Dead Milkmen - Philadelphia in Love

Amazon.com

For those who know the Dead Milkmen from their decade of music alone (1985-1995), rest assured that their videos are just as clever and amusing. Throughout this DVD collection, the Philly quartet lends fan favorites like "The Thing That Only Eats Hippies" and MTV hit "Punk Rock Girl" a suitably irreverent--and quite conspicuously low-budget--look to go with their distinctive pop-punk sound (which is to say that creativity and enthusiasm help distract from an admitted lack of instrumental expertise). Granted there are some notable omissions, such as early single "Bitchin' Camaro," but the live footage of that song goes some way toward filling the gap. The live videos also make for a nice addition to the studio recordings, although the "making of" features aren't particularly revealing. That said, Philadelphia in Love is a blast from the past sure to put a smile on even the most serious of faces. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

what i've been waiting for.......2007-08-07

to put it simply, this is a MUST HAVE. for years, i dreamed about some kind of video compilation, documentary, concert footage, etc. and while it doesn't satisfy all of my wants, it's better than nothing. it compiles all of their music videos (thing that only eats hippies, big time operator, punk rock girl, smokin' banana peels, meth coloring book, secret of life and peter bazooka), several live performances (serrated edge, watching scotty die, the fez, lucky, stuart) a 3 minute news blurb about the band from the big lizard years, home movies that show behind the scenes footage of the smokin' banana peels video, and an admittedly kind of pointless "making of--the making of" punk rock girl. the best part of the dvd are the commentaries; there's a commentary track for everything, and it's the only thing that makes the "making of--the making of" segment worthwhile. For the past week i've been randomly shouting "cookoo for cocoa c*cks!" like a homosexual tourette's patient w/ jungle fever (get this DVD and see what i mean.) i think the running time is between 45 minutes and an hour, and like i said, i wish it was longer and contained some kind of documentary, but it's good enough, and it's the milkmen, so that makes it great. sadly, the commentary tracks probably contain the last recorded footage of Dave Blood, so as happy as i am to have this dvd in my collection, it's kind of bittersweet in the end.

Great stuff.......2007-02-26

Great compilation of their studio videos and live videos.
Really takes you back to the 2nd half of the '80s. Also,
very instructional for bands starting out these days -
energy, enthusiasm, humor and fun can take you a long way
when you don't have much of a budget.
I haven't researched it very much, but I believe a number
of these videos were made by the same guy who did a number
of the breakthrough MTV stuff for They Might Be Giants.
Adam _________?

Terrific band; I saw them live twice (1990 and 1991) - they
were awesome.

All together at last!.......2004-12-30

I just got this DVD for Christmas, and now I'm sorry I waited so long.

The commentary on the "Making of the Making of Punk Rock Girl" is especially funny.

Even if you were a casual Dead Milkmen fan, go out and buy this. NOW!

Who has angered the volcano god!!!! .......2004-08-28

It is amazing how a DVD can make you feel like a teenager again. No matter what any naysayers will write, the Dead Milkmen were punk at its finest. They wrote funny and smart songs. They weren't overly considered with their looks or their image. That is real punk. Not the overglossed serious pop punk that is seen in malls all over our fine nation today.

Their music, though crude and crass to some, was full of references I had to look up as a teen. For example, Ricky Casso. It had an intelligence few other punk bands had and a sense of humor to boot. That is enough to throw any heavy teenage angst to the wind and let laughter in for a change. Their songs never fail to make me laugh, even now. They stand the test of time.

The DVD takes me back to a day when running into dilapidated buildings with a camera was very exciting. When people danced and moshed instead of nodding and standing still. When punk bands played small seedy clubs instead of arenas. A time when everything was full of life and no pretention. My first concert was the Dead Milkmen and I made a big neon cow sign and threw it on stage. The drummer put it on his kit. That made me a fan for life and that was...16 years ago? How time flies! :)

This DVD has a lot of offer. 14 Release videos and live videos with commentary. I don't think the songs picked for video release were the greatest of the Milkmen's work, but who can say no to the "Punk Rock Girl" or "Smokin' Banana Peels" video? Especially the latter. I didn't have to watch Easy Rider after that video. I assumed the Dead Milkmen summed it up for me in 3 minutes! It's my all time favorite.

The live videos are like being at their concerts. Sure, the audio isn't perfect, but these are tapes from a band from 15 years back when they didn't know what they were recording was going to be on a DVD and it is so much better than a lot of taped shows I bought in the 80's and early 90's. At least it wasn't the back of Dave Blood's head for a half hour! :) Or the ceiling! The live clips show what their concerts were like, people dancing crazily, crowd surfing before it was deemed hip by the masses and kids, dressed in jeans and tees, ripping it up. Now I remember why I liked this music. It was a whole other time! It also showcases their creativity and how they would change their songs live and adlib. They are great adlibbers.

On top of the videos, you also get rare tracks that were great to listen to. I had my whole collection of Dead Milkmen stuff stolen when I was college, so those tracks, like "Girl Hunt", brought a smile to my face. You also get about 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and a clip of the Dead Milkmen being interviewed for a musical segment of the local news.

I was happy to see their later work in video form. I haven't heard their last three CD releases, but I am going to collect them shortly. I did run across new bands from the core members, like The Low Budgets, Burn Witch Burn, Joe Butterfly and The Cheesies. This DVD brought about some prime musical renewal for me, as it will for you. Time to get planting!

great for DM fans.......2004-06-19

Having been a Dead Milkmen fan since the 80's, I was happy that they released some sort of dvd. In my opinion, this dvd should have had a full-length professionally filmed concert from one single show. Maybe from a later tour (early 90's), but of course, I don't even know if they ever filmed any live stuff professionally. Maybe they didn't and that's why there's none of that here.
There are a few bootlegged live songs from different shows which are cool to watch, though. It's kind of like watching some of those old live punk videos from bands like Circle Jerks or 7 Seconds. (I can't remember what that series of punk videos is called) The best live song on this dvd is Watching Scotty Die, which they're playing outside a record store in Austin, Tx.
Then there's all their videos. Of course there's Punk Rock Girl, plus videos for other songs that I never knew they made videos for, like Methodist Coloring Book, The Thing That Olny Eats Hippies, Smokin' Banana Peels, and a few others.
Then there's some sort of local Philly news segment talking about the Dead Milkmen. If I'm guessing correctly, that was while they were touring for Big Lizard and preparing to release Eat Your Paisley.
Then there's the making of Punk Rock Girl and Smokin' Banana Peels, which aren't very interesting.
I think Bitchin' Camaro, If I Had A gun, or Takin' Retards To The Zoo should have been included on this dvd one way or another.
Buy hey, this is the Dead Milkmen! I'm glad they have a dvd at all! This is a must for the fans and even for the curious.

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