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This article is about the band. For the emotion, see fear. Fear is a punk band from Los Angeles, California that formed in 1977 and still performs.
The Decline of Western Civilization Fear appeared in Penelope Spheeris' 1980 film, The Decline of Western Civilization. Their performance was one of the most memorable scenes in the film . The film showed them angering members of the audience with personal attacks and offbeat humor. Singer Lee Ving asked one member of the audience "This is 1980—can't you afford a fucking haircut?" The bass player Derf Scratch tells the joke: Q:"Why do girls have their two holes so close together?" A:"So you can carry them like a six-pack!" The cult classic movie included other well known acts like Black Flag, X, and The Germs. Spheeris met Ving and drummer Spit Spix when they were hanging handbills on telephone poles. After talking with the two, she abruptly asked if they wanted to be in her film. * The band achieved notoriety through the movie and even attracted attention from actor John Belushi while being an unsigned act. The mixture of humor and music demonstrated in the film gave the band a unique personality, which seemed to lack in the later years with several member changes. The Saturday Night Live affair Their most famous performance was on the 1981 Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Donald Pleasence. The band was booked at the insistence of John Belushi who was a huge fan. Belushi initially offered them the soundtrack for his major motion picture Neighbors. The movie studio eventually forced Fear off the project and to make up for it Belushi got them the spot on SNL. Among the politically incorrect nature of Fear's songs, the band's appearance included a coterie of dancers, several of whom had been contacted for the event by both Penelope Spheeris (another avid Fear booster) and Henry Rollins (contrary to popular belief however, he was not at the taping himself); among them were Belushi, Ian MacKaye, Harley Flannagan of The Cro-mags, and John Brannon of Negative Approach, causing destruction of the set. During rehearsals the director wanted to prevent the dancers from participating, so Belushi offered to be in the episode (it had been many years since he left SNL) if the dancers were allowed to stay. * The end result was the banning of all punk acts for a decade, and the eventual shortening of Fear's appearance on TV. The songs they performed were "I don't care about you," "Beef Baloney," "New York's Alright...If You Like Saxophones," and as the band begins to play "Let's Have a War" the audio and video fade into commercial. Historical moments were Lee singing "fuck you" away from the microphone, saying it's great to be in New Jersey (the audience booed), and the lyric "New York's all right if you're a homosexual." The History of Members Fear formed in 1977 with Ving and Derf Scratch searching for a drummer and eventually a guitarist. They received notoriety for their stage presence and eventually signed a recording deal with Slash Records. After the band's 1982 debut release "The Record," Ving fired long time friend and bass player Derf and replaced him with Flea (who later joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers). Next to leave was guitarist Philo "The Foot" Cramer and drummer Spit Stix after the band's 1985 effort "More Beer." The two members cited financial disputes with Lee Ving and his attempt at acting as well as personality conflicts with Ving's "right wing" beliefs. With Fear sidelined, Ving continued his acting career in the late 1980s. Eventually, Fear completed two more recordings in the 1990s, "Have Another Beer With Fear" in 1995 and "American Beer" in 2000. While the most recent albums aim to respark the magic on "The Record," without the original members they did not achieve the success Ving hoped. The band currently performs and plays their classic songs, but Ving is the only original member. Members Fear was composed of: Possible reunion In a 2004 interview with former drummer Spit Stix, it was mentioned he would participate in a Fear reunion tour if Philo was part of it. * He noted, "Well, Philo and I together can overpower Lee, you know? We can be enough.... Because it used to be Philo, me and Derf too in the beginning." Stix further stated that Philo, who has a degree in physics, is politically far left and balances out Lee's far right philosophy. Without this balance, Lee's political point of view is too overwhelming to deal with on the road for a reunion tour. Discography Covers of Fear | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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