Double Nickels on the Dime

Double Nickels on the Dime has 45 songs over four sides, named Side D (for Boon, Watt and Hurley), Side Mike, Side George and Side Chaff. Ethan James produced it at Radio Tokyo in Venice, California, at a cost of $1,100. The band recorded in November 1983 and, after hearing Husker Du's Zen Arcade, wrote more for an April 1984 session; Watt told Mojo it was two three-day sessions months apart on an 8-track Otari. The cover shows Watt driving his Volkswagen Beetle at exactly 55 miles per hour through downtown Los Angeles, photographed by Dirk Vandenberg, and the title answers Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55"; double nickels is trucker slang for 55. Joe Baiza, John Rocknowski and Dirk Vandenberg are guests on "Take 5, D.".

The LP runs 81:01 (72:41 on the 1987 CD and 73:46 on the 1989 CD). Robert Palmer wrote in the New York Times that it was more varied musically than any of their earlier disks, Christgau gave it an A-minus, Rolling Stone's David Fricke 3.5 stars and AllMusic's Mark Deming five. Pitchfork gave it 9.5 in a retrospective review, it came 14th in the 1984 Pazz and Jop poll, and Rolling Stone ranked it 413th on its 2012 list of the 500 greatest albums and 267th on its 2020 list. It was their best-selling record. Watt told Songfacts it was the best record he ever played on: that was a peak of ours.