The Butthole Surfers drummer Teresa Taylor and star of Richard Linklater’s 1991 Gen X classic “Slacker,” died this weekend, the band announced on Twitter on Monday.
“Teresa Taylor passed away peacefully this weekend after a long battle with lung disease. She will live in our hearts forever. RIP, dear friend,” the notice on Twitter read.
Taylor, also billed as Teresa Nervosa, joined the band in 1983, but left in 1989 after experiencing light-induced seizures that were due to a brain aneurysm, according to Pitchfork. In 1993, she underwent brain surgery, which allowed her to perform again.
In 1991, she appeared in a small role in Richard Linklater’s breakthrough film “Slacker,” as “Pap Smear Pusher,” who is trying to sell a vial of fluid she claims is from Madonna. Although Taylor is only briefly in the film, her scene was a highlight of the trailer and was splashed on posters and merchandising for the quirky ode to Austin, Texas. The movie, which featured mostly non-actors, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991.
“I played drums for the Butthole Surfers. I had gotten it into my head that I was some huge rock star and so I was like, “Well, I guess I’ll be in your little movie,” Taylor told Salon in 2006.
“About a week later, I had a sort of breakdown where I decided that I had humiliated myself so publicly, I even considered going to their house and getting my reel; [they had] forgotten to get a release [from me],” she added, saying that she ultimately signed because she “didn’t want the movie to come out and me not to have done my bit.” At the time, she said people still recognized her as “the chick from ‘Slacker.’”
