Conceived and birthed in the homogenous suburbs of Chicago, Screeching Weasel have been at it for almost forty years.Formed in 1986 by lead singer/songwriter Benjamin Foster—who soon took the nom de plume Ben Weasel—Screeching Weasel’s first, self-titled album earned airplay on John Peel’s radio show, a glowing review in NME, and a 10/10 in Sounds. 1988’s BoogadaBoogadaBoogada, released on a small bedroom label out of Chicago, immediately went into heavy rotation on every turntable in the punk universe. It remains the band’s best-selling album and a staple of the punk diet.Boogada caught the attention of Lookout Records, who made the band their first signing from outside the San Francisco Bay Area. My Brain Hurts, released in 1991, cemented the band’s status as one of the premier bands of the pop-punk genre, along with labelmates Green Day and the Queers.
