formed Mr. Wiggles

As the rise of grunge began to phase punk and hardcore out of the Northwest underground by the late 1980s, Perry set out to start a band that stood in defiant contrast to the shoegazing attitude of alternative rock , showcasing high energy dance music and Zappa -esque theatricality in an attempt to create something that an audience would react to viscerally instead of passively. Recruiting a horn section led by alto saxophonist Brooks Brown , Perry and Schmid formed their latest band Mr. Wiggles – named so after a Parliament song – in November 1988, playing their first show in Springfield as part of a benefit concert for workers of the Nicolai door manufacturing plant, who were then engaged in a union strike .