Happy Go Licky was an American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band formed in the spring of 1987, and which broke up after their final show at

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

's 9:30 Club on New Year's Day in 1988. The group was a short-lived reunion of the renowned D.C. hardcore band

Rites of Spring Rites of Spring was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1983. Along with Embrace, and Beefeater, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark (Soft Skull ...

(active from 1984 to 1986). Though comprising the same personnel as Rites of Spring (

Eddie Janney Edward Janney is an American musician, producer and artist who has played guitar for many Washington, D.C.-based hardcore punk bands such as Untouchables, The Faith, Rites of Spring, One Last Wish, Happy Go Licky, Skewbald/Grand Union and Brie ...

and

Guy Picciotto Guy Charles Picciotto ( ) (born September 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC. He is best known as the guitarist and vocalist in Fugazi and Rites of Spring. Career Rites of Spring ...

on guitar and vocals; Mike Fellows on bass and vocals;

Brendan Canty Brendan John Canty (born March 9, 1966, in Teaneck, New Jersey) is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi. In 2007, ''Stylus Magazine'' ranked Canty at #29 on the list of "50 Gre ...

on drums), their music was vastly different from their earlier incarnation. Happy Go Licky was far more

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

, often incorporating

tape loop In music, tape loops are loops of magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound when played on a tape recorder. Originating in the 1940s with the work of Pierre Schaeffer, they were used among cont ...

s and sound effects into their live performances; additionally, their songs were often largely or entirely improvised, and featured unusual structures. Their short life span did not allow Happy Go Licky to ever get into a recording studio; however some taped live performances were initially released in 1988 as a self-titled 12-inch on Picciotto's own Peterbilt Records. Later a larger selection of their performances was assembled and released on

Dischord Records Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idle ...

as ''Will Play'' (1997).

References

Punk rock groups from Washington, D.C. Dischord Records artists American post-hardcore musical groups {{US-punk-band-stub