Total Destruction to Your Mind

Total Destruction to Your Mind is the debut album by the American musician Swamp Dogg (Jerry Williams, Jr.), released in 1970.[2][3] It is considered to be a cult album, a classic, and a neglected masterpiece.[4][5][6][7][8] It was rereleased in 2013, along with 1971's Rat On![9]

Total Destruction to Your Mind
Studio album by
Swamp Dogg
Released1970
LabelCanyon[1]
ProducerJerry Williams, Jr.
Swamp Dogg chronology
Total Destruction to Your Mind
(1970)		 Rat On!
(1971)

Some of its songs have been recorded by other musicians, including Jimmy Cliff, Eric Ambel, and the Isley Brothers with Santana.[10][11][12] Total Destruction to Your Mind was among the albums that inspired Ben Greenman's novel Please Step Back; after emailing with Greenman, Swamp Dogg recorded a song that used the protagonist's lyrics.[13]

Total Destruction to Your Mind had sold more than 500,000 copies by 1992.[14]

Production

After years as a minor, and conventional, songwriter and singer, Williams adopted the Swamp Dogg persona due to disgust with the music industry, and in order to write about more personal topics; the inspiration came to him while looking through old Atlantic albums in Tom Dowd's office.[4][15] Total Destruction to Your Mind is regarded as an attempt to combine the rock music of the late 1960s with Stax Records-esque soul music, as well as protest with comedy.[16][17]

Recorded at Capricorn Studios, in Macon, Georgia, the album was produced by Williams.[5][18] Swamp Dogg later claimed to have recorded some of the songs after ingesting LSD.[19] "Mama's Baby, Daddy's Maybe" is about taking a paternity test.[20] The title track references "I Am the Walrus"; "The World Beyond" was written by Bobby Goldsboro.[21]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[22]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[16]

AllMusic concluded that "perhaps Dogg's obsession with drugs, sleazy sex, and cultural satire kept the album from being embraced by soul fans, and this genuinely odd blend also keeps Swamp Dogg's debut from blowing the minds of latter-day listeners, at least upon the first listen."[22] The New Yorker labeled Total Destruction to Your Mind "a crazed, brilliant blast of protest soul that compared favorably with the best work of Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and Funkadelic."[23] The New York Times determined that it is "a soul album that, from its first hard, wild groove, announces itself as a classic."[24]

Robert Christgau, in 1992, deemed the album "in-your-face black rock."[25] In 2018, Pitchfork called it "an irreverent, rollicking spin on the southern soul music of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio."[26] Reviewing the 2013 rerelease, The Sunday Times called Swamp Dogg "the missing link between Otis Redding and Frank Zappa."[27]

Track listing
  1. "Total Destruction to Your Mind" – 3:24
  2. "Synthetic World" – 3:23
  3. "Dust Your Head Color Red" – 2:48
  4. "Redneck" – 2:47
  5. "If I Die Tomorrow (I've Lived Tonight)" – 2:50
  6. "I Was Born Blue" – 2:58
  7. "Sal-A-Faster" – 2:48
  8. "The World Beyond" – 3:39
  9. "These Are Not My People" – 2:36
  10. "Everything You'll Ever Need" – 2:51
  11. "The Baby Is Mine" – 2:48
  12. "Mama's Baby, Daddy's Maybe" – 4:08

References
  1. Sullivan, Steve (May 17, 2017). "Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings". Rowman & Littlefield – via Google Books.
  2. "Swamp Dogg Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  3. Hurt, Edd. "Swamp Dogg: The Cream Interview". Nashville Scene.
  4. Bernstein, Jonathan (September 6, 2018). "Inside Swamp Dogg's Existential Soul Opus". Rolling Stone.
  5. "CD Review: Swamp Dogg – Total Destruction to Your Mind/Rat On!". No Depression. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  6. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1113.
  7. Cooper, Kim; Smay, David (July 8, 2005). "Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed". Routledge – via Google Books.
  8. The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1983. p. 499.
  9. "Disc-o-scope". Philadelphia City Paper. Music. March 7, 2013.
  10. Ward, Ed (November 19, 2019). "The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 2: 1964–1977: The Beatles, the Stones, and the Rise of Classic Rock". Flatiron Books – via Google Books.
  11. Robins, Wayne (11 Dec 1988). "NEW RELEASES". Newsday. Part II. p. 29.
  12. Hermes, Will (Aug 24, 2017). "The Isley Brothers and Santana: Power of Peace". Rolling Stone (1294): 55.
  13. Greenman, Ben (May 13, 2009). "Living With Music: A Playlist by Ben Greenman". The New York Times.
  14. Varga, George (October 24, 2013). "SWAMP DOGG'S THE NAME". The San Diego Union-Tribune. News.
  15. Purcell, Andrew (15 June 2007). "The best failure in the United States". The Guardian. Guardian Film And Music Pages. p. 4.
  16. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 868.
  17. Guarino, Mark (8 Sep 2000). "Swamp (not Snoop) Dogg plays guest spot at Hideout". Daily Herald. Time Out!. p. 4.
  18. "Special Merit Picks". Billboard. 82 (28): 68. Jul 11, 1970.
  19. Kelly, Mary Louise (Mar 9, 2020). "Swamp Dogg On Reinvention, Country Music And Getting Another Rolls-Royce". All Things Considered. NPR.
  20. Langer, Andy (May 2013). "Songs Every Man Should Listen to". Esquire. 159 (5): 124.
  21. Terrell, Steve (March 29, 2013). "Dogg is my co-pilot". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Pasatiempo.
  22. "Total Destruction to Your Mind - Swamp Dogg | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  23. "Alpha Dogg". The New Yorker. May 21, 2007.
  24. Schoemer, Karen (21 Aug 1992). "A Soul Singer With as Much Bite as Bark". The New York Times. p. C3.
  25. "Robert Christgau: Soul Evolvers: Sweet Soul Music". www.robertchristgau.com.
  26. "Swamp Dogg: "I'll Pretend"". Pitchfork.
  27. Cartwright, Garth (March 24, 2013). "Must-have reissue". The Sunday Times. Features. p. 20.
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