New Boobs
by NOFX

Album: Ribbed (1991)
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Songfacts®:

  • NOFX formed in Los Angeles, where cosmetic surgery is a way of life. This song mocks the stereotypical client for breast enhancement who thinks that big boobs will make everything better. It's a commentary on both laziness and vanity; this person would rather go under the knife than exercise, and makes herself attractive to men by boosting her bust instead of becoming more interesting.

    NOFX were never able to rely on appearance, but they picked a good genre: punk rock, where ugly can be an asset. The world of models and fashion seemed very strange to them.
  • This song goes into a doo-wop breakdown at the end, with the refrain:

    New boobs... jugs

    According to Steve Kidwiler, the band's guitarist at the time, it was as much fun as it sounds. They had a few friends come over to sing on the harmony vocals; there were pages from girly magazines hung in the vocal booth for inspiration. Dave Smalley of the band DYS did the falsetto vocals, and Kidwiler did the spoken part, where he rejects the girl after seeing her new boobs.
  • "New Boobs" is an early NOFX song, part of their third album, Ribbed. It's one of their longest, running 3:27 thanks to the doo-wop coda.

    The album was produced by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, who was also their label boss at Epitaph Records. The band was still roughing it pretty hard at this time, traveling in a rickety van and playing gnarly clubs night after night. It was far from lucrative and very uncomfortable. Steve Kidwiler ended up leaving soon after because he couldn't afford to keep losing money and feared for his safety (the shows could get violent, and riding in the van was perilous).

    If Kidwiler could have stuck it out he would have been rewarded: Nirvana released their Nevermind album in 1991, igniting a punk boom that found NOFX perfectly positioned. By the end of the decade, the band members were all millionaires.
  • The destruction you hear in the song was genuine: Kidwiler smashed his guitar in the studio to get the sound. He also managed to damage one of Brett Gurewitz' microphones in the process, which didn't sit well.

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