When thinking about some of the most provocative and subversive bands born in the 80s, you would be hard-pressed to top San Antonio’s finest, the one and only Butthole Surfers. Like many trailblazing alternative bands from the 80s, they achieved greater notoriety and success during the subsequent alt-rock explosion in the 90s. Still, they spent most of the prior decade paying their dues in small clubs and garnering a reputation for their truly unhinged (drug-fueled) live shows. One such example can be found in this clip at the University of Maryland (talk about higher education) from 1988, as the band blasts through a fittingly batshit performance of “Sweet Loaf”. Between the classic opening lines about “regret” and “SATAN!”, synchronized high-kicks, seizure-inducing strobe-lighting, and disturbing backing videography, suffice to say that the reputation above was well earned. Long live the Butthole Surfers, a band that really pushed boundaries back in the day and truly gave zero Fs in the process:
