John Belushi once who lobbied successfully to get the punk band Fear a spot as a musical guest on the 1981 Halloween episode of his former show Saturday Night Live. Belushi had originally offered Fear the soundtrack for his major motion picture Neighbors. The film’s producers eventually forced Fear off the project, and Belushi got them the infamous SNL gig as compensation. The band’s appearance included a group of slamdancers, among them Belushi, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat (and later Fugazi), Tesco Vee of The Meatmen, Harley Flanagan and John Joseph of the Cro-Mags, and John Brannon of Negative Approach. The show’s director originally wanted to prevent the dancers from participating, so Belushi offered to be in the episode if the dancers were allowed to stay. The end result was the shortening of Fear’s appearance on TV. They started their second song by saying, “It’s great to be in New Jersey”, drawing boos from SNL’s New York live audience. Fear played “I Don’t Care About You”, “Beef Bologna”, “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones”, and started to play “Let’s Have a War” when the telecast faded into commercial.
It wasn’t too long before the slamdancers started treading the boards, the floor, and the set. Cameras, a piano and other property were damaged.
