Fear formed in 1977 with Lee Ving and Derf Scratch searching for a drummer and eventually a guitarist. They received notoriety for their stage presence and eventually signed a recording deal with Slash Records. As part of the Los Angeles punk scene, the band was featured in Penelope Spheeris' 1980 documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization. The film showed them angering members of the audience with personal attacks and offbeat humor. Singer Lee Ving asked one member of the audience "This is 1980—can't you afford a fucking haircut?" The bass player Derf Scratch tells the joke: Q:"Why do girls have their two holes so close together?" A:"So you can carry them like a six-pack!" The cult classic movie included other well known acts like Black Flag, X, and The Germs.

Spheeris met Ving and drummer Spit Stix when they were hanging handbills on telephone poles. After talking with the two, she abruptly asked if they wanted to be in her film. [1] The band achieved notoriety through the movie and even attracted attention from actor John Belushi while being an unsigned act. The mixture of humor and music demonstrated in the film gave the band a unique personality, which seemed to lack in the later years with several member changes.

The Saturday Night Live affair

Their most famous performance was on the 1981 Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Donald Pleasence. The band was booked at the insistence of John Belushi, who was a huge fan. Belushi initially offered them the soundtrack for his major motion picture Neighbors. The movie studio eventually forced Fear off the project and to make up for it Belushi got them the spot on SNL. Among the politically incorrect nature of Fear's songs, the band's appearance included a coterie of dancers, several of whom had been contacted for the event by both Penelope Spheeris (another avid Fear booster) and Henry Rollins (contrary to popular belief, was not in attendance); among them were Belushi, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat (and later Fugazi), Harley Flanagan and John Joseph of The Cro-mags, and John Brannon of Negative Approach, causing destruction of the set. During rehearsals the director wanted to prevent the dancers from participating, so Belushi offered to be in the episode (it had been a few years since he left SNL) if the dancers were allowed to stay. [2] The end result was the shortening of Fear's appearance on TV. The band first performed "I Don't Care About You". The band started their second performance by saying, "It's great to be in New Jersey", to which the audience booed (the show was filmed in New York). Fear then played "Beef Bologna", "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones", and started to play "Let's Have a War" when the audio and video of the telecast faded into commercial.

After the band's 1982 debut release "The Record," Ving fired long time friend and bass player Derf and replaced him with Flea (who later joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers). Next to leave was guitarist Philo "The Foot" Cramer and drummer Spit Stix after the band's 1985 effort "More Beer." Ving continued his acting career in the late 1980s. Eventually, Fear completed two more recordings in the 1990s, "Have Another Beer With Fear" in 1995 and "American Beer" in 2000. Fear was recently added to play several Southern California stops on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.