Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Logo #90: Screeching Weasel

Illustration by Paul Russel for Screeching Weasel's sophomorically sophomoric 1988 LP "Boogada Boogada Boogada." Their attitude can be crystallized up quite eloquently in a lyric from the album's track "Nicaragua": "I hate your problems / I hate your politics / and I hate the way you smell / 2-3-4!" They break up and reform more times than The Blob. The most recent reformation (apart from the Protestant one) happened in 2004. Screeching Weasel was one of the lone sweet smells in the grunge-stained garbage pit that was the whiny '90s. Bandmember John "Jughead" Pierson's 2005 book, "Weasels in a Box," was about the vague vagaries of the pop-punk world - which, it turns out, was a microcosmic comment on the vicissitudes of fame itself. Ben Weasel remains Ben Weasel.

1 comment:

Dr. Abominable said...

Fantastic. Thank you for this. I'll be sharing it with John, I think he'll really appreciate it!

I had put this bit of art in the rear view mirror for a couple decades, once I got a grown up career in video games. I had known that it had become and oft tattooed image on people and thought that was due to the band, but at Jughead's 50th birthday party, I met a lot of people who had the tattoo and said that the artwork meant as much to them as the band and felt that meeting me was cathartic for them. That felt equally flattering and absurd to me, but I am really grateful for that.

Paul