“This Many Boyfriends Club” is the last track on influential lo-fi punks Beat Happening‘s 1988 sophomore album Jamboree. The track was recorded live and features nothing but the very challenging sound of feedback and a young Calvin Johnson (founder and owner of K Records) on stage singing about the challenges of being young and in love with a girl named Lori. The lyrics sound like they were just made up on the spot, but there’s just something about the emotion and angst behind his words that turn an otherwise disturbing set of sounds and chaos into a very moving piece. It’s the ups and downs of having a young crush – imagery of youth backed against the realities of being crushed. And the mic drop gets me every time….
If you feel like feeling some feels, check this shit out! Oh, and apparently Jamboree was one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite albums – so there’s that 😉
The album was pretty hard to find, but thanks to a repress in 2013, it should be up in any good record store from time to time!