it sounds like an evil rocked up version of the B-52’s, the guitar is particularly great and raw. Things conclude with a noble attempt at a cover of Wire’s ’12XU’, which even has the cheek to include some Jon Lord-style organ in the quiet bits. True. So it was good in places, not in others – it never pushed me into buying anything else by Boss Hog.
Anyway I’m off to scour the internet for pictures of Cristina Martinez expressing her inner strength. In the correct context of course…
395 Down.
*I have previous here, just ask Betty Boop and Jessica Rabbit (still my ideal girl, all these years on).
**1537 faves, the LP title Dial M For Motherfucker surely tells you all you need to know.
^if you don’t count long black boots that is.
How can’t you like that music!
Jings. Boss Hog. I have no idea how it’s possible, but I forgot all about them. I picked up that album many years ago on CD (after discovering Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and a friend giving me a copy of a Pussy Galore album – I preferred Boss Hog).
Thanks for the reminder … might need to see if that CD’s still kicking about somewhere (or just listen on Spotify).
You have to be the first person to use the exclamation, Jings! Since the late 50’s. Well played
It’s not used enough, but it’s a word that says so much …
Threatening Marimbas – a glorious name for a punk lounge band, don’t you think?
Great name for a backing band So-and-so & The Threatening Marimbas, works for me.
” Anyway I’m off to scour the internet for pictures of Cristina Martinez expressing her inner strength. In the correct context of course…”
Me too! In a fact finding sense you understand… I’ve never heard of her before. Ahem.
My advice is to start on Youtube. You can find most of the facts right there.
Christina! Hubba hubba hubba! is all I can dredge up from my manky mind of this time period.
Hubba being the universally accredited feminist salutation for one who has thrown off the tyranny of fabric.
LUSTY SIMPLETON? So you know my ex, eh? (j/k)
This sounds very intriguing the way you describe it, from the Jon Lord/Wire reference to “evil, rocked-up B52’s” Heard enough Jon Spencer to want these ‘sulky, sulky, tones’ for myself, and place it on the shelf next to my Clint Ruin/Lydia Lunch “STINKFIST”
Re; “reclaiming her body as art”, are you familiar with COSEY FANNI TUTTI & THROBBING GRISTLE?
Soultrap is a great track, but I have no idea if it’s representative of the whole. Try this though:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl1d1PKwToE&w=420&h=315%5D
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU1LB4StySo&w=420&h=315%5D
TG always scared me witless, for good reason! I’m too afraid of what would happen to me if I listened to an LP of theirs all the way through.
Thanks! “I DIG YOU” excellent psycho-dementia, love the Cramps/Nick Cave/Waits vibe (& drummer!)
Already liked “SOUL TRAP”
“Itchy & Scratchy” not bad, more mainstream, like if Timbuk3 did acid?
“Chocolate” has a trashy cheap-organ-coolness .
“Get It While You Wait” TOO mainstream, but love her singing and video performance despite.
TG Defo not for normal tastes, and I’ve gotten lots of strange looks just talking about trans-sexual singer Genesis P. Orridge. (former room-mate had an enormous Blondie poster, we pasted P. Orridge’s face on Debbie Harry’s- took him 4 months to notice)
I was thinking Dukes of Hazzard as well. Daisy and the Duke Boys and sticky fumblings in the back of the General Lee….whoa, I think I somehow genetically intermingled The Dukes of Hazzard and The Silence of the Lambs. It’s raining blood outside now.
As for this Jon Spencer side gig, I dig. And that cartoon gal on the cover makes me feel funny….in that good sort of way.
Them toon town girls got it goin’ on!
12XU? Any cover version is sacrilege although, with your obviously high brow tastes, you might have a more refined opinion.
As for the band name, I can’t help but think of it’s likely namesake, a short white-suited villain in the Dukes of Hazzard. Now, there’s high brow entertainment for you!
Damn you – I’ll be thinking of Daisy Duke for days now! In a sufficiently high-brow context obvs.
My work here is done.
She’s the reason god created the, umm, denim tree? (I’m a bit hazy on production details)
I have only vague memories of this. I remember the album, and I remember listening to a lot of Jon Spencer in the store, but I don’t recall hearing this one…
Regardless, I feel kind of aroused now, so I’ll leave now.
Please, I think it would be for the best.