Destroy All Monsters (band)
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Destroy All Monsters was an influential
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band existing from 1973 to 1985, with sporadic performances since. Their music touched on elements of punk rock,
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
, heavy metal and
noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
with a heavy dose of
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
. Their music was described by Lester Bangs as "anti-rock". They earned a measure of notoriety due to members of
The Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave ...
and
MC5 MC5, also commonly called The MC5, is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The original line-up consisted of Rob Tyner (vocals) Wayne Kramer (guitar), Fred "Sonic" Smith (guitar), Michael Davis (bass), and Dennis ...
joining the band, and
Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
singer/guitarist
Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...
compiling a three
compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
set of the group's music in 1994.


History


Early years

Formed in 1973, the first edition of Destroy All Monsters was formed by
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
art students Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Niagara, and filmmaker Cary Loren. They performed in the Ann Arbor area from 1973–1976, and their only release was a one-hour cassette of their recordings available only through ''Lightworks'' magazine. Their early music was influenced by
Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...
,
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,
ESP-Disk ESP-Disk is a New York-based record company and label founded in 1963 by lawyer Bernard Stollman. History Though it originally existed to release Esperanto-based music, beginning with its second release (Albert Ayler's ''Spiritual Unity''), ESP b ...
,
monster movie A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under ...
s, beat culture and
futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
. Their sound was experimental, abrasive, psychedelic, darkly humorous and droning. On New Year's Eve of 1973, the first Destroy All Monsters concert was held at a comic book convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At the time the instruments were two guitars with an echoplex and fuzz box, a drum kit played by Mission of Burma's
Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping Country music, country and pop hits "King of the Road (song), Ki ...
, tape loops, a
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
, a sax, a
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and a coffee can. They performed a demented version of
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
's "Iron Man" and were asked to leave after ten minutes. The group performed "guerilla style", setting up free at parties and playing for food along Ann Arbor's frat row. They used modified instruments, a drum machine, tape loops, toys, cheap keyboards and broken electronic devices. Aside from the comic convention, the group's only formal gig in this era was at the Halloween Ball at the University of Michigan art school in 1976. Kelley and Shaw left the band during the summer of 1976 to attend graduate school at
CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bot ...
in Los Angeles, California. Both have gone on to lead successful solo careers in the art world. Their work is held in major collections around the world.


New personnel

In 1977, Niagara and Loren recruited guitarist Larry Miller and saxophonist
Ben Miller Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two serie ...
; both had been in the short-lived
Sproton Layer Sproton Layer was an American rock and roll group formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the late 1960s. Their music was mostly hard rock with psychedelic touches. It was composed of bass guitarist, singer and primary songwriter Roger Miller and his you ...
(as drummer and guitarist respectively) with their brother
Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping Country music, country and pop hits "King of the Road (song), Ki ...
(who later went on to co-found
Mission of Burma Mission of Burma was an American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, Peter Prescott on drums, and Martin Swope contributing audiotape manipulation and acting as ...
). They invited Mike (Jett) Powers on bass but he soon left for Harvard University. Not long after, members of two important Detroit-based groups signed on: guitarist
Ron Asheton Ronald Franklin Asheton (July 17, 1948 – c. January 6, 2009) was an American musician , who was best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the Stooges along with Iggy Pop and his brother, ...
, earlier of
The Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave ...
, and bass guitarist Michael Davis of the
MC5 MC5, also commonly called The MC5, is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The original line-up consisted of Rob Tyner (vocals) Wayne Kramer (guitar), Fred "Sonic" Smith (guitar), Michael Davis (bass), and Dennis ...
. Their presence garnered the group more attention than ever before. Shortly thereafter, Ron asked drummer Rob King to join the band (replacing Roger Miller, who had filled the spot on a temp basis). In 1978, Destroy All Monsters were preparing to release "Bored", their first official recording, when the group began to really accelerate. Niagara by then ended her relationship with Loren in favor of a new relationship with Asheton; Loren quickly was fired from the group. Soon after the Miller brothers also left after the DAM's Halloween show at EMU, in 1978. The "Bored"/"You’re Gonna Die" single earned major attention in the UK music press, and a major 35 gig tour of the U.K. followed and the band was able to capitalize on the notoriety.


Later developments and reunion

Niagara and Ron Asheton continued touring and recording with Michael Davis releasing a total of four 7" singles on the IDBI label. Between 1982 and 1984, Destroy All Monsters toured nationally. Personnel: Rob King on drums, Mike Davis on bass, Ron Asheton on guitar, and Niagara on vocals. DAM made friends with the Ramones and Dead Boys during this period. The three bands would take turns opening for each other in New York, Detroit and Philadelphia shows. DAM became the house band for Second Chance (Ann Arbor) and Bookies (Detroit) during these early Punk times. In May 1983, the band recorded and videotaped a song called "Make Mine Japanese." Released in December 1983, this video can now be seen on-line. The Monsters broke up in 1985. The DAM singles were released by Cherry Red Records on CD. In 1994, Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Byron Coley and Thurston Moore compiled a three-CD boxed set of DAM music, artwork and extensive liner notes as ''Destroy All Monsters: 1974–1976'' on Moore's
Ecstatic Peace! Ecstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 in music, 1981 by American musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The label name is borrowed from a line in Tom Wolfe's 1968 nonf ...
label. The original lineup (Kelley, Loren, Niagara and Shaw) reformed for reunion shows in 1995 at the Magic Bag in Detroit, Spaceland in Los Angeles, and Bodies in San Diego. Six issues of ''Destroy All Monsters Magazine'' (1976–1979) were edited by Cary Loren and published with added DAM student artwork, flexi disc and history in the book ''Destroy All Monsters: Geisha This'' (1995). Four VHS tapes of DAM films directed by Loren were also issued between 1995-1996; ''Grow Live Monsters'', ''Clear Day'', ''Shake a LIzard Tail or Rust Belt Rump'' and ''Strange Früt: Rock Apochrypha.'' An exhibition of DAM artwork was shown in 1995 at the Book Beat gallery. A live CD, ''Silver Wedding Anniversary'', resulted from the reunion concerts and was released in 1996 on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label and included performance highlights from the reunion shows. In 1996, the group performed in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. A display of DAM artwork was held at the Deep Gallery in Tokyo. DAM soon began work on the installation and film known as ''Strange Früt: Rock Apochrypha'', an investigation of Detroit culture. This exhibition was first shown at "I Rip You, You Rip Me" festival, a series of exhibitions, performances, symposiums, and workshops examining the radical subculture and music scene of Detroit in the late sixties and early seventies, and was held at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and Nighttown, curated by artists Ben Schot and Ronald Cornelissen. ''Strange Früt: Rock Apochrypha'' was exhibited at and completed in 2000 at COCA (Center on Contemporary Art) in Seattle, WA., and at ''Artists Take On Detroit'' (2001) exhibition held at the Detroit Institute of Arts. This work was also selected for inclusion in the 2002 Whitney Biennial of Art in NYC. In 2006, the ''Strange Früt'' exhibition and the band's archives traveled to the Magasin Center for Contemporary Art in Grenoble, France. DAM performed at the ''All Tomorrow's Parties'' festivals in Los Angeles as guest artists of Sonic Youth, and in London, UK as guest artists selected by Dino and Jake Chapman. A selection of the band's archives was on exhibition as part of the ''Theater Without Theater'' show at MACBA in Barcelona, Spain opening May 25, 2007. The exhibit traveled to
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, Portugal in the fall of that year. Since 1995, the band has released five full-length CDs on their own label(s) he End is Here ''Radio Teardrop'' (1996), ''Backyard Monster Tube and Pig'' (1998), ''Swamp Gas'' (2001), and on ompound Annex ''Detroit Oratorio'' (2003), ''Destroy All Monsters: Live in Tokyo'' (2003). A reprint of the first six issues of DAM Magazine, with added band artwork, history, poster and a flexi disc was published by Book Beat and DAP Artbooks in 1995 as ''Destroy All Monsters: Geisha This'', and reprinted in three different editions. A DVD of selected DAM films was released in 2007 by MVD video as: ''Grow Live Monsters'' featuring early 8 mm and 16 mm films directed by Cary Loren from 1971–1976. Ron Asheton died on January 1, 2009, aged 60, of an apparent heart attack. In 2009 the Printed Matter bookstore in NYC mounted the Destroy All Monsters exhibit ''Hungry for Death'' curated by James Hoff and Cary Loren featuring the group's collected work. The exhibition toured to White Flag Projects in St Louis, 0047 in Oslo, SPACE Gallery in London, The American Academy in Rome, Italy, Galerie 1m3 in Lausanne, Switzerland, AMP Gallery in Athens, Greece (2010), galerie du jour agnès b in Paris, France (2011) and the Boston University Art Gallery (2011). To coincide with the ''Hungry for Death'' exhibition Printed Matter released a 1975 recording ''Double Sextet'' as a vinyl album. The band also re-released the ''Destroy All Monsters: 1974–1976'' compilation on CD, without booklet, in a limited edition of 1000. In 2011, the Boston University Art Gallery released the catalog ''Hungry for Death: Destroy All Monsters,'' with essays by Byron Coley and Branden Joseph. This catalog included a detailed discography and a CD titled ''Get Out of My Bedroom'' of unreleased DAM music spanning over thirty years of band history. A facsimile reprint of ''the Destroy All Monsters Magazine 1976–1979'' was published by Primary Information in May, 2011. An exhibition curated by Mike Kelley and Dan Nadel titled ''Return of the Repressed: Destroy All Monsters 1973-1977'' showing work by Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Cary Loren and Niagara opened at PRISM in Los Angeles on November 19, 2011 and ran through January 7, 2012. Accompanying the exhibition was a catalog published by PRISM and PictureBox, edited by Mike Kelley and Dan Nadel with an essay by Nicole Rudick. Mike Kelley was found dead in
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, on February 1, 2012, aged 57, having committed suicide. Sixteen days later, on February 17, 2012, Michael Davis died of liver failure, aged 68.


Discography


Albums

* 1975 – ''Greatest Hits'' (cassette only) * 1995 – ''Destroy All Monsters 1974–1976'' *1996 – ''Radio Teardrop'' * 1996 – ''Silver Wedding Anniversary'' * 1998 – ''Pig or Backyard Monster Tube'' * 2001 – ''Swamp Gas'' * 2002 – ''Detroit Oratorio'' * 2003 – ''Live in Tokyo'' * 2009 – ''Sextet'' (1975, vinyl only) * 2009 – ''Destroy all Monsters 1974–1976'' (triple album reissue) *2011 – ''Get Out of My Bedroom!''


Live albums

* 2002 – ''The Detroit Oratorio'' (live) * 2003 – ''Live in Tokyo & Osaka''


Videos

* 1996 – ''Shake a Lizard Tail or Rust Belt Rump'' (VHS) * 1996 – ''Clear Day: DAM Live'' (VHS) * 1998 – ''Strange Fruit'' (VHS) * 2007 – ''Grow Live Monsters'' (DVD reissue from 1995 VHS)


Singles

* 1978 – "Bored"/"You’re Gonna Die" * 1978 – ''Days of Diamonds'' EP * 1979 – "Nov. 22"/"Meet The Creeper" * 1979 – "What Do I Get?"/"Nobody Knows" * 1995 – "My Cowboy Hero/ I'm Bored/ Calling All Girls" (1974) * 1996 – "Killing Me Softly/ Detroit Rock City" * 1997 – "Attack of the Chiggers/ Typical Girl" (1974) * 1998 – "Paranoid of Blonds / Take Me With You"


References


External links

* Cary Loren
a manifesto of ignorance: destroy all monsters
* Mike Kelley

* Niagara: ttp://www.niagaradetroit.com/ Niagaraland* Destroy All Monsters on Myspace
Destroy All Monsters Myspace
* Destroy All Monsters Magazine
Destroy All Monsters Book
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Destroy All Monsters Protopunk groups American art rock groups Punk rock groups from Michigan Musical groups from Detroit American experimental musical groups American noise rock music groups Cherry Red Records artists 1973 establishments in Michigan