Post by megaman on Apr 28, 2024 4:21:19 GMT
The Didjits were a hugely talented rock band with punk influences from Illinois that existed between 1981 and 1994. Sadly never achieved a big hit during their heyday, but it'd be accurate to describe them as having a strong cult following. Perhaps their biggest claim to fame came when the Offspring covered their song "Killboy Powerhead" on their breakthrough album, Smash (that's how I found out about 'em).
You can freely purchase their five studio albums (and one EP) from Bandcamp (I believe that's the most artist-friendly platform).
didjits.bandcamp.com/
Anyways, there's a large amount of lost media surrounding the band, as well as plenty of music that's become rare and out of print (not available officially on digital platforms).
To start, they recorded and self-released three demo tapes in 1985 to garner label interest before recording their debut LP (these are all documented by Maximum Rocknroll).
Fortunately out of this bunch, Signifies My GO-T! has been found and ripped online (this seems to be the most common tape). Couple of people to credit, it's currently available online thanks to James Joyce, but was originally tracked down and shared by Joe Stumble via his defunct blog, The Last Days of Man on Earth (archive). I've added it to the Internet Archive:
archive.org/details/signifies-my-go-t
Whoop My Head exists in bits and pieces; Joe's aforementioned rip of the GO-T tape has four extra songs on it. One of these, "Fix Some Food Bitch", is confirmed to originate from Whoop My Head, so it's likely that this is the source of the other three tracks ("Do Smiles Give You Away", "What Gives You the Right", "Purple Haze") as well. Next, we have a YouTube video by Stephen Cannon that has two tracks from the tape:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVm1SnwqvL4
"My Face is Dry" is a live recording, and the second track is "Big Mama". The uploader listed the second song as "Melvin Takes a Dive", but Rick himself is in the comment section correcting him. The supposed tracklist for Whoop My Head should look something like this:
Now this tracks with Tim Yohannan's review, which states the tape has "five studio tracks and some live material." In contrast, Rick stated that it was totally live at Mabel's in Champaigne, IL. I'd go with Tim's appraisal, since there's audience noises on the track "My Face is Dry" that aren't present on the others.
Durga! Durga! Durga! is completely lost. Rick stated in a zine interview that one of the songs is titled "Melvin Takes a Dive." They also released a music video for a track called "Loan Me a Buck" in 1985, which puts it whithin the demo era. Musically, this is a complete departure from the other two tapes, so it's possible that it originates from Durga! Durga! Durga!. Tim Yohannon described the tape's style as "a bit too close to much “new wave,” which lends credence to this theory. "Big Mama" also appears to be a studio track that originated from this tape.
Speaking of, RateYourMusic lists them as having released seven music videos. While quality varies without an official outlet for VHS-era music videos, most of these are at least available currently online:
It's frustrating when you remember something being readily available, as is the case with "Sweet Sweet Satan" being on YouTube for years before being taken down. Right now, it seems to be available on a site called "vob.clip.com", but behind a paywall. "Max Wedge" and "Top Fuel" are available on their music video tape, Knocked Up. This is something I'll be looking out for, because the other videos available in only 240p, or even 144p are in dire need of quality upgrade. "Judge Hot Fudge" also suffers from heavy compression, but there's no other release of that video that I know of.
You can freely purchase their five studio albums (and one EP) from Bandcamp (I believe that's the most artist-friendly platform).
didjits.bandcamp.com/
Anyways, there's a large amount of lost media surrounding the band, as well as plenty of music that's become rare and out of print (not available officially on digital platforms).
To start, they recorded and self-released three demo tapes in 1985 to garner label interest before recording their debut LP (these are all documented by Maximum Rocknroll).
- Durga! Durga! Durga!
- Whoop My Head
- Signifies My GO-T!
Fortunately out of this bunch, Signifies My GO-T! has been found and ripped online (this seems to be the most common tape). Couple of people to credit, it's currently available online thanks to James Joyce, but was originally tracked down and shared by Joe Stumble via his defunct blog, The Last Days of Man on Earth (archive). I've added it to the Internet Archive:
archive.org/details/signifies-my-go-t
Whoop My Head exists in bits and pieces; Joe's aforementioned rip of the GO-T tape has four extra songs on it. One of these, "Fix Some Food Bitch", is confirmed to originate from Whoop My Head, so it's likely that this is the source of the other three tracks ("Do Smiles Give You Away", "What Gives You the Right", "Purple Haze") as well. Next, we have a YouTube video by Stephen Cannon that has two tracks from the tape:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVm1SnwqvL4
"My Face is Dry" is a live recording, and the second track is "Big Mama". The uploader listed the second song as "Melvin Takes a Dive", but Rick himself is in the comment section correcting him. The supposed tracklist for Whoop My Head should look something like this:
- Fix Some Food Bitch
- Do Smiles Give You Away
- What Gives You the Right
- Metal Gods
- Purple Haze
- My Face is Dry
- Big Mama
- Melvin Takes a Dive
Durga! Durga! Durga! is completely lost. Rick stated in a zine interview that one of the songs is titled "Melvin Takes a Dive." They also released a music video for a track called "Loan Me a Buck" in 1985, which puts it whithin the demo era. Musically, this is a complete departure from the other two tapes, so it's possible that it originates from Durga! Durga! Durga!. Tim Yohannon described the tape's style as "a bit too close to much “new wave,” which lends credence to this theory. "Big Mama" also appears to be a studio track that originated from this tape.
Speaking of, RateYourMusic lists them as having released seven music videos. While quality varies without an official outlet for VHS-era music videos, most of these are at least available currently online:
- Loan Me a Buck
- Beast Le Brutale
- Max Wedge
- Captain Ahab
- Sweet Sweet Satan
- Top Fuel
- Judge Hot Fudge
It's frustrating when you remember something being readily available, as is the case with "Sweet Sweet Satan" being on YouTube for years before being taken down. Right now, it seems to be available on a site called "vob.clip.com", but behind a paywall. "Max Wedge" and "Top Fuel" are available on their music video tape, Knocked Up. This is something I'll be looking out for, because the other videos available in only 240p, or even 144p are in dire need of quality upgrade. "Judge Hot Fudge" also suffers from heavy compression, but there's no other release of that video that I know of.
