Mission Of Burma were a Boston band that combined the classic rock power trio (Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, and Peter Prescott on drums) with a tape manipulator, Martin Swope. Their style was revolutionary and immensely influential because it fused three seemingly contradictory aspects: the brutal energy of hardcore, pop melodies, and the experimentalism of electronic avant-garde. Their songs were still songs, songs to sing, even though their structure was deconstructed and reassembled in a cubist manner and the execution was that of a pack of maniacs.

Roger Miller first played piano in Sproton Layer and then in the Fourth World Quartet, which also included alto saxophonist Jack Waterstone, as documented posthumously on The Fourth World Quartet (Cuneiform, 2021), containing both a jazz piece (the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Tnoona) and a classical piece (Igor Stravinsky's Renard the Fox). The original lineup of Mission of Burma was: Benjamin Miller on alto saxophone and electric guitar, Laurence Miller on bass clarinet, Roger Miller on piano, percussion and cornet, and Jack Waterstone on alto saxophone.

The first tracks (Peking Spring, 1979; Forget, 1980), unreleased for nearly ten years, showcase a violent and deafening pop, as the legend of their live performances recounts. The band seemed schizophrenically torn between a fascination for solemn melody and a need for thunderous vibrations.
Laugh The World Away is the first composition to effectively employ Swope’s electronics, along with a mantra-like counterchant, shrill guitar dissonances, and hypnotic funky bass lines.

They debuted on record with the single Academic Fight Song (1980), a generational anthem that exploited only the tonal component of their art but soon became a punk-rock classic. The next single, OK No Way (1980), was even more banal: a hardcore ditty in the frenetic style popular at the time.

Miller’s neurotic guitar work (not coincidentally from Detroit, home of the MC5) stamps That's When I Reach For My Revolver on the EP Signals, Calls And Marches (Ace Of Hearts, 1981 – Rykodisc, 1997), another epic, pulsating chorus destined to remain one of their masterpieces. The EP revealed an even more articulated sound. Punk energy supported a flexible framework capable of accommodating both the clownish Pere Ubu-style cadence of Outlaw and the decadent David Bowie-style nursery rhyme of Fame And Fortune. The driving power-pop of This Is Not a Photograph was, in short, only the surface. Mission Of Burma were kin to Buzzcocks and Wire, to Ramones and Devo, but they had far superior harmonic resources, as demonstrated by the instrumental All World Cowboy Romance, marked by hypnotic tribalism and obsessive Glenn Branca-style minimalism.

Due to illness that forced the leader to retire, their official corpus consists of only one album, VS (Ace Of Hearts, 1982) (Rykodisc, 1997), a collection that went down in history for its sonic tornadoes of pop violence. Roger Miller is fully in control, as shown by the manic tremolo igniting the epic Secrets, worthy of garage-rock classics, shouted frenetically; the riff of Mica, first syncopated then bell-like; the almost raga-like reverbs that cradle the hypnotic chant of Trem Two; and above all, the percussive cascades that pummel the hardcore of Fun World (with Miller’s best solo). In these tracks, Miller’s style spreads uncontrollably.
Miller is only the tip of the iceberg. Even the rest of the harmony is questioned. New Nails lumbers along at a “train-like” pace amid a jumble of guitar and bass (and a few seconds of saxophone), sung and recited theatrically. The delicate litany of Dead Pool is marked by Velvet Underground angst and acid-rock ecstasy. Einstein's Day is an even more dreamy and expansive ballad.
Ballad Of Johnny Burma and That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate are the anthems of the moment, entrusted as per the manual to a catchy chorus and driving progression. The latter also condenses their anguished and wild spleen. The tragic atmosphere, the intricate harmonies, the near-free-jazz experiments, and the speed of punk-rock made this album immensely influential.

Posthumously, on The Horrible Truth About Burma (Ace Of Hearts, 1985) (Rykodisc, 1997), tracks intended for the second album were released, which would have approached the dark punk tones of British bands (Dirt, especially New Disco) and the mechanical tones of industrial music (the instrumental Tremolo), without relinquishing their delirious epic (Sing-a-long) and hardcore bursts (Dumbells, especially Go Fun Burn Man).

A Gun To The Head (Rykodisc, 2004) is an anthology of the 1981–85 period.

Miller and Swope would go on to form Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic, and Prescott would form Volcano Suns.

Music of violence and exasperation, Mission Of Burma’s rock was born from punk hysteria (justifying its volume and frenzy) and Boston avant-garde tradition (hence the dissonant instrumental parts, fractured folk-derived rhythms, and free jazz structures). Their punk-rock was highly intellectualized, almost frigid compared to the naïve epilepsies of typical punk bands.

Their posthumous fame would be enormous, especially after the success of Husker Du and Pixies, who effectively picked up some of their ideas. The EP Mission Of Burma (Taang, 1987) and the album Forget (Taang, 1987) collected the previously unreleased tracks from their early years. Their songs would be covered by dozens of artists, including Sugar, Moby, Catherine Wheel, REM, Spinanes, and Soul Asylum. Eventually, their albums were remastered and reissued. Mission Of Burma (Rykodisc, 1988) is a generous anthology of their career.

Swope and Conley would stop performing, while Prescott formed the Volcano Suns and Roger Miller continued solo.

It took more than a decade for Mission of Burma bassist Clint Conley to form a new band, Consonant (Fenway, 2002), which is actually a super-group with Bedhead's drummer Matt Kadane, Come's guitarist Chris Brokaw and Fuzzy's bassist Winston Braman. The sound is a cross between slo-core, post-rock and progressive-rock.

Mission of Burma reunited in 2001 as a quartet (guitarist Roger Miller, bassist Clint Conley, drummer Peter Prescott and Bob Weston on electronics) and released OnOffOn (Matador, 2004). Miller's The Setup and Prescott's Absent Mind capture the original spirit and sound of Mission of Burma: a strong pulsing refrain derailed by titanic guitar; while Miller's Wounded World shows how many cliches of the 1990s they predated, from grunge to prog-core. The experimental textures and dynamics of Miller's Max Ernst's Dream, Conley's chamber pop Prepared, Prescott's neurotic and dissonant The Enthusiast, Miller's feverish and syncopated Fever Moon, Conley's satirical novelty Nicotine Bomb, and the tribal funk romp of Miller's Playland use a repertory of tricks that may not be revolutionary anymore but are still enjoyable.

The EP Snapshot (2005) collects rarities and recent "hits".

The second album after the reunion, The Obliterati (Matador, 2006), is no less propulsive and infectious than the previous one. The foursome is the rare exception of former punks who can fully resurrect the original spirit without any major concession to the changing musical trends (Miller's 1001 Pleasant Dreams and Conley's 2wice). Exemplary of their flawless compositional manners is Miller's Spider's Web, a song that should be impossible but instead sounds perfectly elegant.

The Sound the Speed the Light (Matador, 2009) includes the novelty 1,2,3 Partyy and a lot of brooding songs.

Bob Weston's sound effects are he highlight of Unsound (Fire, 2012).

Miller formed Trinary System in 2012, a power-trio that was eventually documented on The Hard Machine (Cuneiform, 2025).