Triple Rock Social Club
Got a quarter? Then you call the tune. Here's what you'll get at the West Bank's premier punk club.
David Brusie
More Jukeboxing
Where they haven’t been replaced by charmless, trend-crunching tune-bots, jukeboxes say a lot about a place—nay, enhance the place. In Jukeboxing, Decider spends some quarters and punches some buttons at Twin Cities bars and venues. This edition takes a look at the jukebox at the Triple Rock Social Club.
The box: A Sapphire jukebox, with giant red arrow buttons near the number pad and a “Have You Tried The French Fries?” sign thrown in with its metal, hard rock, soul, reggae and hip-hop records.
Price: $.25 for one song; $1 for four songs; $5 for 20 songs.
Drinkin’ songs: Well, what’s the occasion? If you’re here to drown your sorrows, look no further than what appears to be a homemade Roger Miller compilation, or 16 Biggest Hits by Johnny Cash. If it’s a drunken singalong you’re after, “Streams Of Whiskey” from The Pogues’ Red Roses For Me may be what you need. For the hooligan punks, there’s Discharge, NOFX, and the Circle Jerks.
Nerd jams: What’s nerdier than Devo? Try the band’s Hot Potatoes, which has their biggest hits. Play with caution, however; pity the bartender who has to listen to “Whip It” while trying to remember the contents of a Fuzzy Navel.
Mixes: The Triple Rock jukebox is chock full of “greatest hits” and “best of” records by artists both famous and slightly obscure, including The Cars, Thin Lizzy, Pat Benatar, Merle Haggard, the Go-Go’s, and Stevie Wonder.
Locals: The box is surprisingly light on local acts, but you’ll find Lifter Puller, Dillinger Four (whose Erik Funk owns the Triple Rock), P.O.S., and a couple of CDs by Atmosphere.
Witnesses: Bartender Jake Jarpey says metalheads tend to reign. “I probably hear Mötorhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’ at least three times a day,” he says, though he doesn’t seem to mind. What’s he tired of hearing? “Anything by The Pogues. That might get me beat up, but that’s okay.”
The box: A Sapphire jukebox, with giant red arrow buttons near the number pad and a “Have You Tried The French Fries?” sign thrown in with its metal, hard rock, soul, reggae and hip-hop records.
Price: $.25 for one song; $1 for four songs; $5 for 20 songs.
Drinkin’ songs: Well, what’s the occasion? If you’re here to drown your sorrows, look no further than what appears to be a homemade Roger Miller compilation, or 16 Biggest Hits by Johnny Cash. If it’s a drunken singalong you’re after, “Streams Of Whiskey” from The Pogues’ Red Roses For Me may be what you need. For the hooligan punks, there’s Discharge, NOFX, and the Circle Jerks.
Nerd jams: What’s nerdier than Devo? Try the band’s Hot Potatoes, which has their biggest hits. Play with caution, however; pity the bartender who has to listen to “Whip It” while trying to remember the contents of a Fuzzy Navel.
Mixes: The Triple Rock jukebox is chock full of “greatest hits” and “best of” records by artists both famous and slightly obscure, including The Cars, Thin Lizzy, Pat Benatar, Merle Haggard, the Go-Go’s, and Stevie Wonder.
Locals: The box is surprisingly light on local acts, but you’ll find Lifter Puller, Dillinger Four (whose Erik Funk owns the Triple Rock), P.O.S., and a couple of CDs by Atmosphere.
Witnesses: Bartender Jake Jarpey says metalheads tend to reign. “I probably hear Mötorhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’ at least three times a day,” he says, though he doesn’t seem to mind. What’s he tired of hearing? “Anything by The Pogues. That might get me beat up, but that’s okay.”
“There’s a lot of good stuff,” adds patron Rick Kelly, “though I really feel that the inclusion of Seasons In The Abyss by Slayer but not Reign In Blood is disconcerting.” He adds that often when he arrives, “Someone will have just played Propagandhi or some other political punk band. And that just goes well with my breakfast.”
