The Wipers

The Wipers Box Set is one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. Don’t let the title “box set” scare you away either because you should be able to take this bad boy home for a little over twenty bucks. And with that price you get all three good records (“Is This Real?”, “Youth of America” & “Over the Edge”) plus 20 something bonus tracks of alternate takes and mixes, outtakes and live songs and the Alien Boy EP to boot. Totally underrated and almost virtually unknown, raw but at the same time melodic as fuck, Portland Oregon’s The Wipers never really got the credit they deserve. And that’s not really fair considering they’ve influenced everyone from Nirvana to Hot Snakes to well, anyone with an electric guitar and taste. I figured the title track off the first record was a good place to start.  Keep in mind this is from 1980! Shit rules!

(Download The Wipers - "Is This Real?")

Various Artists – “14 Songs for Greg Sage: Wipers Tribute”
While we’re on the subject of The Wipers, this tribute to Greg Sage (their singer and songwriter) is fucking awesome too. It’s out of print, but if you can find it, grab it. It features Nirvana, Poison Idea, Crackerbash, Nation Of Ulysses, Napalm Beach, M99, Dharma Bums, The Whirlees, Honey, Hazel, Calamity Jane, Saliva Tree, Thurston Moore with Keith Nealy & Hole. I'm not a huge Hole fan or anything, but this is the best song Hole ever put to tape and it was recorded at Jimmy Boyle’s house (who’s a friend of mine) back before Courtney was a gazillionaire who owned 33% of Nirvana LLC, dating A-list actors and she actually cared about music. Listen to the angst, proof that you do have to suffer for your art.

(Download Hole - "Over The Edge")

Comments

[Pat]

Good choice Travis, the Wipers just might be the #1 most underated band of all time, still I would have posted "Lets Go Let's Go Away" or "Return of the Rat" off Is It Real, not that "Is It Real" is'nt a totaly awsome song. To everyone else. GO BUY THAT BOX SET TODAY! you cant live your life without it.

[Andy The Panda]

WOWEEEEE, this shit is great.. i hate Hole but i actually like this song... and the is this real song by the wipers is even better. buying that box set this week. do they have other records that are good? or just these three? whats greg sage do now?

[Michael]

I'm pretty sure everything they've done is on the box set. It's good but, to me at least, seems to drag after a little bit. "Youth of America" is great though, kinda has a Suicide feel to it, but with a full band.

[dude]

GREAT PICK

[Christo]

The Wipers boxset is amazing. No Fair and When It's Over are some of the best punk rock tunes ever. Stay away from Power in One though, ughh makes me nauseous just thinking of it.

[Tim]

dude from the burning brides is apparently a wipers fan. he pointed me out wearing my rad "wipers" t-shirt in this shithole club in cleveland the other night. this post is intended to make you feel jealous of my awesome power to be pointed at.

"shirthole" makes me laugh.

[dude]

i wanna fuck your shirthole

[the fucking real shit]

(whos a friend of mine) name dropping little hollywood pussy.

[Travis Keller]

Yeah dude... everyone cares that I know Jimmy and yeah man I'm a total pussy... meanwhile you're the one who's hiding behind some fake name and email on the internet. Keep reading what I write dicklicker.

[kucera]

"is IT real" is a great album travis...you fucking poser haha. nah but really, wait a minute is my favorite track off that album. cant wait to find that 3 disc box set. i didnt know about that shit. thanks dude

[Daniel]

Go to www.zenorecords.com for all your Wipers needs. No the box set is not everything that they released. After this Greg Sage released like 10 more albums under the name the Wipers.I love this band so I won't listen to the Hole version.