Hard-ons (21st Anniversary Reunion)

Another bias bio! A page rave re. the accolades of another Rock n Roll band! For 20 years this Australian trio has sent shock waves round the world, giving all kinds of folk, one massive hard on. “When the Hard-Ons came on I had a panic attack. I was crying, freaking out, and the medical people had to calm me down." Ben Lee was, as he recalls, "maybe 12" when he had the bejesus scared out of him by punks the Hard-Ons, who were doing a double header with the Celibate Rifles at the Manly Youth Centre. "It was the single most terrifying rock & roll experience I've ever had," Ben Lee Interview – Rolling Stone (Aust.) FACT: The Hard Ons represented and advocated punk metal nearly a decade before the Epitaph label in the US was propelling bands like Offspring, Pennywise, Rancid, Down By Law and NOFX into the mainstream. The Hard-Ons were doing Green Day before Green Day could talk. “Man! These guys are great! I love the fat guy!" IGGY POP - Big Day Out , Perth Aust. FACT: Between 1984 and 1993, they produced an unbeaten run of 17 consecutive #1 independent singles, EP’s & albums. FACT: Grammy Award winning Foo Fighters, The Ramones and The Red Hot Chili Peppers specifically asked for the band as opening act for their respective Australian tours. FACT: On the recent Foo Fighters tour (Jan 2003), frontman Dave Grohl invaded the stage at Melbourne Festival Hall and joined the Hard-Ons for a performance of the old Motorhead classic “Ace Of Spades”! FACT: A German soap star character always wears a Hard-Ons T-shirt and in one show suggested that his depressed mother come to a Hard-Ons' gig to lift her spirits. FACT: In Spain fans are so fanatical they have Hard-Ons tattoos and once when the band arrived at a club in Madrid to be guest DJs for the night they found the place covered wall to wall with murals of Ray's art work. FACT: Sixties' acid punk icon, Sky Saxon of The Seeds came to one of their US shows and asked if the guys would be his backing band on a forthcoming album. FACT: The Fulham Greyhound in London sold out at eight in the evening and reduced the venue to a pool of sweat that a writer for NME likened to "Beirut in a heatwave." Also reviewing the night was Melody Maker who said that "The Hard-Ons are the touch paper and the crowd are the matches." FACT: During Henry Rollins' 1990 Australian tour he joined the band to record a version of AC/DC's Let There Be Rock FACT: On the recommendation of Rollins, the band were asked to open for the at the time immensely popular Red Hot Chili Peppers FACT: Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith did their lights when they toured together for a second time. After that they did another seven New Zealand shows with the Chilli Peppers FACT: In Germany, they headlined over US outfit, the Muffs before 1300, which freaked out the promoters who were only expecting a crowd of between 6-700. FACT: The HARD-ONS DISCOGRAPHY is so long, we’ve had to minimize the font to 7 point Arial to fit it on the page. 1985 Surfin‚ On My Face 7" ep Australia Vi-nil : 1986 Girl in the Sweater 7" single Australia Waterfront : 1986 Smell My Finger 12" minilp Australia Waterfront : 1986 Hard-Ons Album USA Big Time : 1987 All Set to Go 7" single Australia Waterfront : 1987 Busted b/w Suck Œn‚ Swallow 7" single Australia Waterfront : 1987 Hot For Your Love Baby Album Australia Waterfront : 1987 The Worst Of .. Album Europe Vinyl Solution : 1988 Surfin‚ On My Face (reissue) 7" ep Australia Waterfront : 1988 Dickcheese Album Australia Waterfront : 1988 Dickcheese Album Europe Vinyl Solution : 1988 Dickcheese Album USA Taang! : 1988 Just Being With You 7" single Australia Waterfront : 1988 Sick Of Being Sick 7" single Syd/Melb & London (free giveaway) : 1989 Love is a Battlefield Album Australia Waterfront : 1989 Love is a Battlefield Album Europe Vinyl Solution : 1989 Love is a Battlefield Album USA Taang! : 1990 Where Did She Come From? 7" single Australia Waterfront ; 1990 Where Did She Come From? 7" single Europe Vinyl Solution ; 1991 Yummy! Album Australia Waterfront : 1991 Yummy! cd Australia Waterfront : 1991 Yummy! Album Europe Vinyl Solution : 1991 Yummy! Album Japan Teichiiku : 1991 Dull 7" single Australia Waterfront : 1991 Dull 7" single Europe Vinyl Solution : 1991 Dull & Just Being With You 12" ep & cd Europe Vinyl Solution : 1991 Let There Be Rock (w/- Rollins) double 10" Australia Waterfront : 1991 Let There Be Rock (w/- Rollins) cd Australia Waterfront : 1991 Let There Be Rock (w/- Rollins) 12" single & cd Europe Vinyl Solution : 1991 Let There Be Rock (w/- Rollins) 7" single & cd USA C/Z : 1991 Dickcheese & Love is a Battlefield cd Europe Vinyl Solution : 1991 Dickcheese & Love is a Battlefield cd Japan Teichiku : 1991 Smell My Finger & Hot For Your Love cd Japan Teichiku : 1992 Where The Wild Things Are split double 7" & cd Australia Waterfront : 1992 She‚s A Dish cd single Australia Waterfront : 1992 Dateless Dudes Club 8 track minilp Australia Waterfront : 1992 Dateless Dudes Club cd Australia Waterfront : 1993 Crazy Crazy Eyes single Australia Waterfront 1993 Too Far Gone Album Australia Waterfront : 1993 Too Far Gone Album Europe Survival : 1993 Too Far Gone Album USA Skene : 1994 Test 5 track ep Australia Waterfront : 1994 A Decade of Rock double cd Australia Waterfront : 1994 Singles cd Australia Waterfront : 1994 Smell My Finger & Hot For Your Love cd Australia Waterfront : 1994 Dickcheese cd Australia Waterfront : 1994 Love is a Battlefield cd Australia Waterfront : 1995 Hard-Ons Live album Europe Your Choice : 1999 The Best Of cd Australia/Europe Citadel : 1999 Yesterday & Today cd ep Australia One Way St. : 1999 The Best Of double album Germany Radio Blast : 1999 You Disappointed Me 7" single Germany Radio Blast :1999 Sharks Head 7" single Spain Munster : 2000 This Terrible Place Album – Chatterbox Records Australia : 2001 This Terrible Place Album – Bad Taste Records Europe & UK