That's When I Reach For My Revolver

Mission of Burma were too smart, too abrasive, and too good to be famous. Formed in Boston in 1979, Roger Miller, Clint Conley, and Peter Prescott (with tape manipulator Martin Swope) built a post-punk sound simultaneously more melodic and more aggressive than anything else in the American underground.

That's When I Reach For My Revolver is their defining moment — a riff that feels inevitable, Conley's vocals urgent without being hysterical, cresting into a chorus that sounds like controlled collapse. It has been covered by Moby, Yo La Tengo, and countless others.

Mission of Burma disbanded in 1983 due to Miller's tinnitus, then reformed in 2002. They have been active ever since — making records that hold up alongside their early work.