The Wipers were the first punk band I ever saw, and in my opinion one of the best bands of that era. I saw them in the summer of 1978 at a club called The Long Goodbye located in what was at the time one of Portland's industrial areas. I saw almost every show or party they played from then on until they relocated to NYC in 1981.
In Portland there was controversy as to whether The Wipers were punk or heavy metal. At the time these two genres were considered to be in total opposition. (this was before Motorhead and other bands brought the two genres together.) In Portland one would be shunned by the punk community for openly loving Led Zepplin. Greg Sage unappologetically stated in an interview that The Wipers biggest influence was Jimi Hendrix and he took some flack for it from some of the other bands. Sage seemed to sour on the Portland scene and took his band to NYC. But he hated the lifestyle of the Lower East Side and only stayed there for a year or so before heading back to Portland.
While in NY Greg Sage saw Suicide and in response put out the single "Romeo" (b side was "No Solution" and "Better Off Dead."
I once read an interview where Dee Dee Ramone sited The Wipers as his favorite band. Almost a generation later Kurt Cobain sited them as a major influence. Nirvana did a pretty good cover of Return Of The Rat on a Wipers tribute album, unfortunately it was a small pressing and I doubt if Greg Sage reaped in the sorts of royalties the Meat Puppets did from MTV's unplugged project.
Like Alex, I often listen to sixties and seventies Psychedelia but it's seldom that I listen to my old punk records anymore, the music just doesn't do for me what it once did. During the Grunge era, I was mostly listening to techno/ambiant/electronic but decided to reinvestigate The Wipers. As an adult I discovered that it wasn't only the musicianship that set them apart from most bands of the era, it was the lack of cynicicism, the sincerely romantic expression of unfullfilled love that Sage sang about that made them different from most punk bands.
Without having heard it I highly recommend this box set
This cover version of Youth Of America was for the European release. The American release had a B-W photo. The orange color was amberlith which was meant to be converted to 50% grey. Too bad the drawing is so crappy.
Jacob Pander and I did did the gatefold of the Alien Boy 7.
Thanks Jim!
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The Wipers were the first punk band I ever saw, and in my opinion one of the best bands of that era. I saw them in the summer of 1978 at a club called The Long Goodbye located in what was at the time one of Portland's industrial areas. I saw almost every show or party they played from then on until they relocated to NYC in 1981.
In Portland there was controversy as to whether The Wipers were punk or heavy metal. At the time these two genres were considered to be in total opposition. (this was before Motorhead and other bands brought the two genres together.) In Portland one would be shunned by the punk community for openly loving Led Zepplin. Greg Sage unappologetically stated in an interview that The Wipers biggest influence was Jimi Hendrix and he took some flack for it from some of the other bands. Sage seemed to sour on the Portland scene and took his band to NYC. But he hated the lifestyle of the Lower East Side and only stayed there for a year or so before heading back to Portland.
While in NY Greg Sage saw Suicide and in response put out the single "Romeo" (b side was "No Solution" and "Better Off Dead."
I once read an interview where Dee Dee Ramone sited The Wipers as his favorite band. Almost a generation later Kurt Cobain sited them as a major influence. Nirvana did a pretty good cover of Return Of The Rat on a Wipers tribute album, unfortunately it was a small pressing and I doubt if Greg Sage reaped in the sorts of royalties the Meat Puppets did from MTV's unplugged project.
Like Alex, I often listen to sixties and seventies Psychedelia but it's seldom that I listen to my old punk records anymore, the music just doesn't do for me what it once did. During the Grunge era, I was mostly listening to techno/ambiant/electronic but decided to reinvestigate The Wipers. As an adult I discovered that it wasn't only the musicianship that set them apart from most bands of the era, it was the lack of cynicicism, the sincerely romantic expression of unfullfilled love that Sage sang about that made them different from most punk bands.
Without having heard it I highly recommend this box set
This cover version of Youth Of America was for the European release. The American release had a B-W photo. The orange color was amberlith which was meant to be converted to 50% grey. Too bad the drawing is so crappy.
Jacob Pander and I did did the gatefold of the Alien Boy 7.
- steve 12-30-2001 11:06 pm
Thanks Jim!
- steve 12-31-2001 2:46 am [add a comment]