Effigies

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The Effigies are considered one of the most important early punk rock groups in Chicago in the 1980s. The band, first formed in 1980, was active for approximately a decade, undergoing multiple personnel changes, with frontman John Kezdy the only constant, before disbanding in 1990. The band released 5 LPs and several EPs, most on Ruthless Records and distributed by Enigma. They toured outside of Chicago, notably including a live performance at CBGB in 1983, and received some radio airplay, principally on Northwestern University’s WNUR and other college stations.

The Effigies’ website states that they were one of the first punk bands in Chicago. This is a complicated claim for a band not formed until 1980, but true in the sense that the Chicago market was very late to discover or appreciate punk to any degree; in the half-decade after the The Ramones and The Sex Pistols first released records, Chicago remained dominated by blues, heavy metal, and even disco; punk bands had few places to play, and punk music fans had few places to hear live bands. Chicago’s “progressive” radio station, WXRT, was never very supportive of punk. What most punk fans recall as the first “scene” in Chicago did not occur until the 1980s, when Oz and O’Banion’s provided venues for live punk; Chicago Sun-Times music writer Jim Derogatis correctly terms the heyday of The Effigies “the second generation of Midwestern punks.”

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  • wretched-one

    Get Your Punk Rock Classic's Right Here!!!

    19 Dec 2012 Reply
  • jfon605

    What is with punk/alternative bands being tagged with "headbanger's ball"??

    31 Jan 2011 Reply
  • bethzania

    Just discovered these guys - awesome!

    10 Jul 2010 Reply
  • Afterbirth666

    The Effigies were hardcore punk rock gods to me in HS in the early 80s. I think they got really sick of playing Body Bag....

    24 May 2010 Reply
  • NeverUnderstand

    No love for the Effigies - what the fuck? Classic Chicago punk!

    28 Apr 2010 Reply
  • Simon3rd

    Good shit. REALLY good , underrated shit.

    2 Jan 2010 Reply
  • BlitzzkriegBill

    New album released by Criminal IQ last night. Good times.

    29 Apr 2007 Reply
  • fletcher70

    this is a class album...effigies never sound dated

    25 Jan 2007 Reply