Screeching Weasel, The Dickies, The Queers, Jack Trippers, et Toxic Energy

Giving a good name to bands named after novelty T-shirts everywhere, Screeching Weasel was formed by bassist and singer Benjamin Foster and guitarist John Pierson, who originally met while at junior high, and then re-connected after working at the same movie theatre. Once they formed the band, Foster took on the stage name Ben Weasel, Pierson renamed himself Jughead after the Archie character, and they recruited a drummer in the form of Steve Cheese. Shortly after their live debut, Weasel found that it's actually really hard to sing and play bass guitar at the same time, so he switched to rhythm guitar while Vince Vogel was tapped to play bass for them. The band had finally found its first proper line-up, and it was this line up that recorded their self-titled debut album for Underdog Records in one night for a flat fee of $200, that was released in September 1987.

The album made a name for the band in punk scene's the world over, but Cheese wasn't willing to tour outside of Chicago. The band chose to kick him out and by 1988, the band replaced him with Warren Fischer. Clearly this was the right idea, as soon after Fischer joined, the band played a hugely acclaimed support slot at the Berkeley, California punk rock hot spot 924 Gilman Street to the legendary Operation Ivy. Unfortunately, there was still tension within the band and it got too much for them in 1989, when they broke up for the first time. However, in true punk rock fashion, the band were forced to get back together in 1991 to pay off the debts they'd accumulated while recording their second album “Boogadaboogadaboogada!” in 1988.

While the original idea was for a one-off show, the band enjoyed it so much that they got back together full time, just as the pop-punk sound that they'd inspired started to become a world-wide sensation thanks to Green Day and The Offspring. Ever since then, the band have remained a hugely respected cult act, chiefly for inspiring nearly every pop-punk band that's ever gone on to take on the world since the mid 90's, from Blink-182 to All Time Low. The band spent most of the 2000's split up (for the third time), but they came back with style in 2009, releasing “First World Manifesto”, their first album in 11 years, in 2011. For being the kind of cult band that any group would kill to be, Screeching Weasel come highly recommended.

Formed in 1977 by guitarist Stan Lee and bassist Billy Club, and made their debut performance at the Whiskey a Go Go later that September. The band became the first punk rock band to sign with major record label, A&M Records, and in 1979 the band released their first studio album entitled “The Incredible Shrinking Dickies,” followed very closely by “Dawn of The Dickies.”

The Dickies became known for their campy and humerous live performances, which fit with their influences like The Ramones, who they opened with several times; in fact, they would open for The Ramones for various gigs.

The Dickies released a third album in 1983 entitled “Stukas Over Disneyland,” which includes a cover of The Quick's "Pretty Please Me" and Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown."

In 1988, the Dickies wrote and performed the theme music for the horror film Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The following year they released “Second Coming,” and in 1990 they wrote the theme song for the comedy film, “Spirit of 76” by Lucas Reiner. Unfortunately some members of the band struggled with drug problems in the 1980s, but were still able to perform live; in fact, they released their first live album in 1991. In 1995 they released “Idjit Savant” followed by “Dogs From the Hare that Bit Us.”