(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Mojo Nixon's art of wit, parody and sarcasm is not always (and not often)
musical, but it constituted the most irreverent take on the American way of
life since the Fugs.
Coming out of San Diego, Neill McMillan (a North Carolina native)
hooked up with Skid Roper (harmonica, mandolin,
washboard) and began delivering sardonic parables with songs that employed
the rootsy strylistic mixture of every bar-band (blues, rockabilly, country).
Jesus At McDonald's, from
Mojo Nixon & Skid Ropert (Enigma, 1985),
The Amazing Bigfoot Diet and
Stuffin' Martha's Muffin, from Frenzy (Restless, 1986),
and Elvis Is Everywhere and I Ain't Gonna Piss In No Jar
from Bo-Day-Shus (Enigma, 1987),
established the basic paradigm.
Root Hog Or Die (Enigma, 1989) offered the usual dose of sub-human
teenage humour (Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with my Two-Headed Love Child)
but also unleashed vigorous boogie numbers (She's Vibrator Dependent,
Louisiana Liplock) that make it his most musical work ever.
Unlimited Everything (Enigma, 1990) is an anthology of the Nixon & Roper
albums.
Flanked by veterans of roots-rock, Nixon disposed of Roper and proceeded to
record Otis (IRS, 1990), that contains the infamous
Don Henley Must Die.
A new line-up accompanied him on
the Christmas album Horny Holidays (Triple X, 1992), that contains
his It's Christmas Time.
Prairie Home Invasion (Alternative Tentacles, 1994), a collaboration
with Jello Biafra (and, needless to say, his most political work ever),
and Whereabouts Unknown (Blutarski, 1995), that contains
the demented six-minute rant You Can't Kill Me,
Gadzooks (Needletime, 1997) is a collection of rarities.
Nixon died in 2024 at the age of 66.
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