The Beasts of Suburban

The Beasts of Suburban
EP by TISM
Released 20 July 1992
Recorded Atlantis Studios March-April 1992
Genre Alternative rock
Length 31:43 (original release)
49:06 (1997 rerelease)
Label Shock Records
Producer Tony Cohen
TISM chronology
Gentlemen, Start Your Egos
(1991)
The Beasts of Suburban
(1992)
Australia The Lucky Cunt
(1993)

The Beasts of Suburban is a 1992 EP by anonymous Australian band TISM. The title is an obvious play on the name of another Australian band, Beasts of Bourbon.

This is the first TISM release to feature Tokin' Blackman on guitar, having replaced Leek Van Vlalen.

Track listing

On the cassette version of the EP, the same program is repeated on both sides of the tape.

No. Title Length
1. "Michael Jackson's Conveyor Belt"   3:04
2. "Bishop = Handjob"   2:25
3. "Get Thee to a Nunnery"   2:41
4. "Father and Son"   2:29
5. "Lillee Caught Dilley Bowled Milli Vanilli"   2:41
6. "If You're Ugly, Forget It"   3:41
7. "Morningtown Ride" (Preceded by a short interview between a child and Tony Cohen, before a TISM member calling Shock Records with the credits and 5 minutes of silence) 10:51
8. "Loser, Losing, Lost" (The song was mastered to a very low volume. To listen to it, turn up your volume or normalise it in a sound editing program.) 3:55

The silence on Mourningtown Ride was reduced to one minute in the Collected Recordings version. On the rerelease with the Australia the Lucky Cunt EP, the silence was moved to the end of "Recorded by JJJ, 23/01/93, Melbourne Showgrounds" with Loser, Losing, Lost merged to the track, giving it a total length of 11:53.

Controversy

Feminist groups in Australia criticized TISM as sexist for their use of Sophie Lee in Get Thee to a Nunnery from the EP Beasts of Suburban. The song allegedly protests the use of sex to sell a product via Lee's appointment as a presenter on Australia's Channel 9 Looney Tunes cartoon show, which is infamous for her often highly suggestive wardrobe: "Urban myth has it that middle-aged men used to rush home from work in time to watch Sophie throw to Bugs Bunny cartoons." Lee described it as "a boring song by a boring bunch of bourgeois boys." [1]

References

  1. ^ Green Left Online -…and ain't i a woman?: No to a nunnery. (article) Published: 9 September 1992. Retrieved: 14 July 2008.