Teenage Jesus & The Jerks

Lydia Lunch launched Teenage Jesus & the Jerks in 1977 as her first group, serving as its vocalist, guitarist, and provocateur. The band quickly became central to New York’s fleeting no wave scene. Its sound—abrasive, aggressive, and deliberately unapproachable—led the trio to favor sets lasting only ten to fifteen minutes; the musicians never issued a full-length album and dissolved after a short run. Nevertheless, their output helped establish the foundation for the noise rock genre that flourished throughout the 1980s, and the recordings retain the same stark, unyielding character that later inspired their artistic successors.

Born Lydia Koch in Rochester, New York, Lunch assembled the initial lineup at age sixteen, featuring saxophonist James Chance, who soon departed to form the Contortions, Japanese bassist Reck, and drummer Bradley Field. After Reck returned to Japan in 1978, Gordon Stevenson took over on bass. In that configuration the three musicians cut four tracks under Brian Eno’s production for the landmark 1978 compilation No New York. By the following year bassist and percussionist Jim Sclavunos had joined, enabling the band to release two EPs on the Lust/Unlust label before Lunch pursued other work and the group disbanded at year’s end. The Atavistic label later collected the band’s entire recorded legacy on the compact disc titled Everything.