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Never heard of Fear.
But due to a series of weird circumstances I found myself in the mosh pit at a Dead Kennedys performance once.

I managed to escape to the bar where I ordered a martini and got a VERY hostile (”you’re obviously too old & square to be here”) look from the bartender to go with it.

When I leaned back on the bar, I noticed a vaguely familiar middle-aged woman on the barstool beside mine. I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen her before.

Both of us were people-watching the punk-ish crowd when a clanking, safety-pin-in-cheeks studded, leather-clad guy with a nine-foot-high day-glo green Mohawk stomped by.

The woman turned to me and said, “Jeeeeez! These KIDS! Did you see THAT?”

And just like that, I recognized her.
It was Grace Slick.

True story. LOL.

Fear came out of LA and made an impression on John Belushi. He tried getting a song of Fear's in one of his films. When that didn't happen, Belushi got them a slot on SNL.

Unbeknownst to SNL, Fear had bussed in rabid fans to NYC to mosh/stage dive during the broadcast. They also caused lots of damage - one quote was $200,000 worth of damage, but that may be overblown.

Nonetheless, all this earned them a lifetime ban from SNL (big whoop) and a place in the annals of rock/punk - not just for the raucous performance but things like:

- telling the audience that "it's great to be back in New Jersey,"
- yelling "NEW YORK SUCKS!" during the live broadcast, and
- singing highly inflammatory (in some quarters) songs like "Beef Bologna" and "New York's Alright If You Like Saxaphones" (search for the lyrics...they are epic but here's a sample: New York's alright If you wanna get pushed In front of the subway, New York's alright If you like tuberculosis...).

Interestingly, SNL went to commercial right when Fear started "Let's Have a War" which is in the cult movie "Repo Man" which has a Class A punk soundtrack.

I never saw the Dead Kennedys but Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables should be in the Library of Congress as a Culturally Important work of art. The same should also go for several songs by The Undead but that's because I think Bobby Steele not only rocks but because he got rooked by The Misfits.