The Jesus Lizard

It’s impossible to talk about noise rock—that hard-to-define, instantly identifiable amalgam of punk, metal, indie rock and industrial—without discussing The Jesus Lizard, the Chicago group whose ’90s run is synonymous with the style’s heyday. The founding lineup of singer David Yow, bassist David Sims and guitarist Duane Denison first came together out of the ashes of the chaotic Austin, TX band Scratch Acid in 1987; following a move to Chicago, the trio recorded its debut EP, 1989’s Pure, with a drum machine. (Drummer Mac McNeilly subsequently joined the band.) That EP kicked off a longstanding relationship with Chicago’s Touch & Go label and producer Steve Albini, who went on to record their canonical albums Head (1990), Goat (1991), Liar (1992), and Down (1994). Those records are legendary for their intensity: maelstroms of atonal guitar and lumbering rhythm section pummeling away beneath Yow’s unhinged screams. Following a pair of LPs for Capitol in the late ’90s, the band split, but the monumental sound they forged lives on in countless bands making a beautiful racket out of the ugliest sounds they can manage.