Suburban Lawns - Janitor (Original Video)
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2011
- Su Tissue and Co. with a timeless tune. I've been in love with her for years...I like 'em weird. (songs and girls)
All action is reaction
Expansion
Contraction
Man the manipulator
Underwater
Does it matter
Antimatter
Nuclear reactor
Boom boom boom boom
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
I'm a janitor
Oh my genitals
I'm a janitor
Oh my genitals
Oh my genitals
I'm a janitor
All action is reaction
Expansion
Contraction
Man the manipulator
Underwater
Does it matter
Antimatter
Nuclear reactor
Boom boom boom boom
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
I'm a janitor
Oh my genitals
I'm a janitor
Oh my genitals
Oh my genitals
I'm a janitor 
Видеоклипы
Let's see, watching this video brought back a memory of almost seeing this band live at Perkins Palace in Pasadena on Feb. 12, 1983. The first band to play was the Vandals who had a song getting airplay on KROQ. It was a kick-ass punk rock song called "Urban Struggle" which was both intelligent and funny. You don't get that very often.
Next up was the Suburban Lawns.They were about three songs into their set when two punk assholes jumped up on stage, ran up to Su Tissue and spit two mouthfuls of beer straight into her face. The two assholes jumped back into the audience thinking they were so cool. The audience proceeded to beat the shit out of them. Security rescued them, and then they proceeded to beat the shit out of them. They dragged them out a side door and that was the last we saw of them. That, of course, was the end of the Suburban Lawn's set. They packed up their gear and left.
Someone came out on stage and said that the headline band, The Members, were considering canceling the show due to the violence. The audience put up quite an uproar at this news. About an hour later The Members came out and put on one hell of a great show. They were touring in support of their album "Uprythm,Downbeat" so we got to hear songs like "Working Girl", "Sound of the Suburbs", and "Chairman of the Board". They also did a killer cover of Kraftwerk's "The Model". which was completely out of left field. Brought down the house. It was a great show except that the Suburban Lawn's set was ruined by two complete and utter shitstains. Sad. Well, this memory came back and I thought I would share. Hope nobody minds.
'
I've heard a lot of stories about how bad violence/shitty attitudes were in the punk scene in the early days, luckily I didn't experience anything like that, because I don't know if I would have been able to love it as much as I do (it would've cut down on show participation at the very least). I think it was around 92 when I started seeing bands live, and introduced to a lot of amazing bands a few years earlier, around 88-89. There is absolutely nothing better than the bands from the 80's and 90's, but something happened after the early 2000's, and the bands either sounded like carbon copies of previous bands, or they just flat out sucked! I think I've heard a few good songs, but for the most part, if a band was formed after 2000, they are missing that special something that makes punk rock they most beautiful music in the world.
I'm sorry, sir... Next time a simple "get offa my lawn" will suffice.
I've had a few shows ruined by "punk" who thought they were hip but were just complete cliches. I started seeing shows in the mid 60s. Love Sue and the Lawns though I've never seen them. Paradoxically I'm good friends with one of the Vandals. ALL YOU MILLENNIALS at shows. SHUT THE FUCK UP and stop making shitty crappy bad audio shakey phone videos that make it impossible to find good ones on youtube. Nobody cares about you. Glad those fuckers got the shit kicked out of them.
I’ve known shitstains like that at shows. People who have to ruin everything. Thanks for sharing.
Just mentioning Perkins Palace brought me back to 1980
Saw them with Oingo Boingo at the John Anson Ford Theatre in 80. Obsessed ever since...
Whoooooooooo’s your mother
Whooo’s your father
Su Tissue is the pseudonym of Sue McLane, who was at college in California in 1978, when she joined fellow art student William Ranson in the post-punk band Suburban Lawns. Su does not want to be contacted or involved in talking about the past. The Suburban Lawns song ‘Gidget Goes To Hell’ takes the idea and fascinatingly twists it away from the daddy-idealization to real girl dark teen fantasy - It’s about bunking off school, stealing Dad’s car, driving to the beach and surfing so well that everyone is in awe of her. But none of the boys stand a chance with her because she’s a bad-ass surfer. The film by Jonathan Demme shows the ending where Gidget is presumed eaten by a shark, with Gidget’s giblets washed up on shore cartoon-style. Sue McLane acts, sings and probably had a significant creative hand in this production. According to band-mate Frankie Ennui, Su was reluctant to have live shows recorded, but this was where she was at her most exciting. “You had to see Su do her thing live and in person, in front of a crowd, to really get the full, mind-blowing impact. So many contrasting ideas and emotions were being transmitted. What Su did was real. She really put herself out there, exposed and vulnerable, but aggressively sarcastic and in your face at the same time. Brave. Amazing. Disturbing.” They played LA venues like Masque and Whiskey a gogo. Having obvious musical skills (She went on to study piano and later released a solo piano album, ‘Salon de Musique’), Su sang, played keyboards and bass in the band. This level of musical flair, remember, was unusual for the time. Many of the women who had been drawn to punk were sparky beginners, and the music press were used to judging women in bands on their attractiveness, sexiness and beauty of their voices. “You see, the Suburban Lawns have this Sue Tissue character that soon joins them on keyboards, a very subdued looking girl with long black hair and a predilection for vinyl raincoats and boots. On keyboards she’s almost invisible but then she borrows one of the guy’s bass and steps up front and that’s when you start realizing that this chickie isn’t no wallpaper and that maybe there’s more to the band than first meets the eye. Not only does she play that borrowed bass with more nerve and mean rhythm than a funk pro but she spits out her backing vocals in a most unsubdued, unbacking manner. Something like tense abandon, except more so. But it’s only a bit later, when she finally decides to do her singing full time, giving back the bass and grabbing the mike stand as a drowning cat claws at a stick you offer it that your lame little heart KNOWS that this here is one of the fuckin’ toughest, most unique, most outstanding performing creatures you’re ever likely to see and hear, here or anywhere. If this sounds like jive to, buster, check it out and then tell me to my face that girl ain’t amazing. She may not be on your list of “in people” yet but you see her once and if you’re halfway alive she’ll make number 1 and you’ll just be another shivering fan before you can spell out Lene Lovich That’s a promise. When Sue Tissue sings, nothing else matters. I don’t even know if she’s got a great voice (their really good single doesn’t quite convey what’s it’s about) or if she’s sexy or anything, all I know is that you can’t keep your fuckin’ eyes off her, so strange is her presence, so surprizing is her way AROUND the songs.” -- 1979 live review in Slash magazine. The second self-released single Janitor features a not-that interesting mix-up between the word genitals and janitor - again attributed to Su Tissue, who coined the ‘Oh my genitals, I’m a janitor’ line that apparently made the song - again with an accompanying film. By 1981, Suburban Lawns had signed to IRS records and recorded an album ‘Suburban Lawns’. The support slots became more high-profile, including supports with Siouxsie and the Banshees, 999 and Bow Wow Wow, opening for U2 at Santa Monica and The Clash at Sacramento Auditorium. In some interviews with other band members, there are hints of disputes within the band where the principles of business and art are pitted against one another. To step up from being a reliable and entertaining support band to being a 1980s IRS hit-making success story always seemed to involve compromises and placing particular demands on women in bands. And not all women were happy to comply with the ‘whatever it takes’ view of musical success. This is where all we can do is speculate. From the outset, Sue McLane comes across as having artistic vision, musical talent and not wanting to compromise her privacy and principles for fame or money. According to band mate Chuck Roast: "Su had a really cool sense of style, unconventionally speaking - like those blow-up pants or a nice three-piece suit with some pumps, with nails driven into the soles … What you saw and heard from Su was unvarnished and uncalculated. It was an extension of who she was; very organic. She had a wicked sense of humor; a reluctant star. She once proclaimed in an interview with the LA Times that “interviews were obsolete”, which I found refreshing due to the fact that is what all bands wanted to do.“ Today, Sue is an attorney in Newport Beach and can be reached by dialing 1-800-INJURED.
Wow, thanks for this! I remember obsessing over the album for clues about the band while listening to the songs.
Great post, but I will for real send you 5 bucks if you'll just go back and edit that shit into some PARAGRAPHS.
Damn you're kinda fried bro
Only took me 39 years to discover this fine gem!
Danny BallsofDoom for me eighteen...
Danny BallsofDoom me too man!
For me, it took seventeen.
never too late
better late than never. This song kicks ass!!
Way back in high school IRS records were sooo cool. They sent out press kits for both SUburban Lawns and Wall of Voodoo to high schools and invited us up to A&M records to interview both bands.
my brother showed me this song years ago, always loved it and the bands sound, he passed away almost 7 years ago now. thank you big bro you had good taste.
Sorry about your Brother. R.I P.🕯
At least you have good memories to remember him by.
Lol, I remember when this was released. I was a young punk rocker. Funny how 40+ years later while cleaning...this showed up in the subconscious.
I am one of the few people to have bought this record and reviewed as a high school fanzine punk rocker in 1981. Yes, I’m bragging!
I'm a Janitor !!!
Love it! Take me back to L.A. and the classic KROQ! Great times!!
I’m pretty sure that Richard Blade played this song during KROQ’S heyday
@@juliocaesaralcaraz9891 He definitely played it during Flashback Lunches in the 90s.
I got a reel to reel tape from KNAC of the homegrown show with these guys..
@@juliocaesaralcaraz9891 wonder if Rodney was the first to play it.
I wish I wasn't fifteen. you guys are so lucky to have experienced shit like this first hand.
There's some pretty cool Lo-Fi punk coming out now that's kinda similar. Snööper and CCTV are the first two that come to mind.
"Irrelatives" could be a good name for a band
This should be preserved in a timecapsule for future generations.
Was working at the whiskey 80/81wow still love this group
The Suburban Lawns one and only album permanently remains on my list of favorite 30 albums of all time.
"Oh my genitals .....I'm a janitor!!!"
Not sure how I missed this band during the 80's but glad I found them now. She's like the child of the B-52's and Yoko Ono....very cool
Little influence of "The Slits" too I think. So good.
I was lucky to be a highs school student living in so cal, listening to this on KROQ way back then. This was as alternative weird as it got back then, sounds so innocent now.
I just heard this song on KXLU's ZooCroo show, I love it!
I grew up in the NYC New Wave/Punk scene in the 70's. Somehow got this "demo" vinyl album in the very very early 80's when in college (Texas A&M). Fell in love with it and turned so many friends on to it. It was my idea of a quintessential LA Beach fun punk band (kinda like "X" who SL opened for from what I hear). It enticed me to move to Long Beach upon graduation but alas SL was no more. had to make a CD copy of this album thru the 90s/2000s til some one stole it. Still in LA I turned my 21 yr old son onto it (classically trained musician turned radical activist musician) and he fell in love with the album. He and his friends now do a funky cover of "Computer Date" at their multi=band jam sessions. All of the other bands are now covering SL, PIXIES, etc... Kick-ass music never dies. This is my ode to SL. Thanks mates - you are still impacting generations. Gotta feel good, don't it??!!!
Lost siblings of Devo. Love them.
Still holds all it's energy in 2022 Definitely not cookie cutter yet definitely of it's time.
This explosive melody has been a time tested favorite of mine since my college days of listening to KALX Berkeley ! Cheers
I was trying to find this song forever! I was like, "It's the song that goes.... OOOOooaooOOOO mhmmmmMmammEee"
In the early 80s l used to hang out at this arcade that would play movie trailers and music videos on TVs all over the place - l used to watch this video but could barely hear the music because of all the noise in the arcade.
love love love
1 of those songs that defined New Wave Theater...
I totally forgot about this one. I was 13 and assumed I was hearing "Oh my genitals" wrong. Haven't heard the song again till now. WEIRD
Rodney on the ROQ - KROQ!!! He brought it all out in the 80's
Underwater...does it matter??
I actually like this song, gets better everytime, real primal gritty and primitive yet high end.
I started listening this like a joke but now I can't stop
Perfect.
Camila Gastán i guess everything’s irrelative
Yeah you and "everybody" else
SAME
I started listening as a vendetta against my roommates. Now they enjoy it and I hate myself.
Me rn at work mopping bathrooms
I am only here because I saw a Time Capsules poster in Fast Times At Ridgemont High……….
I liked this song already, but I didn't didn't know the video was all Fish Heads energy. Makes it even more awesome.
(P.S. I miss Bill Paxton, producer and actor in Fish Heads.)
Love this!! My daughter is like what are you listening to? But she loves it now!!!
Haha, the beginning does sound like Alkaline Trio. I wanna sing " Choking slowly, broken hearted " when the song starts lol but I wouldn't say they ripped it off though
1:25 -1:28 su sings "expansion contraction" and she's dressed like a ball like, perfect timing
I assume this comes from a share from Video 4. Thanks. The You Tube version comes from the original 3/4" tape. Ugg! I tried to fix it digitally as much as I could several years ago when we posted it. This was shot with a 1978 black and shite camera at The Whiskey on Sunset Blvd. in LA one afternoon. They were fun to work with. I lost track of them after 1984 or so.
One of the first videos I ever saw on MTV back in the early 80's. A lot of the early videos at that time were cheesy beyond compare, but your video transformed a low-budget effort into a true original. Normally, this genre is outside my musical tastes, but the song (and video) are so delightfully-weird that it has earned my appreciation. Bravo.
did you work on this video? what an accomplishment! By far one of my favorite/most creative music videos I’ve ever seen and I’m immensely interested by the fate of su tissue!
This is perfect total masterpiece!
This could be one of those videos that Beavis and Butthead are watching. "Oww my genitals hehehe!"
erockzz2010 She's hot!!! hehehe
I thought the same!!😂
"Huh-huh-huh...he said 'genitals.'"
"Huh! She said genitals!"
This is a winning lotto gold nugget video found after years of youtube scouring ... but the live one is equally valid/entertaining.
I like the live version better. It more accurately conveys what su's going for, and you can tell how great of musicians they actually are, especially the drummer. Hes amazing
The Producer lives across the street from Me;
The master sounds fantastic.
Is it possible to get a copy? (Will pay parties involved)
apparently still not yet.....ugh. What a great song!
@Waldo Rojas bot
Shit I live across the street from the Darrs they are known for absolutely nothing. On my side of the street I'm the famous one or is it infamous. Which is correct for someone who hates trimming their trees ?
I have the original I knew this was good
Seriously great music, came out about the time I graduated high school if I remember correctly. I graduated in 81.
I was born in 81 (sorry for making you feel old)
Brilliantly unique. “Man the manipulator” is an insightful line.
All those living in NYC, knew nothing of our punk scene. Raw unrehearsed and violent! But the best part. It was ours! Keep the Ramones we have the Olympic Auditorium! 10 bands 10 bucks! 1982
So fliping 80's!!!
wow i been mishearing those lyrics since '87 '88 omg i always loved this song still sing it to this day. thanx for the lyrics! awesome!
Yeah, I read (heard?) the janitor misheard for genitals story some time ago when the author of the song was being interviewed.
I had forgotten how much I love this song!
Suburban Janitors. I'm a lawn!
The genitals irrelative...
I love. Suburban. Pussy its tits man!
Im drunk. On the lawn manicure my As s pound it!
All I know is that the lyrics for the chorus were derived the night Su "Tissue" McLane met friend Brian Smith at a loud party. When she asked what he did for a living he said, "I'm a janitor." But Su thought he said, "Oh my genitals."But, I could see where some of the lyrics could be 3 Mile Island inspired. I've never heard the janitor theory. I believe it was caused by an overflow valve that was left open which led to numerous other malfunctions. I hope janitors weren't running the joint lol!
Like others taken decades to find this. Here in the UK Devo seen as USA bold eccentrics and the LA scene not so 'cool'
X Ray Spex and XTC held the shiney post punk Pop banner here and Blondie came and smashed it.
Indie then became worthy and po faced.
The Fall made it impossible to go backwards and continue to.
This great tho. USA has so much music heretige and this lot deserved more. IMO Suicide probably now retrospectively the great innovators from the States
This song is very clean
Well, the modern music scene def. needs an enema...and, this IS it.
...Wonderful...`!!!
timeless to me
this is my kind of music
This is fucking brilliant
One of my favorites- than you for posting 🙏🏻
SU TISSUE I LOVE YOU!!
Man manipulator. Genius wit.
Awesome!
You should celebrate the reissue of the record on July 21st with uploading an even better quality version of this video.
Suddenly, I want to learn more about science and math for some reason
Holy fuck I forgot the name of this song and it took me two years to find again!
I've found Su Tissue R.I.P. 2013
really dood??.. show a link??
Has a Devo feel.
It was all over the News that the janitor's wrench fell or he left it in one of the coolers or something, but the the words to this song is clearly about a nuclear meltdown. I need to find the article about this. i read it years ago like in 1980 or something lol
Like Devo and The Residents had a three-way with Shonen Knife!
I still have this 45 record. B side = My Boyfriend which is a harder edge sounding song. Def one of the early Punk bands in Los Angeles/Long Beach.
Are you sure you don't mean the 45 for "Gidget Goes To Hell"? I know that My Boyfriend was the B-side on that single. I would love to have either. I have their eponymous LP. For some reason it's never been released on CD.
Hahaha yeah, I have both 45's and got that mixed up. I like those two songs a lot MB & Janitor. They were a cool band that just came out of nowhere. Good solid live band and Sue was captivating.
sold mine for $50 and it had a rip in the cover too. i plan on buying it for more again when the tides of luck flow the opposing way. ☻
Such a great song, by a great band. Where’s anyone doing this today?
this sounds like a rejected song from the rocky horror picture show
lit lit
This is great! thanks!
This is like Wire and Devo had a kid that hated making music.
What a darling gem, the video is like candy!
A certain blazing artist brought me here ;)
thank you
freakin love it
I love Sue!,
Man the manip ulatooooor!
I dont know why I love her "boom, boom, boom, boom". ❤
Saw them at The Island in Houston.
I'm a genital, oh my janitors.
yeah i see where you got that from wiki, & I can also see that maybe after hearing on the news about the 3 Mile Island accident and the janitor being blamed over and over again, i mean it was all about the janitor in the news, and it wasn't until all the findings came out about the accident that the truth that it wasn't the janitor. IDK good song though.
the greatest
John McBurney (the guitarist) just blasts on this!
Magnifico
Man, this is fucking awesome!
Yep
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH
[Verse]
All action is reaction
Expansion, contraction
Man the manipulator
Underwater, does it matter?
Antimatter, nuclear reactor
Boom boom boom boom
[Chorus]
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
I'm a janitor, oh my genitals
I'm a janitor, oh my genitals
Oh my genitals, I'm a janitor
[Verse]
All action is reaction
Expansion, contraction
Man the manipulator
Underwater, does it matter?
Antimatter, nuclear reactor
Boom boom boom boom
[Chorus]
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
Who's your mother? Who's your father?
I guess everything's irrelative
I'm a janitor, oh my genitals
I'm a janitor, oh my genitals
Oh my genitals, I'm a janitor
👍. Thank you for taking time to write the words of this song.. Tissue's voice always unique to say the least ( Aquarian it figures ). I heard of the SL band in high school summer of 1980. The very catchy
" Gidget goes to Hell ". Will always ring in my mind also 👍 😁.
Really like the way she skulls out the bridge lyrics.
Yeah man! Jed the Fish, the poor man, I started listening to KROQ in 1978
Ya su tissue is awesome
Oh yeaahhh
Best upload. Best sound. Lead guitar could be up a bit (as in all) but not as much as in the other ups.
Righteous.
Very eccentric woman. She rocks. They rock
Ran into them with my then girlfriend (alas now ex-wife) at what used to be a sandwich shop at UC Irvine, many moons ago!
This song is sick!!
With mostly 2 minute songs their set would be over in like what, 10 minutes?