So why is Perfect Thyroid’s Kiss The Mammoth And Run on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
This album “entry” for this here best 1,000 albums ever project is going to be unique in some ways, chiefly because it’s the only one of the 1,000 that is not currently available to stream on the Internet.
This is a sad state of affairs because Kiss The Mammoth And Run is, as I’m sure you’re guessing, pretty incredible.
Now, here’s some sort of good news to help leaven the blow:
- The (also fantastic) Musical Barnacles (#338 of best 1,000 albums ever) album is available on Spotify
- A few of the tracks on Musical Barnacles, such as “Elected Pimps” and “Cattbutt 2,” are either updates or newer versions of songs that originally appeared on Kiss The Mammoth And Run
To take a step back: Perfect Thyroid is a ska punk band, but only in the loosest sense: really, they’re a scintillating band that meshes many different styles into their music, with lyrics that are typically potent with progressive political leanings. They hail from what we native Long Island and NYC folk refer to as “upstate New York,” and they were one of the very best and most popular local and regional bands (who deserved far more acclaim than that) during the 1990s.
Typically, this would be the place in the piece where I select several of the album’s best or most interesting tracks and tell you what I think about them. But because I can’t share the actual music with you, I’ll tell a few stories that relate to Perfect Thyroid instead.
In between my junior and senior years at Binghamton University in New York, I was a Resident Advisor for the summer term, as I had also been during my junior year. The summer term was far more fun and a better experience for a bunch of reasons, one of which was that the students I advised were bright, eager inbound college freshmen as opposed to the anti-authority, pot smoking students I had during my year on the “performing arts module” (those kids saw me as an Authority Figure of sorts, and one not to be trusted, which I find pretty funny to this day).
During that summer, Perfect Thyroid came to town and played at either The Taz or Cheers. I took some fellow students down with me, and we all had a blast. It was hot, and the band was hotter, if you can dig.
I recall getting back to campus, and I was full on sweaty from dancing it up and enjoying the show. So much so, it seems, that I clearly recall a kid who had not been at the show muttering to someone else, wondering if I had a thyroid problem. You can’t make this stuff up!
Another time, at another Perfect Thyroid show, I must have been feeling, well… bold from consuming a few adult beverages, and I approached lead singer Chris “Skunk” Hanson after a set. He couldn’t have been nicer, and I’m sure I blathered on about how great they are.
Afterwards, I had that distinct sensation that I should never again be “that guy” that drunkenly tells the lead singer of the band how cool they are. I’m sure for him it was a tiny moment in the life of a musician, one to be forgotten immediately after it happened. But for me, it was one of those miniature life lessons that I took to heart, or at least somehow remembered to this day.
If you do manage to get your hands on Kiss The Mammoth And Run (the CD is available on eBay currently, for example), tracks not to miss include “Zero,” “Viva La Revolucion,” “Spark the Quark,” and, of course, “Cattbutt.”
Some stats & info about Perfect Thyroid – Kiss The Mammoth And Run
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Ska, Ska Punk, Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Third Wave Ska Revival, Dance Music, New York Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – not rated!
- When was Kiss The Mammoth And Run released? 1993
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #325 out of 1,000
A lyrical snippet from Perfect Thyroid’s Kiss The Mammoth And Run that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
You’re nobody’s zero.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.