Listening to this record is like getting run over by an audio locomotive. It's perfect for when you have a lot of anger you want to get out. At the very least, you pulsate along with the pounding beat. If you know the words and can scream along, that can purge a lot of pent-up aggression.

There was a lot of buzz about Fear - The Record when it came out in 1982 on Slash records. By this time I was producing the "New Generation" radio show on WKZL. The challenge was finding songs I didn't have to cut words out of (by turning off the volume pot when I knew they were coming up).

Do you remember when they were on Saturday Night Live? I think it was Halloween 1982. I remember John Belushi making a guest appearance to introduce the band. For some reason, Belushi reminded me of Fear singer Lee Ving. The scene was total chaos. Fear had brought in a bunch of mohawked slam dancers, who eventually trashed the set. At the end one of them picked up a mic and started saying some bad words live on the air. As rad as SNL could be at times, nothing was like this.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the beach and saw where the Bob Woodward book about John Belushi was sitting on the shelf. It's called "Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi."

I read this book when it first came out 20 years ago and decided to read it again. There is a lot written about Belushi's obsession with Fear.

Belushi and Derf Scratch used to hang out a lot. (Derf was around during Belushi's final days.) While Belushi was making the movie "Neighbors" (with Dan Ackroyd), he pushed very hard to get the producers to let Fear write music for the movie. There were several scenes of Belushi going into these execs' offices and blasting a tape of Fear at high volume.

I really like Bob Woodward's writing style; I have read several of his books. His portrayal of Fear, however, is not exactly flattering. I'm not saying that it necessarily should be. But as a fan of this record, my opinion differs from Woodward's and others quoted in the book.

It was quite interesting to read the Belushi book again, especially with 20/20 hindsight. But that's another essay for another day.

-- June 21, 2005 (DD)