Gibby Haynes and His Problem

Back when simple-minded slogans like "Just Say No" inspired more laughter than allegiance, the Butthole Surfers charged head-first into the dilated eye of the storm, conjuring nightmares of Nancy Reagan breast-feeding the Pope with her hair on fire. Ah, the early days, when a live Surfers set guaranteed strobe lights,...

By John La Briola

September 16, 2004

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Back when simple-minded slogans like "Just Say No" inspired more laughter than allegiance, the Butthole Surfers charged head-first into the dilated eye of the storm, conjuring nightmares of Nancy Reagan breast-feeding the Pope with her hair on fire. Ah, the early days, when a live Surfers set guaranteed strobe lights, performance art and probably some medical film about goiters or penile reconstruction. Later, after rehab, Haynes lost a few steps as he embraced bubblegum psychedelia, put out back-to-back duds like Weird Revolution and Electriclarryland and simply cashed his checks. Things have gotten a little better since. On his solo debut, Gibby Haynes and His Problem, the former 6'5" college hoops star gets under your skin for different reasons, opting for tales of diaper-clad Kaisers or Superman and Dan Rather flying at the speed of light. Yeah, the Gibster still relies on heavily sedated "Gibbytronix" and even breaks out the bullhorn more than he probably needs to, but cut him some slack: He grew up in the Lone Star State, where swaggering is just called walkin'.

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