Wesley Willis Remembered on his 60th Birthday

[chazraps]

I want to take a moment today to remember Wesley Willis, on his 60th Heavenly birthday. I genuinely love his work. On a surface level, songs like "Cut the Mullet" and "Rock and Roll McDonald's" are hilarious, no question.



But, his catalog showed both an appreciation for moments in life we overlook, a time capsule bit of proto-blog journalism of live bands he'd see, some great fictional and non-fictional narratives of his life, and perhaps most valuably an unfiltered first person account of mental illness struggles at a time mainstream music (and mainstream music press) wasn't touching it at all.

So today, I recommend throwing on a playlist or Greatest Hits collection of Wesley's music and letting the joyride overtake you. Maybe introduce it to a friend.

Here's a Spotify essential playlist (language warning) - open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO2Wo8WQ

Here's 'Joyrides' the amazing 2008 documentary on his life (work started before his 2003 passing)
(language warning)


Today in observation I uploaded a clip from my 2014 interview with Jello Biafra where he discusses unreleased Wesley music:
(language warning)

[Push R Truth]

I still appreciate the fact that he sang about beating up Superman and Batman... but Birdman is the one that kicked his ass.

[Johnny B. Decent]

May 31, 2023 11:45:23 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

I still appreciate the fact that he sang about beating up Superman and Batman... but Birdman is the one that kicked his ass.

You don't mess with the power of attorney.

[Eunös ✈]

Rock over London, Rock over Chicago.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Wesley was the soundtrack to some dark times for me.

Oddly one bright spot of that dark time was when Jello Biafra sent me a letter with a signed pic.

[ISO Mid Thigh Pull]

BATMAN GOT ON MY NERVES

[chazraps]

May 31, 2023 15:24:18 GMT -5 ISO Mid Thigh Pull said:

BATMAN GOT ON MY NERVES

HE WAS RUNNING ME AMOK!

[chazraps]

Also, LANGUAGE WARNING, but here's a full set that Wesley performed in his hometown of Chicago at The Metro with his band The Wesley Willis Fiasco at the height of his powers in 1995 - archive.org/details/wesleywillisfiascoMetro3495

[captaincheapshot]

Language Warning

[crashmatsbazz]

Rock Over Chicago Rock Over London
Wheaties the Breakfast of Champions.


Love Wesley, Love Jello for releasing his music as well.

[SneakMan]

Wesley's music is fantastic for when I'm doing something like grading or data entry, and his stuff almost always puts me in a good mood.

This thread gets down like a Magikist.

[rainandlava]

Wesley's music always seemed to be the kind of music that I'd listen to on long trips on the bus. It always made those trips great!

I miss him alot...