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A Brief History of Severe Tire Damage


Teeth

Airport Parking Lots

Always
Severe Tire Damage is mentioned prominently, right next to those gleaming spikes.

Band

Zero

1987
The band Zero releases a song titled "Severe Tire Damage" on their album, "Here Goes Nothin'".

Movies

Vice Academy

1989
In one scene two guys listen to a tape of their favorite rock band: Severe Tire Damage. It was not one of our songs.

Gig

N.W.A.

October 27, 1989
Using the name "N.W.A.", our band makes its first performance.

Gig

Nigels

January 20, 1990
The band changes its name 4 times in one night, still not calling itself Severe Tire Damage.

Gig

Box of Rocks

February 24, 1990
The band goes by another name for this gig.

Comics

Give Me Liberty

1990
By Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons, excerpt from panel text in volume 3: ". . . condemning the growing popularity of the mutant musical group Severe Tire Damage." The artwork bears unusual resemblance to the real band members.

Gig

Oil Supply

August 11, 1990
The band goes by another name for this gig.

Gig

Severe Tire Damage

September 22, 1990
This is the first time that the band performs under the name Severe Tire Damage.

Gig

The Vampire Lestat

October 31, 1990
The band uses a different name for a Halloween performance.

Gig

RU-486

December 31, 1990
The band continues to use different names to be topical and provocative.

Gig

The Creeping Features

October 31, 1991
The band uses a different name for a Halloween performance.

Playboy

Playboy Magazine

September, 1992
Excerpt from "Real Men Don't Bond", by Bruce Feirstein: ". . . Real Men still keep waiting for a band to be named either Republican Guard or Severe Tire Damage." Real men need wait no longer.

MBone Gig

Severe Tire Damage

June 24, 1993
This is the date that Severe Tire Damage makes the first livestreamed performance on the Internet MBone. Performing from the patios of Xerox PARC, the broadcast is seen and heard live as far away as Australia. MBone engineering by Ron Frederick and Steve Deering of the Computer Science Lab at Xerox PARC.

Movies

Mrs. Doubt­fire

1993
In one scene, Robin Williams' character pretends to be a former vocalist for Severe Tire Damage. He was never in the band.

Movies

The Making of '...And God Spoke'

1993
In the mockumentary, fictional production designer Peter Garbone explains his affiliation with the two directors of the movie, by their previous production of music videos of little known bands like "Bjorn Again" and "Severe Tire Damage".

Press

Smith­sonian Maga­zine

September 1994
The infamous article that proposes Severe Tire Damage's drummer as "rock's smartest". If he's so smart, how come he's dead?

Gig

Severe Tire Damage

November 18, 1994
The band returns to the Internet MBone to open for the Rolling Stones. Broadcasting from the Digital Systems Research Center in Palo Alto, Severe Tire Damage plays both before the 7pm PST StoneCast and again at 8:05pm PST, after their performance. Audio engineering was by Ken Beckman, MBone engineering was by Lance Berc, both of Digital's Systems Research Center. There are many comments about Severe Tire Damage's Mcast. If you were there send mail!

Press

Wall Street Journal

November 18, 1994
Mentions MCasts by Severe Tire Damage.

SKY TV

Sky TV

November 19, 1994
Covers the Rolling Stones MCast and the Severe Tire Damage opening act.

Press

The Wash­ington Post

November 19, 1994
Documents the first MCast by Severe Tire Damage.

Press

Sunday Boston Globe

November 20, 1994
Page 1 coverage of Severe Tire Damage's opening act for the Rolling Stones.

Press

Rolling Stones Web Site

November 21, 1994
How the Rolling Stones caught Severe Tire Damage. Coins the now-famous epithet "Furry Palo Alto Geeks".

Press

The New York Times

November 22, 1994
Coverage of Severe Tire Damage's opening act for the Rolling Stones.

Press

Inter­active Age

November 28, 1994
Front page coverage of Severe Tire Damage's opening act for the Rolling Stones.

Press

News­week Maga­zine

December 5, 1994
Mentions Severe Tire Damage and the Rolling Stones in one sentence, comparing them favorably.

Press

Enter­tainment Weekly

December 9, 1994
Passing mention of Severe Tire Damage opening for the Rolling Stones.

Press

Fortune Maga­zine

March 20, 1995
Fortune smiles on the drummer as Mark mentions Severe Tire Damage.

Computer Chronicles

Com­puter Chron­icles

May 2, 1995
Coverage of the band, including interviews with bass and drummer.

Press

The Cheifet Letter

June 1995
Mentions how the band opened for the Rolling Stones.

Press

The Red Herring

August 1995
Article by drummer Mark which mentions Severe Tire Damage's weekly MCasts.

Press

The Wash­ington Post

September 13, 1995
Describes the first MCast by Severe Tire Damage, and how the Rolling Stones did it later.

TV

Nano­topia

November 13, 1995
The show pits Mark Weiser against the antiWeiser forces from MIT. At least they let him drum.

C|NET TV

C|Net Central

1996
Severe Tire Damage's tech crew plays with toys. MBone wizard Lance gets a virtual high five from Richard Hart.

Press

The Official Computer Bowl Trivia Book

1996
Asks "What was the first rock group to perform live on the Internet?" If you don't know the answer, stop reading this page.

PBS TV

Using the Internet / Life on the Internet

1996
More band coverage, including the drummer's work.

Press

San Jose Mercury News

May 26, 1996
Reprint of the computer bowl questions, including the $64,000 question: "What was the first rock group to perform live on the Internet?"

Press

The Boston Globe

October 10, 1996
Passing mention of Severe Tire Damage playing for Korean television.

TV

Korea

January 1997
During a 4-hour segment on computers, Severe Tire Damage featured prominently in 3 of them. The subsequent torrent of Korean fan mail has yet to abate.

Nerds

Usenix

January 10, 1997
The band closes a massive computer conference, playing a joint session in our largest gig ever.

Press

Computer­World

February 17, 1997
An article about Mark Weiser fails to mention Severe Tire Damage until the bio at the end.

Press

;login: Newsletter

April 1997
Discusses the Severe Tire Damage performance at USENIX.

Band Photo

Internet Guiden

1997
Full article about the band, with pictures. Now don't you wish you could read Swedish?

The Internet Cafe

The Internet Cafe

1997
Guitarist and vocalist chat about Severe Tire Damage.

TV

C|Net Central

May 3, 1997
Severe Tire Damage provides an opening backdrop for a feature about Mark Manasse and his Millicent scheme for bilking the known universe out of their money.

Press

Wired Maga­zine

May 1997
In an article about drummer Mark, a mention of the hazards of Severe Tire Damage.

Bass Player

Severe Tire Damage

July 26, 1997
Just another performance, but check out Severe Tire Damage's way-cool bass player.

TV

Austrian TV

September 8, 1997
Mark the drummer was invited to a technology/performance art festival in Austria. To warn their countrymen, they sent a video crew to a band dinner. Mark mentions Severe Tire Damage and shows his skills with a cell phone.

Dinner

Konrad Maga­zine

1997
An article mentions how the band eats at Beppos. And does it in German, to boot.

Press

New Media News Online

October 20, 1997
A reporter is amazed at how much sushi and saki the band can consume.

Merc Photo

San Jose Mercury News

November 15, 1997
Front page coverage by Silicon Valley's best newspaper.

TV

New Media News

November 19, 1997
A segment about Severe Tire Damage's illustrious drummer. The band introduces and closes a segment on Mark Weiser, who speaks of calm computing. Of course, the band knows better.

Radio

KFJC 89.7 FM

November 21, 1997
Severe Tire Damage spends 35 minutes on the air with the world's best DJ: Rocket J. Squirrel.

Press

The Wash­ington Post

December 15, 1997
Most geek bands are obscure, but Severe Tire Damage is the "house band of cyberspace".

Merc Photo

San Jose Mercury News

January 6, 1998
Here's an article about Severe Tire Damage's drummer that offers a truly embarrassing photograph.

KFOG

KFOG 97.7 FM

January 29, 1998
Severe Tire Damage breaks into commercial radio with a Spice Girls spoof.

CareerTech

Career­Tech Online

February 2, 1998
Severe Tire Damage teaches bad habits to aspiring engineers.

SF Chronicle

San Fran­cisco Chron­icle

June 23, 1998
Severe Tire Damage heads up a list of geek bands.

Zits Cartoon

Zits comics

August 5, 1998
"Severe Tire Damage" is just another setup for a dumb joke.

Band

They Might Be Giants

1998
Alternative rock group They Might Be Giants releases a live album with the same name as our band. The nerve!

Merc Photo

Windows Refund Day in S.J. Mercury News

Feburary 16, 1999
Severe Tire Damage plays at "Windows Refund Day" and the singer makes rude comments about Microsoft and greed.

Cal State Hayward

Cal State Hayward

March 1, 2000
Severe Tire Damage elucidates to a horrified classroom.

TV

Monk (TV series)

March 10, 2006
In season 4, episode 15 (series episode 59), "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist", Lieutenant Randy Disher temporarily quits the force and devotes himself full time to his high school garage band "The Randy Disher Project". The other band members disagree about the name of the band. One band member suggests "Severe Tire Damage" as a better name for the band.

Press

Wired Maga­zine

June, 2008
In which we are accused of the demise of the recording industry through increased internet distribution.

HOTI

History of the Internet

July, 2014
Severe Tire Damage gets it's own page in the history books.

Press

Master Minds

May 7, 2020
Now that we're merely trivia, a contestant on the game show, "Master Minds" is asked about our band.

Press

LiveVideoStack

August 19, 2022
Even the Chinese are curious about how we became so ridiculous. They interview us remotely.

Press

Rolling Stones

October 7, 2022
A documentary on the Rolling Stones YouTube channel that describes how Severe Tire Damage scooped them on the Internet.

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