It started in with three guys in Fargo who had an idea. They were going to start distilling and selling a line of schnapps that went beyond the usual fruity flavors that young men across the midwest bought to inebriate their underage girlfriends. The first batch was "hot dog" closely followed by various "condiment" flavors. After perfecting "hamburger" and various "casserole" flavors, they formed the ServUs Industry to market their product. Except for a few regions of Norway and Laos, the shnapps endevour was a miserable failure.

Embittered, they spent their remaining cash on audio equipment determined to start a noise band that would empty the bars that failed to support their shnapps company. They named the band Unconditional Loathing and set out to play the most obnoxious, devastating, ear-destroying noise that the midwest had ever seen. Drunk on their leftover shnapps, they instead became enchanted with step- sequencers and became a masturbatory techno/industrial band playing three hour shows that included fascinating elements like midi cord re-arranging and endless tweaking of filter cutoff knobs. While they succeded in boring sound guys to sleep and keeping already empty bars from doing much business, they accomplished little else.

Meanwhile in rural Kansas, the other half of the UL that everyone knows and loves today were sitting around reminiscing about a high school talent show that they had performed at and trying to figure out how to get their four track out of pawn. During the times when their four track was not in pawn they split their time between trying to sound like the various experimental CDs that had been smuggled into Kansas and sold to them on the DL and watching Purple Rain over and over again. "We should play a show" was a nightly mantra made tragically comic by the fact that they had all become extremely agoraphobic. Something had to be done. They agreed to overcome the agoraphobia together, taking slow steps that eventually led them all the way to bar across the street from their studio apartment. The barkeep asked them what they wanted. They glanced at the door nervously while fumbling though their pockets for money.Collectively they came up with about 3 bucks. The barkeep shook his head and gave them a bottle of "tuna melt" shnapps and told them that they could have it, no charge and to get lost. Later that night, while watching Purple Rain for the umpteenth time, they looked at each other and said "Minneapolis" simultainiously and spent the rest of the night alternating between laughing and crying.

How these two groups (as well as a couple of anarchist-hippy-stamp-collectors and a carny or two) of misfits came together in Minneapolis to form the UL that exists today is a very boring story. The important thing is that it happened. Now they are once again scattered all over the US and most of the people in the band have no idea how many members there are. Listen to some of the songs...you may be in UL.


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