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Shock
rock can serve two purposes; enhance the sonic experience and/or
divert your attention from shitty music. In the case of
legendary perverts The Mentors the latter applies. As shown in
this compilatory DVD; the band was known for a couple of things;
their sexist lyrics which brought them much attention via Tipper
Gore’s Parent Music Resource Center (PMRC – a 1985 committee
that claimed poplar music was responsible for increase in
teenage pregnancy, teen suicide and rape), and the antics of
drummer/vocalist Eldon Hoke, more commonly known as El Duce.
Both factors are up front on the seven so-called official
videos for the band’s ‘popular’ songs; “On the Rag”, “Golden
Showers”, “Donkey Dick”, “Sex Slave”, etc. And when I say
'official videos' one should expect nothing even remotely close to
a professional recording. In the liner notes, bassist Steve Broy,
also known as Dr. Heathen Scum claims that ‘we mined hours
and hours of footage to get you the best possible material’.
Really? I can only imagine what the rest looked like.
My problem with
the videos and The Mentors’ music itself has nothing to do with
their lowbrow nature, and is directly related with its validity
and quality content. The songs themselves are mildly
entertaining for a few minutes but grow tiresome with the
constant pounding of the band’s bad mannered juvenile antics.
Like their titles reveal, the band’s fascination with bodily
fluids and obsession with putting down women are all that seemed
to matter. The songs are sloppy demonstrations of retard-o punk
metal, to that add crappy recordings on top and what you get is a
two-note riff and a sexist joke that’s repeated about seventeen
times. The videos themselves are nothing worth putting on a
DVD; one consists of scattered shots of El Duce, drink in hand
he hangs out outside an apartment complex and on occasion
reveals his chunky white ass and penis. Others are the same
rehashed and re-edited footage of the band and friends hanging
out at what looks like a backyard barbecue along with some
skunks who are willing to get naked, pretend they are on their
periods, let El Duce’s bald head get close to their crotches,
and even take some fake (I assume and hope) piss and shit on the
face. And in case you think that actually sounds like fun,
think again, it simply isn’t.
As a bonus
El Duce Vita includes live performances at Austin, TX and
Minneapolis, MN. Both are one-camera-shot shows with a
surprisingly mild band succinctly running through their ‘biggest’
songs. None of their famous rambunctious, sexual and
drug-addled, behavior is in display here. Had the band growned
tired with time? Perhaps. During the last months of his life El
Duce’s alcoholism greatly affected the band. His dependency was
so strong that he was barely able to play the drums, forcing the
band to hire a new drummer and even then, the recurrence of
shows being cut short because of El Duce’s inability to perform
was quite common. On April 19, 1997, only days after El Duce
appeared in Nick Bloomfield’s documentary Kurt and Courtney
claiming that Courtney Love had offered him $50,000 to kill Kurt
Cobain, while under the influence he was hit by a train and died
on impact. For most, the band was done then and there, but in
2005 The Mentors made a come back with a new line up and a
record, Over the Top, produced by famed Bill Metoyer and
Jack Endino.
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