History Music / Fear

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fear_band_1096.jpg]]

->''"[[BrokenRecord There's too many of us, there's too many of us, there's too many...]]"''
-->-- '''Let's Have a War'''

''Describe Fear here...''

Where to begin? Fear is one of the most infamous bands to emerge from the Los Angeles punk rock scene, known best for their politically incorrect lyrics, insane live shows, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and for having]] [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Flea]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking in the band in the earlier days]]. Formed in 1977 in Los Angeles by singer/guitarist Lee Ving, bassist Derf Scratch, guitarist Burt Good, and drummer Johnny Backbeat, the band released one single, 1978's "I Love Living in the City" before Good and Backbeat left; their spots filled in by Philo Cramer and Spit Stix almost immediately afterward. Shortly afterward, the band was approached by Penelope Spheeris with an offer to be in her movie, ''Film/TheDeclineOfWesternCivilization''. The band accepted the offer, appearing onscreen [[{{Troll}} pissing off their audience]] when they weren't playing music, with the film went unnoticed by most people in the mainstream.

...except for Creator/JohnBelushi, that is. Belushi thought the band was hysterical, and attempted to get them on the soundtrack to one of his films. [[ExecutiveMeddling The studio refused]], so Belushi offered them a spot on the HalloweenEpisode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' as compensation, complete with an audience [[CastTheExpert of actual punks to slam-dance]]. Predictably, this didn't end well...for the SNL crew. The publicity from the show led multiple punks to claim that seeing them on SNL was their "[[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] on Ed Sullivan" moment, skyrocketing Fear to...slightly larger cult status. Over the next few years, the band went through a few lineup changes, releasing five full length albums, and achieving cult status due to various covers, video game soundtrack appearances, and scattered shows here and there in between recording albums and pursuing other duties. The band is still going strong today after thirty-seven years of playing to audiences across the globe, and routinely makes appearances at festivals such as Warped Tour and SXSW.

Their albums include:
* ''The Record'', 1982
* ''More Beer'', 1985
* ''Live...For The Record'', 1991
* ''Have Another Beer With Fear'', 1995
* ''American Beer'', 2000
* ''The Fear Record'', 2012

----
!! Tropes that apply to Fear:
* TheAlcoholic: "More Beer".
* AntiChristmasSong: The bonus track for ''The Record'', "Fuck Christmas".
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: From "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones"
--> ''New York's alright if you like drunks in your doorway!''
--> ''New York's alright if you wanna freeze to death!''
--> ''New York's alright if you wanna get mugged or murdered!''
--> ''New York's alright if you like saxophones!''
* BedlamHouse: "Camarillo".
* TheBigRottenApple: "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones".
* BrokenRecord: "Let's Have a War" "Camarillo", and "We Destroy the Family".
* CrapsackWorld: A few of their songs mention (despite it not being the primary topic) people stuck in horrible situations - usually poverty and homelessness that paint their world this way.
* DoubleEntendre: "Beef Bologna" doesn't even bother to be subtle about this.
* TheEighties: The band reached the height of their popularity in this era.
* GoneHorriblyWrong / GoneHorriblyRight: Horribly wrong for the studio, but hysterically right for Belushi on the band's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frud5RFtTi0 appearance]] on Series/SaturdayNightLive. To compensate for Fear losing the opportunity to be on the Neighbors soundtrack, John Belushi mentioned to the people at SNL that he'd guest star on the show under the condition that Fear appears on the show with some slam-dancers. Much to Belushi's amusement, what ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck. Some of the punks brought in to dance had been "imported" from Washington, DC; what the producers didn't know was that the DC and NYC punk scenes had a bit of a feud at the time, so when they let them loose on the set, the harmless moshing eventually gave way to punks smashing cameras, throwing prop pumpkins around the studio, and eventually, the audience just started whaling on each other. By the time the police were called, the punks caused somewhere between $20,000 and ''$500,000'' (which respectively adds up to $51,958 and $1,298,960 USD in 2014 thanks to inflation) in damages, embarrassing the studio to the point where the episode [[LostEpisode hasn't seen the light of day since]]. The episode also gave Fear a popularity boost, with many punks at the time saying it was a major part of what got them into the genre (if they weren't already in the audience - [[Music/MinorThreat Ian MacKaye]], [[Music/TheMeatmen Tesco Vee]], and [[Music/CroMags John Joseph]] were among those present) as well as showing the public its first taste of what would later be called "moshing".
* HardcorePunk: Among the genre's most influential bands.
* HeAlsoDid: Frontman Lee Ving had a second career as a character actor that included, among other things, the part of murder victim Mr. Boddy in ''Film/{{Clue}}''.
* IntercourseWithYou: "Beef Bologna", "Gimme Some Action", and in a way, "Fresh Flesh".
* KickTheDog:
** "Fresh Flesh" mentions mutilating a person by cutting their legs off and leaving them downtown to watch them crawl around in agony.
** "I Don't Care About You" has a line with the singer talking about watching an old man die of a heart attack while doing nothing about it.
* MinisculeRocking: This ''is'' a punk band we're talking about here. Their first album crams fourteen tracks into a brisk 25:32 (27:03 if you add the bonus track "Fuck Christmas").
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[http://www.releasedonkey.com/big//MV5BMjM0NTMwODExNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTYyOTQwOQ/lee-ving-large-picture.jpg This]] is Lee Ving in 2013. At worst, he looks like he's pushing fifty, right? He's actually 63 in that shot.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "DIS! CON! NECTED!"
* RefugeInAudacity: A good chunk of the band's songs (especially on ''The Record''), as well as the onstage behavior of the band fall into this category.
--> ''"New York's alright if you're a '''HOMOSEXUAL!'''"''\\
''"LET'S HAVE A WAR![=/=]Give guns to the '''QUEERS!'''"''
** Lee Ving actually attempted to avert this trope with 2012's "The Fear Record", a re-recording of their first album, with the lyrics changed to remove references to homophobia and sexism. Reception among the fanbase has been...negative, to say the least.
* RevolvingDoorBand: Lee Ving is the only constant member after almost forty years.
* TitleOnlyChorus: "Beef Bologna", "I Don't Care About You", "Gimme Some Action", "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones", "We Destroy the Family", "I Love Livin' in the City", "Fresh Flesh", "More Beer", "The Mouth Don't Stop"...
* {{Troll}}: The band would routinely [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJThWfhkVMs verbally abuse]] their audiences ForTheLulz in the earlier days, often leading to fights and more verbal abuse from the stage.
* UnusualEuphemism: ''Beef Bologna''
----

* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles

* TheAlcoholic: "More Beer".
* TheBigRottenApple: "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones".

Where to begin? Fear is one of the most infamous bands to emerge from the Los Angeles punk rock scene, known best for their politically incorrect lyrics, insane live shows, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and for having]] [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Flea]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking in the band in the earlier days]]. Formed in 1977 in Los Angeles by singer/guitarist Lee Ving, bassist Derf Scratch, guitarist Burt Good, and drummer Johnny Backbeat, the band released one single, 1978's "I Love Living in the City" before Good and Backbeat left; their spots filled in by Philo Cramer and Spit Stix almost immediately afterward. Shortly afterward, the band was approached by Penelope Spheeris with an offer to be in her movie, "''The Decline of Western Civilization''". The band accepted the offer, appearing onscreen [[{{Troll}} pissing off their audience]] when they weren't playing music, with the film went unnoticed by most people in the mainstream.

* GoneHorriblyWrong / GoneHorriblyRight: Horribly wrong for the studio, but hysterically right for Belushi on the band's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frud5RFtTi0 appearance]] on Series/SaturdayNightLive. To compensate for Fear losing the opportunity to be on the Neighbors soundtrack, John Belushi mentioned to the people at SNL that he'd guest star on the show under the condition that Fear appears on the show with some slam-dancers. Much to Belushi's amusement, what ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck. Some of the punks brought in to dance had been "imported" from Washington, DC; what the producers didn't know was that the DC and NYC punk scenes had a bit of a feud at the time, so when they let them loose on the set, the harmless moshing eventually gave way to punks smashing cameras, throwing prop pumpkins around the studio, and eventually, the audience just started wailing on each other. By the time the police were called, the punks caused somewhere between $20,000 and ''$500,000'' (which respectively adds up to $51,958 and $1,298,960 USD in 2014 thanks to inflation) in damages, embarrassing the studio to the point where the episode [[LostEpisode hasn't seen the light of day since]]. The episode also gave Fear a popularity boost, with many punks at the time saying it was a major part of what got them into the genre (if they weren't already in the audience - [[Music/MinorThreat Ian MacKaye]], [[Music/TheMeatmen Tesco Vee]], and [[Music/CroMags John Joseph]] were among those present) as well as showing the public its first taste of what would later be called "moshing".

* GoneHorriblyWrong / GoneHorriblyRight: Horribly wrong for the studio, but hysterically right for Belushi on the band's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frud5RFtTi0 appearance]] on SaturdayNightLive. To compensate for Fear losing the opportunity to be on the Neighbors soundtrack, John Belushi mentioned to the people at SNL that he'd guest star on the show under the condition that Fear appears on the show with some slam-dancers. Much to Belushi's amusement, what ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck. Some of the punks brought in to dance had been "imported" from Washington, DC; what the producers didn't know was that the DC and NYC punk scenes had a bit of a feud at the time, so when they let them loose on the set, the harmless moshing eventually gave way to punks smashing cameras, throwing prop pumpkins around the studio, and eventually, the audience just started whaling on each other. By the time the police were called, the punks caused somewhere between $20,000 and ''$500,000'' (which respectively adds up to $51,958 and $1,298,960 USD in 2014 thanks to inflation) in damages, embarrassing the studio to the point where the episode [[LostEpisode hasn't seen the light of day since]]. The episode also gave Fear a popularity boost, with many punks at the time saying it was a major part of what got them into the genre (if they weren't already in the audience - [[Music/MinorThreat Ian MacKaye]], [[Music/TheMeatmen Tesco Vee]], and [[Music/CroMags John Joseph]] were among those present) as well as showing the public its first taste of what would later be called "moshing".

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "DIS! CO! NECTED!"

* TitleOnlyChorus: "Beef Bologna", "I Don't Care About You", "Gimme Some Action", "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones", "We Destroy the Family", "I Love Living in the City", "Fresh Flesh", "More Beer", "The Mouth Don't Stop"...

* GoneHorriblyWrong / GoneHorriblyRight: Horribly wrong for the studio, but hysterically right for Belushi on the band's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frud5RFtTi0 appearance]] on SaturdayNightLive. To compensate for Fear losing the opportunity to be on the Neighbors soundtrack, John Belushi mentioned to the people at SNL that he'd guest star on the show under the condition that Fear appears on the show with some slam-dancers. Much to Belushi's amusement, what ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck. Some of the punks brought in to dance had been "imported" from Washington, DC; what the producers didn't know was that the DC and NYC punk scenes had a bit of a feud at the time, so when they let them loose on the set, the harmless moshing eventually gave way to punks smashing cameras, throwing prop pumpkins around the studio, and eventually, the audience just started whaling on each other. By the time the police were called, the punks caused somewhere between $20,000 and ''$500,000'' (which respectively adds up to $51,958 to $$1,298,960 USD in 2014) in damages, embarrassing the studio to the point where the episode [[LostEpisode hasn't seen the light of day since]], and inadvertently gave Fear a popularity boost, as well as showing the public its first taste of what would later be called "moshing".

* GoneHorriblyWrong / GoneHorriblyRight: Horribly wrong for the studio, but hysterically right for Belushi on the band's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frud5RFtTi0 appearance]] on SaturdayNightLive. To compensate for Fear losing the opportunity to be on the Neighbors soundtrack, John Belushi mentioned to the people at SNL that he'd guest star on the show under the condition that Fear appears on the show with some slam-dancers. Much to Belushi's amusement, what ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck. Some of the punks brought in to dance had been "imported" from Washington, DC; what the producers didn't know was that the DC and NYC punk scenes had a bit of a feud at the time, so when they let them loose on the set, the harmless moshing eventually gave way to punks smashing cameras, throwing prop pumpkins around the studio, and eventually, the audience just started whaling on each other. By the time the police were called, the punks caused somewhere between $20,000 and ''$500,000'' in damages, embarrassing the studio to the point where the episode [[LostEpisode hasn't seen the light of day since]], and inadvertently gave Fear a popularity boost, as well as showing the public its first taste of what would later be called "moshing".

** "Fresh Flesh" mentions mutilating a person and leaving them downtown to watch them crawl around in agony.

* TitleOnlyChorus: "Beef Bologna", "I Don't Care About You", "Gimme Some Action", "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones", "We Destroy the Family", "I Love Living in the City", "Fresh Flesh", "More Beer"...

--> ''"New York's alright if you're a '''HOMOSEXUAL!'''"''

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Original bassist Derf Scratch died of liver disease in 2010 at the age of 58.

* CastTheExpert: The SNL crowd of moshers was filled with actual punks from Washington, DC and New York City.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The SNL incident began because of two examples of this; one positive and one negative. The negative occurred when the studio producing ''Neighbors'' denied John Belushi the right to have Fear on the soundtrack. The positive one happened when John Belushi pulled some strings at SNL to have them be the band for the HalloweenEpisode (details below).

* HeAlsoDid: Lee Ving also appeared with [[Music/{{Megadeth}} Dave Mustaine]] in MD.45, and played Mr. Boddy in Film/{{Clue}}, among other roles in the 1980's.

* KickTheDog: "Fresh Flesh" mentions mutilating a person and leaving them downtown to watch them crawl around in agony; "I Don't Care About You" has a line with the singer talking about watching an old man die of a heart attack while doing nothing about it.
* LosAngeles:

* RefugeInAudacity: A good chunk of the band's songs (especially on The Record), as well as the onstage behavior of the band fall into this category.

* UnusualEuphemism: Uhm...''Beef Bologna?''

* YoungerThanTheyLook: [[http://www.releasedonkey.com/big//MV5BMjM0NTMwODExNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTYyOTQwOQ/lee-ving-large-picture.jpg This]] is Lee Ving in 2013. At worst, he looks like he's pushing fifty, right? He's actually 63 in that shot.

...except for JohnBelushi, that is. Belushi thought the band was hysterical, and attempted to get them on the soundtrack to one of his films. [[ExecutiveMeddling The studio refused]], so Belushi offered them a spot on the HalloweenEpisode of SaturdayNightLive as compensation, complete with an audience [[CastTheExpert of actual punks to slam-dance]]. Predictably, this didn't end well...for the SNL crew. The publicity from the show led multiple punks to claim that seeing them on SNL was their "[[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] on Ed Sullivan" moment, skyrocketing Fear to...slightly larger cult status. Over the next few years, the band went through a few lineup changes, releasing five full length albums, and achieving cult status due to various covers, video game soundtrack appearances, and scattered shows here and there in between recording albums and pursuing other duties. The band is still going strong today after thirty-seven years of playing to audiences across the globe, and routinely makes appearances at festivals such as Warped Tour and SXSW.

----
* AntiChristmasSong: The bonus track for The Record, "Fuck Christmas".

* YoungerThanTheyLook: [[http://www.releasedonkey.com/big//MV5BMjM0NTMwODExNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTYyOTQwOQ/lee-ving-large-picture.jpg This]] is Lee Ving in 2013. At worst, he looks like he's pushing fifty, right? He's actually 63 in that shot.

* BrokenRecord: "Let's Have a War" and "We Destroy the Family".
* CrapsackWorld: A few of their songs mention people stuck in horrible situations (usually poverty and homelessness) that paint their world this way.

* IntercourseWithYou: "Beef Bologna" and "Fresh Flesh"...in a way.

--> ''"New York's alright if you're a '''HOMOSEXUAL!'''"''.

* TitleOnlyChorus: "I Don't Care About You", "Gimme Some Action", "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones", "We Destroy the Family", "I Love Living in the City", "Fresh Flesh", "More Beer"...

** --> ''"New York's alright if you're a '''HOMOSEXUAL!'''"''.

* HeAlsoDid: Lee Ving also appeared with [[Music/{{Megadeth}} Dave Mustaine]] in MD.45, and played Mr. Boddy in Film/Clue, among other roles in the 1980's.

* MinusculeRocking: This ''is'' a punk band we're talking about here. Their first album crams fourteen tracks into a brisk 25:32 (27:03 if you add the bonus track "Fuck Christmas".

* DoubleEntendre: "Beef Bologna" isn't even subtle about this.

* UnusualEuphemism: Uhm...''Beef Bologna?''

* RefugeInAudacity: A good chunk of the band's songs (especially on The Record), as well as the onstage behavior of the band. Lee Ving attempted to avert this with 2012's "The Fear Record", a re-recording of their first album, with the lyrics changed to remove references to homophobia and sexism. Reception among the fanbase has been...[[BrokenBase negative]], to say the least.

* HeAlsoDid: Lee Ving also appeared with [[Music/Megadeth Dave Mustaine]] in MD.45, and played Mr. Boddy in Film/Clue, among other roles in the 1980's.

...except for JohnBelushi, that is. Belushi thought the band was hysterical, and attempted to get them on the soundtrack to one of his films. [[ExecutiveMeddling The studio refused]], so Belushi offered them a spot on the Halloween episode of SaturdayNightLive as compensation, complete with an audience [[CastTheExpert of actual punks to slam-dance]]. Predictably, this didn't end well...for the SNL crew. The publicity from the show led multiple punks to claim that seeing them on SNL was their "[[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] on Ed Sullivan" moment, skyrocketing Fear to...slightly larger cult status. Over the next few years, the band went through a few lineup changes, releasing five full length albums, and achieving cult status due to various covers, video game soundtrack appearances, and scattered appearances at festivals.

* GoneHorriblyWrong / GoneHorriblyRight: The band's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frud5RFtTi0 appearance]] on SaturdayNightLive. To compensate for Fear losing the opportunity to be on the Neighbors soundtrack, John Belushi mentioned to the people at SNL that he'd guest star on the show under the condition that Fear appears on the show with some slam-dancers. Naturally, what ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck, much to Belushi's amusement. The punks brought in to dance eventually started smashing cameras, throwing the Jack-o-lanterns around the studio, and eventually started whaling on each other, as the NYC and DC scenes had a bit of a feud at the time. By the time the police were called, the punks caused somewhere between $20,000 and ''$500,000'' in damages, embarrassing the studio to the point where the episode [[LostEpisode hasn't seen the light of day since]], and inadvertently gave Fear a popularity boost, as well as showing the public its first taste of what would later be called "moshing".

* {{Troll}}: The band would routinely [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJThWfhkVMs verbally abuse]] their audiences ForTheLulz in the earlier days, often leading to fights and more verbal abuse from the stage.

* RefugeInAudacity: A good chunk of the band's songs (especially on The Record), as well as the onstage behavior of the band. Lee Ving attempted to avert this with 2012's "The Fear Record", a re-recording of their first album, with the lyrics changed to remove references to homophobia and sexism. Reception among the fanbase has been...negative, to say the least.
* SignatureSong: "I Love Living in the City", "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones", "I Don't Care About You", and "More Beer".

* TitleOnlyChorus: "I Don't Care About You", "Gimme Some Action", "New York's Alright if You Like Saxophones", "We Destroy the Family", "I Love Living in the City", "Fresh Flesh", "More Beer"...

...except for JohnBelushi, that is. Belushi thought the band was hysterical, and attempted to get them on the soundtrack to one of his films. [[ExecutiveMeddling The studio refused]], so Belushi offered them a spot on the Halloween episode of SaturdayNightLive as compensation. What ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck. The punks brought in to dance caused somewhere between $20,000 and ''$500,000'' in damages, embarrassing the studio to the point where the episode [[LostEpisode hasn't seen the light of day since]], and inadvertently skyrocketing the band to underground fame. Over the next few years, the band went through a few lineup changes, releasing five full length albums, and achieving cult status due to various covers, video game soundtrack appearances, and scattered appearances at festivals.

----

Where to begin? Fear is one of the most infamous bands to emerge from the Los Angeles punk rock scene, known best for their politically incorrect lyrics, insane live shows (arguably the most infamous one was broadcast ''live on SaturdayNightLive''), [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and for having]] [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Flea]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking in the band in the earlier days]]. Formed in 1977 in Los Angeles by singer/guitarist Lee Ving, bassist Derf Scratch, guitarist Burt Good, and drummer Johnny Backbeat, the band released one single, 1978's "I Love Living in the City" before Good and Backbeat left; their spots filled in by Philo Cramer and Spit Stix almost immediately afterward. Shortly afterward, the band was approached by Penelope Spheeris with an offer to be in her movie, "''The Decline of Western Civilization''". The band accepted the offer, appearing onscreen [[{{Troll}} pissing off their audience]] when they weren't playing music, with the film went unnoticed by most people in the mainstream.

...except for JohnBelushi, that is. Belushi thought the band was hysterical, and attempted to get them on the soundtrack to one of his films. [[ExecutiveMeddling The studio refused]], so Belushi offered them a spot on an episode of Saturday Night Live as compensation. What ensued next was nothing short of a complete clusterfuck.