Redd Kross

Inspired as much by breakfast cereal and kiddie TV as by rock music, the punk-pop cult band Redd Kross was the brainchild of Steve and Jeff Mcdonald, brothers from the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne (also home of The Beach Boys) who began playing music together before either had hit puberty. Fueled by a series of dubious visits to famed area rock clubs like the Roxy and the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, they formed their first band, The Tourists, in 1978; Jeff, then 15, handled vocal duties while Steve, 11, took up the bass.



After rounding out the group with schoolmates Greg Hetson on guitar and Ron Reyes on drums, The Tourists played their first gig, opening for Black Flag. Following a name change to Red Cross, they issued their self-titled EP debut in 1980. After the departure of Hetson and Reyes (for The Circle Jerks and Black Flag, respectively), the McDonalds enlisted a revolving line-up of underground musicians for their full-length follow-up, 1981's Born Innocent, which found the group's pop-culture obsessions bubbling over on tributes like "Linda Blair" and "Charlie" (about Charles Manson, whose "Cease to Exist" they also covered).

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