The Dickies

Forty years ago, a group of insolently sarcastic teenagers from the San Fernando Valley performed their first show at the Whisky. At a time when many of the early punks were competing to see who could be more violently self-destructive, The Dickies were refreshingly absurd, penning rudely silly yet terminally catchy odes to Barney Rubble, Marlon Brando, Caligula and Sammy Davis Jr. that were juxtaposed with oddly exhilarating, supersonic-paced remakes of ancient tunes by The Moody Blues, The Left Banke and Black Sabbath. Much like the narrator of “Tears of a Clown,” these cutups have often disguised their own tragic history of suicide and personal struggles with wickedly clownish behavior.