Strong Reaction

Pegboy: Larry Damore (vocals, guitar); John Haggerty (guitar); Steve Saylors (bass, vocals); Joe Haggerty (drums).
Principally recorded at Chicago Recording Company, Chicago, Illinois in June, 1991.
Personnel: Larry Damore (vocals, guitar); Steve Saylors (vocals); John Haggerty (electric guitar); Joe Haggerty (drums).
Recording information: Bombadier Beetle Studios (06/1990-06/1991); Chicago Recording Co (06/1990-06/1991).
Photographer: Michael Roberts.
Chicago's Pegboy comes from a long line of fine melodic Midwest hardcore. Echoes of genre-defining bands like Minneapolis's Hüsker Dü and their hometown's Naked Raygun (which shared members with Pegboy) are immediately traceable in their sound, but STRONG REACTION represented a notable stripping-down. The songs are fat-free locomotives of anthemic forward motion. The opening title track is as compelling a theme song as a punk band has written before or since, and soaring, roughed-up pop tracks like "Superstar" and "Time Again" remain a blueprint for young emo bands trying to break the radio barrier.