The Dickies

For the Dickies, punk rock wasn't a way to vent anger, it was a way to make fun of things. More than anything, the Los Angeles quartet was distinguished by their simplistic, nearly moronic, sense of humor. Basing their musical attack as well as their lyrical obsessions on early Ramones records, the Dickies played a speedy, hooky variation on standard three-chord rock, singing ludicrous, campy songs about the "Attack of the Mole Men." In addition to their wacky originals, the group recorded zany, jokey covers of rock & roll classics like "Paranoid," "Eve of Destruction," and "Communication Breakdown," as well as oddities like "Eep Opp Ork (Uh, Uh)," a pseudo-rockabilly number from a Jetsons episode.

The Dickies formed after the initial punk explosion of 1977. The band comprised vocalist Leonard Graves Phillips, guitarist Stan Lee, bassist Billy Club, keyboardist Chuck Wagon, and drummer Karlos Kaballero — all of the names were assumed, of course. Two years later, the group released their debut album, The Incredible Shrinking Dickies, on A&M Records.

Throughout their career, the Dickies only deviated slightly from the fast and catchy punk of their debut — their earlier records leaned toward the Californian hardcore punk that was popular at the time, while the later records slow down a little, approaching heavy metal territory. Over the course of six albums between 1979 and 1989, the group's audience never grew beyond a cult following. With echoes of their music heard in Green Day's multi-platinum 1994 hit album Dookie, the Dickies returned to action in 1998 with Dogs from the Hare That Bit Us; Still Live Even If You Don't Want Us came out the following year and they kept the ball rolling with their release of Stukas Over Disneyland in 2000.. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine