The Circle Jerks consists of Greg Hetson (guitarist), Keith Clark (percussionist, drummer), Keith Morris (vocalist), Zander Schloss (bassist).
For the masturbatory practice see mutual masturbation.
The Circle Jerks were a punk rock band formed circa 1979 in Los Angeles, California. Lead vocalist Keith Morris was an original member of Black Flag, co-founding the band with Greg Ginn and recording the Nervous Breakdown EP with them before suddenly departing the group in 1979. Morris formed the Circle Jerks along with guitarist Greg Hetson, bassist Roger Rogerson (formerly a classically trained guitarist), and drummer Lucky Lehrer. They, along with such bands as Black Flag and Bad Religion, were among the preeminent punk bands of the L.A. scene in the early '80s.
Their debut album, Group Sex was released in 1980 on the Frontier Records label; its fourteen songs totaled out at fifteen minutes total (Which featured some songs, that the Circle Jerks "stole" from Black Flag and Red Cross [Red Kross]). That same year, the group was one of several California punk bands to be immortalized in the Penelope Spheeris documentary The Decline of Western Civilization; live versions of four songs from Group Sex appear on the movie's soundtrack album.
In 1981, the group signed with IRS Records subsidiary Faulty Products and recorded their sophomore release, Wild In The Streets, the title track of which is a cover version of a Garland Jeffries tune. Faulty Products ceased operations several months after the release of the album, forcing the Circle Jerks to find their third record deal in as many years. While they regained the copyright to Wild In The Streets, the original stereo master tape was lost, forcing the band to do a remix from the multi-track tapes when they reissued the album, along with Group Sex, on CD in 1988.
