Big Boys

The 1980s Texas scene spawned some truly awesome and out-there bands such as Really Red, MDC, Butthole Surfers, and the Dicks, but Big Boys were the rulers of the roost. Led by the charismatic and often flamboyant frontman Chuck “Biscuits” Turner, Big Boys mixed hardcore, funk, pop, weirdness and everything in between to mold a masterpiece.

There are many strong aspects about this album but the strongest has to be its overall diversity. There are poppy sing-along songs like “We Got Your Money” and “Jump the Fence,” blistering fast hardcore such as “Brick Wall” and “Fight Back,” crazy-ass funk such as “Funk Off” and “White Nigger,” fist-pumping anthems like "We’re Not in It to Lose," and there’s even a ballad, "Sound on Sound". Plus, Biscuit's bold and distinctive voice and the rest of the band’s superior musicianship take these songs to another level which other hardcore bands could not reach at the time.

What also makes this such an ideal and unique punk/hardcore album is that it avoids all those tiresome hardcore clichés (no macho bullshit, no sacrificing song quality for speed and not taking yourself too seriously).

Fun, insightful, and horribly overlooked, Lullabies Help the Brain Grow is right up there with Damaged, Group Sex, Double Nickels on the Dime and Zen Arcade as an album that helped define a sound.