Severe Tire Damage (band)

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Severe Tire Damage is a rock and roll "garage" band from Palo Alto, California. The band members worked for a number of high-tech companies in the Silicon Valley.

Severe Tire Damage would be an utterly unremarkable band if it weren't for the fact that they were the first band to perform live on the Internet. This happened on June 24, 1993^[1]. The band was playing a gig at Xerox PARC, while elsewhere in the building, scientists were discussing new technology (the MBone) for broadcasting on the Internet using multicasting. As proof of their technology, the band was broadcast and could be seen live in Australia and elsewhere.

This insignificant piece of technological foolishness would have remained just that, were it not for the Rolling Stones who decided (over a year later, on November 19, 1994) to broadcast one of their concert tours on the Internet. Before their broadcast, Severe Tire Damage returned to the Internet, this time becoming the "opening act" for the Stones. Instead of an obscure Australian researcher, the entire world press was watching this time, and Severe Tire Damage was elevated from obscurity to Warholian fame.

Newsweek magazine described Severe Tire Damage as being "a lesser known rock band"^[2]. The New York Times quoted the Rolling Stones thusly: "the surprise opening act by Severe Tire Damage was a good reminder of the democratic nature of the Internet." ^[3].

Contents 1 Band Members 2 Music 3 A Funny Name for a Band 4 A Spinal Tap Experience 5 References

[edit] Band Members

Although Severe Tire Damage had many members, there are 4 who carried the band through the most interesting years:

• Russ Haines played guitar, and worked at Digital Equipment Corporation.

• Mark Manasse played bass, and worked at Digital Equipment Corporation.

• Steven Rubin was the singer, and worked at Apple Computer.

• Mark Weiser was the drummer, and was Chief Technologist at Xerox PARC.

[edit] Music

Besides performing rock and roll standards, they wrote a number of original songs that run the range from rock to punk. These songs appears on their two albums: "Who Cares" (a full CD album) and "Trial Starter Kit" (a mini-CD with only 5 songs). In the interest of increased distribution, all of their songs also appear (in full MP3 format) on their website (http://www.std.org).

[edit] A Funny Name for a Band

Bands with the name Severe Tire Damage appear in the literature many times:

• 1988: Vice Academy. In one scene two guys listen to a tape of their favorite rock band: Severe Tire Damage.
• 1990: Give Me Liberty by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons. A panel in volume 3 states: ". . . condemning the growing popularity of the mutant musical group Severe Tire Damage."
• 1992: Real Men Don't Eat Quiche by Bruce Feirstein. One example of "real men" is: "Real Men still keep waiting for a band to be named either Republican Guard or Severe Tire Damage."
• 1993: Mrs. Doubtfire. In one scene, Robin Williams' character pretends to be a former vocalist for Severe Tire Damage.
• 1998: Zits (comic strip). Severe Tire Damage is just another setup for a dumb joke.
• 2006: Monk (TV series). Season 4, episode 15 (series episode 59), "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist", Lieutenant Randy Disher temporarily quits the force and devotes himself full time to his high school garage band "The Randy Disher Project". The other band members disagree about the name of the band. One band member suggests Severe Tire Damage as a better name for the band.

Keep in mind that the real Severe Tire Damage first performed in 1990, so although some of these references predate the band, most of them came later. The band was unaware of the previous references and came up with the name on its own. And given the relative obscurity of the band, it is more than likely that the references that came later also came up with the name on their own. It's just a funny name.

[edit] A Spinal Tap Experience

In April, 1999, Weiser died, and the band never fully recovered. For Rubin, this was the second band in which the drummer had died, making his life into a Spinal Tap-like experience. Although the band found a new drummer, things were never the same, and the band now looks forward to making retrospective pieces on VH1 and The History Channel.

[edit] References