Screeching Weasel started in 1986, a few weeks after Ben Weasel saw the Ramones play. It's really too bad that more bands today can't boast such proper beginnings, because we could all use a little more "Hey Ho!" and a little less MySpace. Alas Well, according to Ben, "Jughead and I got together and put together the songs I'd been working on for a year. We played to crowds of three and five people inside dingy bars owned by men of questionable reputation." It's far from the glamorous punk scene (I'm talking about "fashion-core" and "nu-emo") that is so prevalent today. But that's how it was done back then: music that was both dangerous and urgent made by kids who were genuine outcasts. Their punk rock smacked of sincerity, desperation, and provocation.

Who knows where all these other bands went wrong, but that doesn't matter because we still have Screeching Weasel. And subsequent generations of punks will have them too if Fat Wreck Chords has any say in the matter. Thus is the rationale behind their latest Fat release entitled Weasel Mania (A tip of the cap no doubt to the band that first inspired Ben all those years ago). Whether you grew up with 80's punk like Minor Threat and Dead Kennedys, or got introduced to the scene because the mid-90's second wave punk boom, Screeching Weasel is the underground's equivalent to a household name and one of the very few bands deserving of the title "essential".

With the help of the seminal punk label, Lookout Records, the band went on to produce one of the genre's most impressive catalogs; records like Boogadaboogadaboogada, Anthem For A New Tomorrow, and the tremendously influential My Brain Hurts. Because of the huge impression they made on the scene many consider them synonymous with pivotal bands such as Jawbreaker, Fugazi, Operation Ivy, and Green Day. Just as those bands had their distinctions, SW will always be defined by their signature traits: buzzsaw guitars, double-time beats, antagonistic lyrics, and snotty melodies. Such is their legacy. The band went on lotsa tours, went through lotsa bassists (Green Day's Mike Dirnt, among them), drank lotsa beer, had lotsa break-ups, and thankfully, lotsa reunions.

After 15 years, the band split for a final time in 2001. The members continue to make music with other bands and projects and both Ben Weasel and Jughead have written and published novels. The band reunited briefly in 2004 to play a short set at a Chicago club but have no plans to reunite again.