One of the stranger aftershocks of the U.S. grunge band Nirvana's 1991 commercial breakthrough and the the higher profile and more widespread acceptance of alternative/modern/collegiate rock throughout the ensuing decade generally is the brief rise in popularity of Butthole Surfers. The punk-adjacent Austin, TX band's 1996 single, "Pepper," became the most played track on American commercial alt rock radio that year. Its squalls of guitar feedback and sort-of-rapped verses surround tales of grisly deaths, injuries, sexually transmitted disease, rape and other misfortune. Before reading this, had you ever heard or were otherwise familiar with "Pepper"?

Thirteen years prior to "Pepper" becoming a hit, I met at my first punk rock concert a boyfriend & girlfriend who were hosting a show on the radio station of a private university about an hour from me. In their first audio letter to me, they included all seven tracks on Butthole Surfers' debut 12" EP. The opening cut, "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave," may have been THE most crazed, and is still among the most profane, songs (?) I've ever heard. If ever my friends played it on their show, they'd have had to have done much editing. Have you ever heard a song that made you laugh, offended you, and utterly shocked you all at once?

After my initial exposure to them, Butthole Surfers became a band whose work I bought throughout the 1980's. And, yes, their infantile name was probably part of the attraction. I didn't know many other people who liked them at the time, but on the rare occasions I played their music for friends, the results were...let's say ...curious. I recall one friend who fancied himself an aficionado of new wave music for whom I played their 1985 tune "Moving to Florida" became queasy after hearing it. Are there any pieces of music that have made you physically upset?

Excelled as they did at creating a musical realm unto themselves, Butthole Surfers were also wholly capable of interpreting others' songs to fit their singular aesthetic on rare instances. My favorite of their few remakes may be their 1988 iteration of The Guess Who's "American Woman." Do you like their take on it much as you might the original (and/or Lenny Kravitz's hit rendition)?

Strange as it may have been for Butthole Surfers to have been thrust into the notoriety "Pepper" provided them, at least as strange may be that Pittburgh, PA Christian rock parody band ApologetiX refashioned the Surfers' biggest hit into "People," a retelling of Jesus Christ's apostles' fates, as based on Mathew 24:9. However, the band thought it wise to rename the act who recorded their source material as The Buttonhole Surfers! Do you find this avoidance of potential offense at least amusing, as do I?