The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard In My Backyard

Forty years on and "Bitchin' Camaro" still slaps. The Dead Milkmen's 1985 debut is one of those records that arrived fully formed and completely unhinged, launching the Philadelphia band onto the indie rock scene with 20 songs that nobody saw coming and nobody has been able to quite replicate since.

Big Lizard In My Backyard is punk at its most gleefully weird, wrapping sharp satire and deadpan absurdist humor around playing that is tighter and more musically adventurous than the chaos on the surface might suggest. As Maximum Rocknroll put it, the songs are "real crack-ups, backed up by tight playing that incorporates funk, country, and lots of other styles into their punk approach." Tracks like "Tiny Town," "Dean's Dream," and the immortal "Bitchin' Camaro" are the kind of songs that burrow into your brain and refuse to leave, which after four decades of trying nobody has managed to evict them.

Irreverent, infectious, and still as funny as the day it was recorded. Happy 40th to one of indie punk's most beloved and bizarre debut albums.