Bitchin' Camaro

Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z

The song features a rambling, extended introduction over a bluesy bassline of two characters speaking to one another.[2] It parodies partying, rich kids, and surfer culture.[3] Linderman got the idea for the tune after overhearing a conversation. He and Genaro told the band at rehearsal they would be improvising an intro to the song, and Schulthise began playing the bassline. After that, the song was completed.[4] Linderman portrays the "talking-too-fast jokester" while Genaro acts as a "clueless airhead".[3] The two individuals discuss going to the shore and Doors cover bands before arriving at the point of the song: the titular vehicle.[5] From there, the song shifts into a hardcore punk song. The song's hardcore segment was inspired by the Suicidal Tendencies song "Institutionalized".[4] Daniel Brockman, in a review for the website Vanyaland, says that in its quiet-loud dynamic, the track is not far removed musically from the band's forebears, comparing its style to the Dead Kennedys and Circle Jerks.[3]

WXPN in Philadelphia was an "early champion" of the tune, according to Sabatino; they played the homemade demo frequently which led to audience attendees knowing the song in full before its proper album release.[6] Though not a single, the song achieved airplay on college radio stations across the U.S.[7] The song was later featured in the Orange Is the New Black episode "Appropriately Sized Pots".[8]

A 1985 review by Spin underground columnist Andrea 'Enthal calls it "an '80s answer to the Beach Boys car-and-surf songs, [which] blisters with high-speed drum bash and the ranted [lyrics]."[9] Jason Heller of The A.V. Club considers the song a sendup of "white-trash culture", and describes the song as "a hyperactive, stream-of-consciousness splatter of snotty vocals, jangling guitars, and wiry irreverence that was as much a comedy skit as it was a punk parody." He considered it the quartet's "first enduring classic."[10] AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett says, "As left-field a fluke hit single as it gets, its mix of bad taste, rock star mockery, and stoner humor still works well."[5] Daniel Brockman praises the song in a review for the website Vanyaland, dubbing it the "quintessential viral-before-there-was-such-a-thing underground of hit of its time." He places it in the context of its importance to teenagers of the decade:

Initially a slow-burning hit on college radio, it eventually found its way outside of collegiate ivory towers, becoming a shared secret for clued-in high schoolers and middle schoolers all over the country. [...] It was mean, it was pointless, it was mercifully short, and endlessly repeatable—for a certain segment of the population, quoting Dead Milkmen lyrics briefly supplanted quoting Monty Python sketches as a way to while away free periods during drudgerous school days."[3]

Adapted from Big Lizard in My Backyard's liner notes.[11]

• Lyrics of this song at Genius