The Electric Banana was a nightclub in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning as a disco in the 1970s, it was a punk rock music venue from 1980 until 2000, and helped establish a place in alternative culture for the city of Pittsburgh.[1]
The venue hosted such acts as Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Misfits, Hüsker Dü, Half-Life, Dead Milkmen, Meat Puppets, Descendents, Snakefinger, Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, New Model Army, They Might Be Giants, Minutemen and countless others. Located at 3887 Bigelow Boulevard, it was transformed by owner Johnny "Banana" Zarra into an Italian restaurant called "Zarra's: A Taste Of Southern Italy."
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The Electric Banana became a punk rock club in early 1980, after stints as both a regular go-go bar and a gay go-go bar.[2] Zarra and wife Judy (a former go-go dancer) took up an offer from local punk and other "unique" bands and artists who needed a venue to play. Within a couple of years, The Banana became the epicenter of Pittsburgh's punk scene. By 1982, most of the "name" bands of the national underground punk scene had played the Banana.
Amongst the local acts, there was the aforementioned Half-Life, The Cynics, S.M.D.(Screaming Mailboxes of Destiny), Boystown, The Beating, The Cowboys from Hell, the past three mentioned bands all had members in common which were Ron Cambest (guitar) Phil Crists (drums) Mike Kastelic currently of the Cynics (vocals) Rick Pegg (guitar) who died in 2008, 99 cents, The Five, The Cardboards, The Feedback, The Throbbing Dogs (1995 House Band), AMS and Carsickness, all of which became regular acts at The Banana, and often "hosted" the national acts coming through.
A homage is paided to the Banana in the song "Pittsburgh" by They Might be Giants.
The Electric Banana was also known for its stylized yellow matchbook covers. The image of a banana may have been copied from Andy Warhol's icon used for the Velvet Underground.