The Queers

The Queers

The Queers are a US punk rock and pop punk group from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. They are active from 1981 to the present, and the band forms around singer, guitarist and songwriter Joe King, who is the principal member. The lineup changes frequently, with musicians cycling in and out over the years, and members associated with the group include Wimpy Rutherford, Tulu, Joe Queer, Hugh O'Neill, B-Face, Dan Panic and Danny Vapid.

Style and themes

The Queers play a Ramones-influenced style of pop punk and punk rock, with songs centred on girls, beer and crude humour. Their catalogue includes tracks such as "Can't Stop Farting", "Born To Do Dishes" and "I Didn't Get Invited To The Prom". The group name is used as part of that same provocative humour. King says the band exists to play punk rock for fun rather than to deliver social or political messages.

Career and collaborators

The band first builds a following in its local area before reaching a wider audience with Love Songs for the Retarded, which is recorded by punk producer Mass Giorgini. The Queers work with Giorgini several times after that. Joe King also collaborates often with Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel. King comments critically on the street punk scene and on what he sees as violence and class-war posturing in parts of the Oi! scene, including in the song "Little Rich Working Class Oi Boy" from Beyond the Valley of the Assfuckers.