Circle Jerks

About Circle Jerks

The Circle Jerks formed in 1979 when Keith Morris quit Black Flag after recording their first EP. He'd been drinking too much, missed a show, and Greg Ginn kicked him out. Morris linked up with guitarist Greg Hetson, and they decided to start something faster, tighter, and more deliberately obnoxious than what anyone else was doing.

Their debut album, Group Sex, came out in 1980 and ran for just fifteen minutes. Fourteen songs, most under ninety seconds, all adrenaline and spite. Morris had a snarl that made Johnny Rotten sound refined, and the band played like they had a bus to catch. Tracks like "Deny Everything" and "Live Fast Die Young" became hardcore templates, proving you didn't need three minutes to make a point. The album cost about a thousand dollars to record and became one of the defining documents of Los Angeles punk.

They followed it up quickly. Wild in the Streets arrived in 1982, with slightly longer songs but the same manic energy. The title track sampled the old exploitation movie, and "Coup d'Etat" showed they could write political songs without sounding like a manifesto. Golden Shower of Hits came next in 1983, half originals and half covers, including their version of "Afternoon Delight" that turned yacht rock into a sneer.

The mid-eighties brought lineup changes and a gradual shift. Wonderful came out in 1985, produced by Pete Townshend's brother, which should tell you they were trying something different. The songs got longer, more structured. Some fans thought they'd sold out. Others just thought they'd grown up a little.

By 1987's VI, the band was incorporating metal influences and slower tempos. It confused people who wanted another Group Sex, but it showed range. They broke up in 1990, exhausted and broke, having spent a decade playing basements and small clubs while influencing bands who'd go on to sell millions.

They reunited in the mid-nineties because bills don't pay themselves. Oddities, Abnormalities and Curiosities came out in 1995, showing they still had teeth. More breakups and reunions followed. Morris kept busy with OFF!, his even more stripped-down hardcore project. Hetson spent years playing guitar for Bad Religion, which made sense since he'd been doing that simultaneously through most of the Circle Jerks' original run anyway.

These days they're back together again, playing festivals where bands they influenced are also on the bill. They're older, slower between songs, but still capable of making fifteen minutes feel like chaos. Morris still has that bark, and the songs still work because they were never about perfection. Group Sex got reissued multiple times because people keep discovering that sometimes fifteen minutes is exactly enough.

Circle Jerks shows are violent, chaotic affairs where the pit is mandatory and the crowd is genuinely hostile. Keith Morris stalks the stage like he's looking for a fight. People dive, collide, and get up to do it again. It's not entertainment theater—it's confrontation.

Known for I Don't Care, Group Sex, Golden Shower of Hits, Religious Vomit, Deny Everything

See Circle Jerks Live