Circle Jerks

<p>Any band that hammers along for 43 years should be praised. But for a hardcore outfit that first seethed “I don’t wanna live / To be thirty-four / I don’t wanna die / In a nuclear war” 42 years ago on their 1980 debut&nbsp;<em>Group Sex</em>, pushing on for over four decades is a bit of a miracle. The Circle Jerks should be honored with a skanking statue in their hometown of Hermosa Beach, California.</p><p>“If you would’ve told me in my 20s that I’d be in a seminal hardcore-punk band in my 60s, I would’ve said ‘you’re fucking crazy, dude! I’m going to be dead by that time,’” jokes longtime Circle Jerks bassist Zander Schloss. “Now I say, live slow, die old!”</p><p>The Circle Jerks were formed in 1979 by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and ex-Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. (Hetson has also been a member of another seminal SoCal punk rock band,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/rig-rundown-bad-religion" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bad Religion</a>, from 1984-2013.) They were joined by bassist Roger Rogerson and drummer Lucky Lehrer.&nbsp;<em>Group Sex</em>&nbsp;is one of the most important albums in the first swell of hardcore. It’s worth noting that the 14-song collection was crammed into less than 16 minutes of tape. Tasmanian devil Morris raged his commentary on sex, drugs, politics, the rich, and even self-reflection. His bandmates redlined to keep up. Hetson’s swift, stabbing guitar parts pierced and slit through the slamming, double-time rhythmic pistons that were Lehrer and Rogerson.</p><p>Their 1982 follow-up,&nbsp;<em>Wild in the Streets</em>, contained five songs over two minutes long and three covers (“Wild in the Streets,” “Just Like Me,” and “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”), but all 15 tunes were still laced together with the same frenetic guitar bursts and rambunctious rhythms of&nbsp;<em>Group Sex</em>. The last of their most-influential works was 1983’s&nbsp;<em>Golden Shower</em>&nbsp;<em>of Hits</em>, which alternated between short, melodic mayhem and