I’m a punk and I like Sham

Cockney Rejects are the world’s greatest band

But I like Joy Division, Public Image too

Even though that’s not what I’m supposed to do…

“Fun, Fun Fun”

These were the words of the Big Boys, Austin’s premiere punks whose tremendous lead singer, Randy “Biscuit” Turner, died last Thursday in his home town. If you know anything about Austin, you know we take our status as a musically creative locale way too seriously. But Biscuit and the Boys lived up to the hype: during the heyday of hardcore, with its earnest fascism and strict faster-and-angrier line, the Big Boys were pleased to stick out by scooping in major handfuls of funk, melody, and tongue-in-cheek provocation. They were dubbed the “sister band” of Minutemen (a canny nickname, as the openly gay Turner was a rarity in the militantly hetero hardcore scene). For six years they were the city’s standard-bearers for what punk rock could be, and cast an influence and/or shadow upon nascent outfits like Butthole Surfers (who recorded an album at the Boys’ place), Fishbone, RHCP, and Fugazi.

The major thing, though, is that Turner and his crew were exceedingly kind. In the post-Pistols era, in which crowd provocation was almost mandatory, the Big Boys instead let everyone join in on the fun. Kind of a spiritual precursor to the Dismemberment Plan, to list just one example. After the band broke up in ‘85, Turner stayed in town, joined Cargo Cult and performance punkers Swine King, and worked on his mixed-media art, which was exhibited nationwide. He liked to close his shows with an “OK y’all, start your own band.” Just three examples of his own and greatest band, the Big Boys, follow.

Fun, Fun, Fun
Sound on Sound
Spit

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