The Suburbs: Cows
[purchase]
I lived in Minneapolis back in the 80’s, so I am familiar with the Purple One. The album that includes ”Starfish and Coffee” is one my favorites of his. I never saw him perform except in that movie about Violet Precipitation and the other one which shall remain nameless. During the 1980s several other bands from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area got some critical notoriety outside Minnesota, such as The Replacements and Husker Du. Other groups like the Suburbs (from the Mpls. suburbs, of course) didn’t become as well known, and it seems a mystery to me. They had the dapper 1980s bad haircut look (see here) and performed sweaty, beer-soaked dance punk.
Since I grew up in the Dairy State of Wisconsin, I have some fondness for bovines, and when I was young, my dad was a dairy farmer. He gave it up for a steady paycheck and regular hours before I was old enough to take much responsibility for farm work. The song “Cows” is from the Suburbs first album In Combo, which seems to go in and out of print, but is also available on “best of” recordings. It is short and sweet and to the point: “and like their friends the shaved sheep, they got the skinny feet.”
Guest post by Paul T