minutemen are a very american band- and you can see it in the name! if you know american history, then you’ll know that during the colonial era, the minutemen were the elite militia that would supposedly be ready at a minute’s notice for military action. they most famously fought in the battles of lexington and concord in 1775, as the first colonists to actually fight british troops, sparking the revolutionary war. the minutemen i’ll be talking about today, however, are the punk rock band from the 80s.
minutemen were formed in 1980 in the SoCal area as the trio of guitarist/vocalist d. boon (r.i.p.), bassist mike watt, and drummer george hurley. they were friends with other underground avant-garde bands like sonic youth, with mike watt providing spoken-word vocals on daydream nation‘s “Providence” (that’s how i learned about them!). minutemen are predominantly known for their 1984 art-punk album double nickels on the dime, which was an influential, 43-song-long political commentary with minimalist instrumentals and stream-of-consciousness lyrics. today i’m reviewing one of the most famous tracks on double nickels, “History Lesson, Pt. 2”.
“History Lesson, Pt. 2” is a short, simple song. it’s simple enough that i learned the guitar part by ear in the matter of 10 minutes, and i’m horrible at learning parts by ear. in only 2 minutes, d. boon manages to reminisce about his younger years growing up with mike watt and his old punk rock idols. as d. boon observes in the song’s opening lyrics, “Our band could be your life”. this song is the proverbial passing of the torch-minutemen are now making music, inspired by the likes of richard hell and bob dylan, and you can only imagine all the bands of the 90s and beyond making music because of minutemen (pinback, pearl jam, jane’s addiction, etc..). the song proves itself: two minutes of simple, memorable riffage and casual, humble musings really can change your life.
