About FEAR:

Along with Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, Fear helped define the sound and style of L.A. hardcore. Although they actually formed during the first wave of punk back in 1977, Fear didn’t release an album until five years later with 1982’s defining The Record, by which time they’d honed a blistering, thrashy attack that, for all its fury, was surprisingly tight and sometimes even intricate, with tough metal influences and occasional detours into complex time signatures. Which is to say that, musically, the band wasn’t as crude as frontman Lee Ving‘s outrageous, humorously offensive lyrics, which were geared to piss off anyone within earshot, particularly women and LGBTs; his vulgarity was equaled only by his sincere love of beer, as evidenced on 1985’s More Beer, 1995’s Have Another Beer with Fear, and 2000’s American Beer. Fear’s original incarnation fell apart after just two albums, but Ving continued to tour and record with new lineups, even re-recording the songs from their debut with different musicians on 2012’s The Fear Record. In 2023, while staging a farewell tour with 75-percent of the original lineup, Fear released a typically precise and confrontational album, For Right and Order.

Fear were formed in Los Angeles by vocalist Lee Ving (who was born Lee James Capaller in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1950, and had been playing in bands since the late ’60s), with the rest of the original lineup including lead guitarist Philo Cramer, bassist Derf Scratch, and drummer Johnny Backbeat. Rhythm guitarist Burt Good was a member for a short time in 1978, but became unnecessary when Ving decided to take up the instrument. The same year, Backbeat was replaced by Spit Stix. Fear issued their debut single, “I Love Livin’ in the City,” at the beginning of 1978 on Criminal Records. They were in no rush to record an album, however, and spent the next few years without a record deal; instead, they mostly played punk clubs around the Los Angeles area, cultivating a volatile, confrontational stage presence. Fear’s explosive appearance in director Penelope Spheeris’ punk chronicle The Decline of Western Civilization cemented their legend, and they found a devoted fan in comedian John Belushi, who talked Saturday Night Live into having the band on as a musical guest for the Halloween episode in 1981. Not a band to behave in a public forum, Fear invited a pack of skinhead slam-dancers on-stage for their performance, resulting in costly studio damage and a bit of on-mike profanity.