The Songs Don't All Sound the Same

The Supersuckers—currently, vocalist and bassist Eddie Spaghetti (born Edward Carlyle Daly III), guitarist Ron "Rontrose" Heathman, and drummer Mike Musburger—formed in Tucson, Ariz., in 1988. Originally a five-piece that included drummer Dan Siegal, who left the group two years ago, the band, formerly called the Black Supersuckers (the name came from a pornographic novel), concentrated on hard-charging, rockabilly-inflected, straight-ahead punk and recorded several 7-inch singles for various labels, later collected on 1992's The Songs All Sound the Same. Soon, they signed to Sub Pop and released their first album, 1992's The Smoke of Hell, with a cover by artist Daniel Clowes (whose books Eightball and Ghost World were issued by local indie publisher Fantagraphics). They also became one of the most dependable live bands in the business, accruing a steady, fervent cult following across the country. "I can see the Supersuckers every couple weeks if I want to," I told a rock-DJ friend in Minneapolis shortly after moving to Seattle in 1999. "Fuck you," he replied.

After four albums on Sub Pop, including 1997's country foray, Must've Been High, and another, 1999's Evil Powers of Rock 'n' Roll, on Koch International, the Supersuckers went full-on DIY, starting Mid-Fi Recordings, their own label. Their newest disc, released three weeks ago, is the singles and obscurities collection Devil's Food: A Collection of Rare Treats & Evil Sweets, which joins three live discs (taped in Anaheim, Calif.; in Ferndale, Mich.; and at Seattle's Tractor Tavern) and Spaghetti's 2004 solo disc, The Sauce, in the Mid-Fi catalog. Shortly after getting off their umpteenth tour, Spaghetti and Heathman journeyed to the SW offices for this Jury, ranking each song on its appropriateness for an actual jukebox in an actual bar.

ZZ Top: "La Grange" (1973) from Tres Hombres (Warner Bros.)

Eddie Spaghetti: Oh, rules! I was thinking about ZZ Top yesterday, because I heard somebody saying, "What's the longest-running rock and roll band with all the original members?" I said, "It's gotta be ZZ Top."

Ron Heathman: Yeah, that's true.

Spaghetti: I thought about Cheap Trick, but they've had a rotating cast of characters.

Heathman: Yep, and I think ZZ Top started before 'em—'69, Jesus Christ.

Spaghetti: And like all bands that have sucked in their old age, you kind of have to just forget about that. I still think they're great live. Their records, you know, there's an occasional glimmer of what they used to do. But I mean, I'm on board all the way through Afterburner. I'm not a purist that says they started stinking at Deguello or whatever. They started changing then, but I still think they made great records.

Seattle Weekly: They only make records about twice a decade now, anyway.

Spaghetti: Yeah, so that's pretty forgivable. They're not gonna bug us too much.

Heathman: They made six records with not one single bad song on them, six in a row—their first six records. Not one single stinker. You're in, you're done—you can rest on that. This record particularly, their vibe, their style . . . let me just say I didn't expect to hear ZZ Top [during this interview].

Spaghetti: I thought we were going to hear the Shins, modern rock—and maybe we will. But this is a jukebox staple. As far as a jukebox goes, you put this on in a bar, and every single person's happy. My sister was older, and this is one of the first concerts I got to see. She took me in 1978, with the Charlie Daniels Band. I was 11 years old. She took me to a couple before that, too, and they were boring. I was a little kid. I don't remember the concert so much as people dancing, this big concert with people dancing. I don't remember that at other concerts I went to as a little kid. It was fun.

SW: Rock stopped being dance music for a long time—punk rock kind of turned into head music for a while there.

Spaghetti: You're supposed to think, and you're supposed to have this arsenal of previous knowledge in your mind in order to appreciate certain bands and certain kinds of rock. I don't like most of what's on the radio, but when you do hear a song you've never heard before by a new band but it's just good, it's so nice. You don't have to have this litany of information and be this rock scholar in order to appreciate it: "If you liked Devo and you liked Kraftwerk," it just goes on and on.

Heathman: [as song fades out] That is some clean boogie.

Helmet and House of Pain: "Just Another Victim" (1993) from Judgment Night (Sony)

Spaghetti: My immediate response is that I don't understand it. Nü-metal?

SW: It actually predates nü-metal.

Heathman: Maybe it was influential to nü-metal, like Slayer or something.

SW: It's a collaboration.

Heathman: Suicidal [Tendencies]?

SW: No. It's a rock band and a rap artist collaborating.

Heathman: Like Anthrax and Public Enemy? Body Count?

SW: Helmet and House of Pain.

Heathman: I kinda call Helmet nü-metal.

Spaghetti: Yeah, they had that one good song that sounded to me like Ozzy Osbourne.