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Teresa Taylor, a drummer for the indie rock band Butthole Surfers who had a small but memorable role as a “pusher” in the 1990 film Slacker trying to sell an unusual Madonna souvenir, died Sunday of a lung disease, like her former ones bandmates announced.
Taylor, who sometimes used the stage name Teresa Nervosa, “passed away peacefully this weekend after a long battle with her lung disease,” the Butthole Surfers tweeted today. “She will live in our hearts forever. RIP dear friend.”
Born in Arlington, Texas, Taylor played drums in her high school marching band with fellow drummer King Coffey. After joining the San Antonio-based rock band, Coffey recruited his friend Taylor to join. The two drummers performed in unison, often standing, which gave the band its early signature sound and visual style.
Taylor left the band in 1989 after suffering seizures caused by a brain aneurysm. In 1993 she underwent brain surgery. The group had an infectious No. 1 modern rock hit with “Pepper” in 1996 and returned in 2009 for a couple of touring dates.
“Slacker” poster art (1991) featuring the Taylor Everett Collection
Aside from her career as a drummer, Taylor is known for a high-profile appearance in Richard Linklater’s seminal film Slacker, in which she portrays a character known as the “Pap Smear Pusher” who tries to sell a jar allegedly containing a pap smear from Madonna . Taylor’s character, dressed in a black t-shirt, sunglasses and baseball cap, was featured on the home video poster and packaging.
In an oral history of the film published on the Salon website in 2006, Taylor recalled being very unsure of what her one major screen accomplishment would be.
“When I finished my scene about a week later, I had a kind of meltdown where I decided I had humiliated myself so publicly that I even considered going over to their house and getting my part.” , she recalled, adding that she had reconsidered. I realized, “I didn’t want the movie to come out and I didn’t do my part to make it happen. So I signed.”
“I don’t get recognized,” she said in 2006. “Nobody recognizes my face, but when I’m out in public and doing something, people are like, ‘Are you Slacker’s wife?’ But it’s always because I rant and rave about something.”
Information on survivors was not immediately available.