The band released the ” Statues ” single on their own Reflex Records in January 1981. Playing a show in Chicago brought them to the attention of Black Flag . When Hüsker Dü were ready to release their first album Land Speed Record , Black Flag’s label, SST, was not…
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Haynes and Leary played their debut show at a San Antonio night club, The Bonham Exchange, in 1981; at that time, they had not yet settled on the band name “Butthole Surfers”. By 1982, the band was backed by the sibling rhythm section composed of bassist Quinn Mathews and his…
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In 1981, the “Sex Bomb”/”Brainwash” single was released, featured individually hand-made covers. The lengthy A-side had minimal lyrics (“She’s a sex bomb, my baby, yeah”) and gained the band notoriety within the punk community. The original lineup released their first full-length album , Album – Generic Flipper , on Subterranean…
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Big Black was founded by Steve Albini in 1981 during his second year of college at Northwestern University . Albini had become a fan of punk rock during his high school years in Missoula, Montana , and taught himself to play bass guitar in the fall of 1979, his senior…
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Early on, the band’s influences included Dischord Records bands like Rites of Spring , Shudder to Think , Nomeansno , Christ on a Crutch, the Hated , Treepeople , Lungfish and Fugazi . Where Hoerner’s vocal style had been in the rougher, hardcore vein, Enigk’s vocals were higher-pitched, inspired by…
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Despite the critical praise for Live Through This , rumors circulated insinuating that Cobain had actually written the majority of the album, though the band vehemently denies this. The band’s drummer Patty Schemel, who had been friends with Cobain since the late 1980s, said: “There’s that myth that Kurt [Cobain]…
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The Wipers first album, Is This Real? , was issued in January 1980 on Park Avenue Records, a label that the band hoped would gain them wider distribution. It was originally recorded on a 4-track in the band’s rehearsal studio, but the label insisted that the band use a professional…
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By 1980, the band was performing regularly in Minneapolis-St. Paul , and their music evolved into a fast, ferocious, primal sound, making them one of the original hardcore punk bands of the Midwest. Through heavy touring, they soon caught the attention of punk trailblazers including Black Flag and Dead Kennedys…
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The band played their first gig on March 30, 1979, at Ron’s Randolph Inn in St. Paul, a bar near the Macalester campus. Hart, Mould, and Norton fired Pine during their third performance on April 20, 1979, and continued as a trio. That summer, the band played their first gigs…
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Flipper’s first recordings appeared in late 1979 on the SF Underground 7-inch EP released on the newly formed Subterranean Records , followed by the “Love Canal”/”Ha Ha Ha” 7-inch single in 1980.