Screeching Weasel

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    Screeching Weasel were one of the most important contributors to the pop-punk genre. Their self-titled first album came out in 1987 on Underdog Records, and their greatest hits album Weaselmania was released in 2005 (on Fat Wreck Chords) after they'd broken up for the fourth time. In 2008 the band re-formed yet again, this time with a lineup of Ben Weasel, Dan Vapid and three new scabs. Founding guitarist and lone other constant John "Jughead" Pierson was not invited back into the band due to clashes with Ben. However, this lineup, too, came to an end at the 2011 SXSW Festival in Austin, where Ben Weasel got in a fight with some girl in the audience who had thrown ice at him, then punched the club owner. Everyone except Ben quit within a few days.

    The band was a breath of fresh air at the time of their formation - the punk scene at the end of The Eighties was filled with overly serious Straight Edge and politically driven hardcore, with attention to catchy, bouncy melodies lagging. Screeching Weasel imitated the Ramones and were about as un-PC as you can get.

    Whilst Screeching Weasel were starting out in Chicago, so were the likes of Green Day and Pansy Division in Northern California, The Mr T Experience, The Descendents and many more pop-punk bands, and the genre declared The Nineties as a decade of their own.

    Screeching Weasel were also notable for having an instantly recognizable logo that is tattooed on thousands of fans. Google the band, and you will see it.

    Screeching Weasel provides examples of the following tropes:
    • Anti-Love Song - "Veronica Hates Me", "Nobody Likes You", "I Hate Your Guts On Sunday"... the list goes on.
    • Cover Version - "I Can See Clearly"
    • Deadpan Snarker - Ben Weasel's lyrics
    • Jerkass - Ask anyone who has ever worked with Ben.
    • Lampshade Hanging - many of the tropes of punk rock, in songs such as "DIY"
    • Protest Song - "Nicaragua" skewers the reactionaries of the punk scene who talk about politics but do nothing. You can practically taste the sarcasm, Ben Weasel pronounces the word Nicaragua wrong. Played almost straight with "I Wanna Be A Homosexual" which tears apart homophobic attitudes with the accusation that "you don't have the balls to be a queer"
    • Three Chords and the Truth - a very sarcastic truth.
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