Music tv reporter: For the next few days, this station will be showing segments on brief parts of late musician Jimmy Him's life whether it be growing up in southern California, the formation of The Nimrods, his claim to fame, or his sudden demise. Tonight we will briefly discuss the first Nimrods album, what happened in the making, and what happened afterword.
The Nimrods and Jimmy Him appeared in the music scene just as fast as their frontman managed to disappear. Originally holding a large underground following, The Nimrods put themselves into the mainstream almost instantly. Influenced at first by 60s Garage Rock acts such as The Stooges, shock rock like Alice Cooper and GG Allin, Psychedelic rock such as The Greatful Dead, and finally the California hardcore scene, the early music of The Nimrods was a cacophony of chaotic sounds. Several were only bass because the band didn't have a rhythm guitarist, it was during these songs that Jimmy was at his wildest, prancing around stage like a lunatic, screaming, cutting himself, and usually drinking heavily. However, according to Jimmy: "Me on stage is so much different than me when I'm not on stage. On stage I'm a bit of a monster really, and I do that on purpose, I want to embody what my music is like and to be completely honest that's insane, fueled by drugs, and unbelievably charismatic." The stage antics of the Nimrods including previously mentioned acts along with nudity and general rambunctiousness became quite notorious to the public and also to other rockstars, causing more people to listen to them and gaining them early praise. Along with the bass oriented songs, there were also a few instrumentals, the most famous one called "The Fire" usually played first to "Heat things up". This was probably the first display of instrumental prowess showed by the band that later gained them critical acclaim., it was also known to be one of Jimmy's favorite songs.
The recording of "The Nimrods" was as chaotic as their shows. The Nimrods were signed to a label very early (I forget which one, Lino started it) which gave them around a quarter million dollar budget. At the time, overwhelmed with the amount of exposure and money they were getting, the band f course spent most of that on various drugs and alcohol.
Jimmy: "With all that cash we decided to think about what we could do. We wanted a big and very dirty sound. We used a lot of old guitars, some 60s amps, and recorded on analog just to try to get a really raw sound. We realized that we could spend maybe 10,000 dollars on the album itself, spent another 40 grand on various expenses and the last 200 on drugs and booze. All we really did was party, my voice sounded so raw because we smoked ourselves stupid and drank all day every day for a good 2 months."
When the album was finally released it was huge. Given attention by several high profile artists and people all over the world, The Nimrods were a quick success. with all of the money they were making they got bigger and also even wilder than before."
Jimmy: "It seemed like we could do whatever we wanted, we had money, we had drugs, we had groupies, we were on top of the world."
Some say the Nimrods were actually more popular then than when they were at the end. Their chaotic yet enjoyable sound astounded many and it was only a matter of time before something really big happened.
That year, The Nimrods won their first Birdie for Best Newcomer. This night was important for 2 things. The first was that it was their first award and a symbol of their hard work, the second however was that this award show was the beginning of their unforgettable trademark, their fascination with being naked.
Jimmy: "We had decided that for good lucks sake, we would go to the show with only our instruments on. This means obviously that Kit was actually naked as he can't carry his drums. We were performing that night which was good enough for us but we were more than surprised when we won the Best Newcomer award. It has always been the highlight of my career and my favorite award, it's like saying you're destined for greatness." The band became even more excessive after this, their second album "You, Me, and The Nimrods" seemed like the sellout album of their career, dropping their rawness for a more party rock sound of more modern garage rather than actual 60s garage rock. Fueled by plenty of heroin and cocaine, The Nimrods, especially Jimmy, had began to fall almost instantly after their rise, had this not happened Jimmy may still be here. Was it the money, the fame, or Jimmy himself. Nobody knows but it seems like a deadly combination of the three that drove him off of the earth so quickly.
((OOC: All of the comments made by Jimmy are supposed to have been recorded in advance before his death.))
