CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN - TAKE THE SKINHEADS BOWLINGThis month in 1986, CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN released the single, TAKE THE SKINHEADS BOWLING, (November, 1986).With CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN, eclectic wasn’t a description, it was a way of life.Amon Duul. Early Pink Floyd. Country Joe and The Fish. Led Zeppelin. Captain Beefheart. The Fall. XTC. Sonic Youth. The Butthole Surfers …and that was just scratching the surface.In the course of a set CVB would move seamlessly from hard charging garage thrash ('We're A Bad Trip') to poignant, moving Country & Western wistfulness ('Sad Lover's Waltz') to cracked folk instrumentals drawing on Greek, Russian and Arabic musics ('No Krugerrands For David', 'ZZ Top Goes To Egypt') to wild, explosive covers of songs by Ringo and Pink Floyd and even a country honky-tonk version of Sonic Youth's 'I Love Her All The Time'.There was a greater range and diversity here than you'd find in ten of most other bands, but everything CVB do was stamped with their own personality – a sparkling combination of humour, irreverence and intelligence. Somehow, no matter the sources of what they played, they always managed to sound like themselves.For most UK listeners, their first encounter with the band was hearing debut 45 'Take The Skinheads Bowling' issued by Rough Trade and played countless times on the radio. The most popular track from their debut album, Telephone Free Landslide Victory, 'Skinheads' was a bouncy little lump of absurdist pop. "Last night there were skinheads on my lawn" frontman Dave Lowery sang. And, like any right-minded person, he wanted to take them bowling."It's about nothing, really" Dave said in 1986. "Sometimes we say it's a love song, and it kind of is. You know, three years ago, in the Los Angeles area, that's all there was, hardcore and skinheads, and it got really tiring. But, it's one of those songs that the more you repeat the mantra the more you understand it."To capitalise on its popularity Rough Trade released 'Skinheads' as a single with five "previously unreleased tracks", outtakes from various sessions, on the B-side. This may have been clever marketing, but perhaps Rough Trade should have followed it up with an English release for the band's fine second album, II & III.The video here is the band’s performance of ‘Skinheads’ on The Old Grey Whistle Test with the original promo in | Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie