Detail of a photograph titled "Ken Garland Children" from the UK Design Council Archive, 1966
For me, the pinnacle of the Grifters' lo-fi blues-punk is the song "My Apology" from their first Sub Pop LP, 1996's Ain't My Lookout. It's not widely considered their best song, but for some reason, the shambling, mumbling, coming-apart-at-the-seams songs are my favorites on Grifters records.
"'Side", the band's second album One Sock Missing, is one of the band's early tracks that appeals to me in the same way. It starts with one of the song's only intelligible lyrics as Scott Taylor sings the memorable line, "Tired of livin' on my knees," and from there it goes into a swirling mix of smeared guitars and overlapping vocals - it's a sound I associate with early Meat Puppets for some reason. Constantly on the verge of losing any semblance of structure, "'Side" manages to just barely keep it together to the three-minute mark. I know that the song is not as shambolic as it seems - a lot of it is an effect created by the intentionally sloppy vocals, but not enough bands capture this off-kilter casual feel that the Grifters were really good at.
"'Side" by the Grifters
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