The Yuppie Pricks

Infobox musical artist | Name = The Yuppie Pricks


Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|USA Austin, Texas
Genre = Punk
Rock
Comedy
Years_active = 1999–present
Label = Alternative Tentacles
Chicken Ranch
Current_members = Trevor Middleton
Deuce Hollingsworth
Preston Hetherington III
Nigel Smythen-Wesson
Ricky Snifschitz
Past_members = Darin Murano
Ken Dannelly
Trey Robles
URL = http://www.yuppiepricks.com

The Yuppie Pricks "deal in reserve psychology punk by ironically celebrating the materialist excesses of the upwardly mobile in songs like 'Greed Is Good', 'Fraternity Days', and 'Fuck You, I’m Rich', which are tinged with old school UK punk, Black Flag and Dead Kennedys touches." [cite web |title=The Yuppie Pricks Give It The Old College Try |publisher=BANANASPAM! |date=2008-08-26 |url=http://bananaspam.blogspot.com/2008/08/yuppie-pricks-give-it-old-college-try.html |accessdate=2008-09-22]

Alternately described as "raucous, straight-ahead punk" [cite web |title=Alt.Culture.Guide CD Playlist: The Yuppie Pricks |url=http://www.mondogordo.com/play407.html |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20061117102440/http://www.mondogordo.com/play407.html |archivedate=2006-11-17 |title=Alt.Culture.Guide |last=Hash |first=Tommy |year=2005] and "American Psycho" hardcore with a wicked sense of humor" [i-D Magazine, Apr. 2003, The Individual Issue No. 230, p. 214] the Yuppie Pricks are frequently lauded for their live performances, where they've been known to "wear John McEnroe-era tennis gear and denounce the 'service industry scum' who come to their shows." [Pollack, N: "That Sucking Sound", Gentlemen's Quarterly, Feb. 2003, p. 91] Verify source|date=September 2008 [http://radioexile.com/2008/09/03/yuppie-pricks-kick-ass/]

And "while their music has much in common with the Buzzcocks and the Sex Pistols, their backgrounds and lyrics do not... they see their shows as punk PowerPoint presentations, though few sales meetings are as raunchy and cruel as YP shows, where the wretched losers who come to see them are peppered with abuse, lectured on the wonders of laissez-faire capitalism and showered with dollar bills." [cite news |last=Lomax |first=J |quote=The Yuppie Prick$ could very well be the most punk band on earth |publisher=Houston Press |date=2004-02-19 |pages=65 |title=Ronald Reagan's Army In your heart, you know the Yuppie Prick$ are right |author=John Nova Lomax]

Notably, director John Waters cited the Yuppie Pricks song 'Coke Party' in a Variety interview as one of "five songs that mean a lot to me." [cite web |title=Pushy Questions For... |author=John Waters |authorlink=John Waters (filmmaker) |publisher=Variety WeekEnd |date=2005-12-15 |url=http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=weekend&content=jump&jump=article&articleID=VR1117934735&category=2037]

History

Formed in 1999 by self-styled "pharmaceutical business magnate" Trevor Middleton and "third-generation divorce lawyer" Deuce Hollingsworth, the band then recorded their self-produced, self-released debut, "Initial Public Offering". Fact|date=September 2008

Following numerous local gigs and an appearance at SXSW in 2003, drummer Darin Murano exited the band, due to a case of aggravated tendinitis. Murano was temporarily replaced by Ken Dannelley (ex-Stretford, Hamicks) - but it wasn't until British expatriate Nigel Smythen-Wesson arrived that a permanent replacement was found.Fact|date=September 2008

A return performance at SXSW 2004 followed, during which the band was courted by former Dead Kennedys frontman, Jello Biafra, and subsequently signed on with his Alternative Tentacles imprint, who released 2005's "Brokers Banquet". Recorded at Bubble Studios by Chris 'Frenchie' Smith (ex-Sixteen Deluxe, Young Heart Attack), and mixed by Mark Hutchins (Rockland Eagles), "Brokers Banquet", which parodied the Rolling Stones' "Beggars Banquet" cover art, featured a more hard-edged 'rock' influence, combined with the tongue-in-cheek lyrics and punk-fueled aggression of the first album.Facts|date=September 2008

Along with the more aggressive sound came a transition from a four-piece to a five-piece line-up, with bassist Preston Hetherington switching over to second guitar, and the band recruiting Ricky the Intern from the 'Zero Skills Employment Agency' (according to their bio) on bass. With last-minute addition Trey Robles (ex-Hard Feelings) on drums, the band toured the East Coast in Spring of 2005, hitting renowned punk-rock enclave, CBGB in New York City, as well as recording a live broadcast for XM Satellite Radio, at the invitation of Lou Brutus of the station's Fungus 53 channel. Fungus 53 later named "Broker's Banquet" one of the top 25 punk albums of 2005, and John Peel kicked-off his BBC broadcast during SXSW 2005 with the Yuppie Pricks song, 'Cherry Red'. [cite web |title=John Peel Presents: SXSW 2005 |url=http://www.artofthemix.org/FindAMix/getcontents.asp?strMixID=89702 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20061001054351/http://www.artofthemix.org/FindAMix/getcontents.asp?strMixID=89702 |archivedate=2006-10-01]

Following an extended hiatus, the Yuppie Pricks released their third full-length disc in 2008, "Balls", [http://radioexile.com/2008/09/03/yuppie-pricks-kick-ass/] on Chicken Ranch Records, an album where "the irony drips like bacon fat," [cite web |title=Left of the Dial Online Music Magazine |date=2008-09-14 |url=http://www.leftofthedialmag.com/?p=479] "to negate everything you ever thought about punk," [cite web |publisher=The Devil Has The Best Tuna |title=Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's... |date=2008-09-04 |url=http://besttuna.blogspot.com/2008/09/never-mind-bollocks-heres.html] and which "recontextualizes classics from punk’s ever-growing classic history (Buzzcocks, Big Boys! etc.) and creates new oil guzzling and FOX news approved republican punk anthems." [http://partyends.com/peblog/2008/09/free_gamblersyuppie_pricks_tix.html] Once again, the Yuppie Pricks dipped into their decidedly un-punk past to parody the Black Crowes' infamous "Amorica" album, featuring their own male-enhanced take on the 70's-era Hustler-inspired cover art [cite web |title=10 Commandments |publisher=YuppiePunk |date=2008-09-10 |url=http://www.yuppiepunk.org/2008/09/10-commandments.html] , and landing them in the October 2008 issue of Blender Magazine. [Blender Magazine, Oct. 2008, p. 80] Verify source|date=September 2008

Additionally, selected tracks from "Balls", including 'Donkey Show' and 'Fuck You, I'm Rich', were put in heavy rotation on XM Satellite Radio's Fungus 53 punk channel. [cite web |title=XMFan.com |accessdate=2008-09-20 |url=http://xmfan.com/guide.php?q=Yuppie%20Pricks&mode=artist] Failed verification|date=September 2008

Discography

Albums

*"Initial Public Offering" (YP Records, 2001)
*"Brokers Banquet" (Alternative Tentacles, 2005)
*"Balls" (Chicken Ranch, 2008)

ingles

*Stock Market 7" (Chicken Ranch, 2005)

References

ee also

*Music of Austin
*Beggars Banquet
*Amorica

External links

* [http://www.yuppiepricks.com/ The Yuppie Pricks]
* [http://www.alternativetentacles.com/ Alternative Tentacles]