Locust Abortion Technician by Butthole Surfers

Locust Abortion Technician, the Butthole Surfers' third album, came out on Touch and Go in March 1987, and it's as deranged as the San Antonio band's reputation promised. Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary, who started the group in 1981, lead the charge, with King Coffey and Teresa Nervosa pounding away on two drum kits behind them.

This is hardcore punk that got lost in a psychedelic fog and never came out: sludgy noise rock, tape tricks, warped vocals and a pitch-black sense of humor that makes it hard to tell whether they're laughing at you or with you. "22 Going On 23" is the one that crept onto the countdowns, and it's about as unsettling as radio got that year. The band remastered it on CD for their own Latino Buggerveil label in 1999, and that murky, mangled sound would later be counted among the influences on grunge.

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