THE QUEERS

The Queers are an American punk rock / pop-punk band formed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1981 by Joseph “Joe” P. King—better known as Joe Queer—with early partners including Tulu and Wimpy Rutherford. After an early-’80s false start, Queer rebuilt the project and locked in the band’s trademark: fast Ramones-derived pogo punk, snotty teenage lyrics, and beer-soaked humor that stayed teenage even as the lineup rotated for decades.

Their notability jumped with Grow Up (1990) and especially Lookout! Records’ Love Songs for the Retarded (1993), then peak-velocity albums like Don’t Back Down (1996) and Pleasant Screams (2002). Later eras kept the same no-frills attack, including the all-covers set Reverberation (2021). Joe Queer remains the constant through roughly forty members over the years. Expect breakneck pop-punk and East Coast punk history when The Queers hit club stages and European festival runs.