About Circle Jerks
Circle Jerks are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. To date, Circle Jerks have released six studio albums, one compilation, a live album and a live DVD. Their debut album, Group Sex , is considered a landmark of the hardcore genre.
The band has broken up and re-formed several times, sometimes with different bassists and/or drummers. They disbanded for the first time after the release of their fifth album VI , allowing Hetson to focus on Bad Religion full-time. The Circle Jerks first reunited in 1994 and released their sixth and last studio album to date, Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities, the following year before separating for the second time. The band reunited for the second time in 2001 and spent the next ten years performing live periodically; this reunion released only one new song, "I'm Gonna Live", which was posted on their MySpace profile in 2007. Tensions among members and failed attempts to record the follow-up to Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities resulted in the Circle Jerks breaking up yet again in 2011. However, the band announced in November 2019 that they would reunite in 2020 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Group Sex with live shows.
Many groups and artists have cited Circle Jerks as an influence, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Anti-Flag, Dropkick Murphys, the Offspring, NOFX, and Pennywise.
Lead vocalist Keith Morris was an original member of Black Flag, co-founding the band with guitarist Greg Ginn and recording the Nervous Breakdown EP with them before suddenly departing the group in December 1979. Morris formed Circle Jerks as the Bedwetters along with guitarist Greg Hetson, bassist Roger Rogerson and drummer Lucky Lehrer . Lehrer did not like the name the Bedwetters, so Morris looked through a dictionary of slang words and renamed the band the Circle Jerks.
The band's first recordings took place in spring 1980, including the original version of "Wild in the Streets", which appeared on Posh Boy's first Rodney on the ROQ compilation. In July of that year, the band recorded their debut studio album, Group Sex, which was released in October 1980 on the Frontier Records label; its 14 songs totaled just 15 minutes. The album featured several songs that Morris had written while in Black Flag. That same year, the group was one of several California punk bands to be immortalized in the Penelope Spheeris documentary The Decline of Western Civilization; live versions of five songs from Group Sex appeared on the movie's soundtrack.
In late 1980, the group signed with IRS Records subsidiary Faulty Products and recorded their second album, Wild in the Streets, released in 1982. The title track was a cover version of a song by Garland Jeffreys. Faulty Products ceased operations several months after its release, forcing Circle Jerks to seek their third record deal in as many years. While they regained the copyright to Wild in the Streets, the original stereo master tape was lost, forcing the band to remix it from the multi-track tapes when they reissued the album in 1988.
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