tredicielupo:

FEAR on SNL in 81.  Look closely and you’ll see Mackaye and Belushi throwing fists in there.

Ok, so I’m old. I watched this live on Halloween 1981 in my cousin’s living room in South Philly. He thought it was the craziest thing he’d ever seen — and I new I’d found my calling.

The backstory to this appearance is legendary: Belushi agreed to return for one night to SNL to do a cameo, if they agreed to book his favorite band…FEAR. Producer Mike O’Donohue shipped a bunch of punks for the audience to liven things up. This included Henry Rollins and Ian Mackaye (who can be heard shouting “New York sucks!” before “New York’s Alright if you Like Saxaphones”).

As soon as Fear started a near-riot erupted. The producers cut the live feed, screen actually went black for several seconds, and they came up with footage from soundcheck. In the intervening 30 years (!) they never have rebroadcast this episode, and this footage is very hard to find. Youtube pulls it down after a few days every time it surfaces, presumably at SNL’s insistence.

As for me, I immediately set out to find more about FEAR. I caught “the Decline of Western Civilization” documentary shortly afterward, and FEAR became emblazoned on the back of my jean jacket for years to come, and my own band covered “i Don’t Care About You” regularly. I was lucky enough eventually to see FEAR in their original lineup live at the 9:30 Club and again years later at the Black Cat, both in DC. Long live Lee Ving, and RIP J.B.