Also for the first time on a Minutemen record, the band had a guest musician, Saccharine Trust guitarist Joe Baiza, who added improvised guitar leads to "Beacon Sighted Through Fog" and "East Wind/Faith".

Drummer George Hurley introduces his first non-drum percussion work on a Minutemen album, playing a collection of empty oil drums on "East Wind/Faith".

Further showing off their sense of humor, Watt introduces "Mutiny In Jonestown" by slating the take during the basic track recording as "Pavarotti, take one".

"The more you listen", he continues, "the less fragmentary these eighteen tense little guess-you-have-to-call-them tunes sound--each transforms its own riff into an identity that meshes with the album's guess-you-have-to-call-it gestalt.

"It says a lot about the Minutemen's growth that The Punch Line sounded like a great punk album," he concludes, "but a year later What Makes a Man Start Fires?

It’s not that Paranoid Time and The Punch Line aren’t entertaining, but there’s very little in the Minutemen’s first two years of songs as hooky as “’99” or “Life As A Rehearsal,” or that feels as fully fleshed-out as “Sell Or Be Sold” or “Fake Contest.” The simple addition of the occasional overdub, extended break, or guitar solo was all it took to make even a minute-long Minutemen song seem “finished.” All tracks are written by Mike Watt except where noted