After D Boon’s tragic death at age 27 signaled the end of the Minutemen, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley threw in their lot with then-22-year-old former Ohio State University student, guitar player, and Minutemen fanatic Ed Crawford to form fIREHOSE in 1986. Ed was nicknamed Ed fROMOHIO, since he was the only member not from San Pedro, California.
Taking their group name from a line in Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” fIREHOSE continued in the Minutemen tradition of breathtaking musicianship combined with caustic lyrical fusillades inspired by the writing of the Beat Generation and the erect-middle-finger indignation of the Blank Generation. However, with Crawford’s decidedly folkie bent insinuating itself into the mix, fIREHOSE’s songs began to expand into more traditional verse-chorus-verse songwriting symmetry.
Although fIREHOSE never equaled the Minutemen’s output in terms of sheer audacity and emotional depth, Crawford, Watt, and Hurley recorded rock that was muscular, dense, and daring, along with being tremendously heartfelt. They never patronized audiences or comported themselves as “rock stars”; they were instead the quintessential post-punk “peoples’ band.”
Although they achieved wider notoriety than did the Minutemen (eventually recording for a major label), fIREHOSE called it quits in early 1994after a desultory, dispirited final LP (Mr. Machinery Operator). Still, nearly all of their recorded work stands as some of the best late-’80s/early-’90s indie rock.
