Butthole Surfers are a crazed, drug-addled experimental rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas in 1981.
Founding members Gibby Haynes [singer/guitar/saxophone] and Paul Leary [guitar/vocals] met at Trinity University in the late 70s. Haynes was the school’s “Accountant of the Year” and Leary was working on his MBA. By 1981, Haynes had been fired from his job for using work photocopiers to print an amusing zine of medical photos called Strange V.D. and Leary had dropped out of college so he and Haynes could sell Lee Harvey Oswald t-shirts and start a band.
At first, they played under a different name for each performance (highlights include “Abe Lincoln’s Bush”, “The Inalienable Right to Eat Fred Astaire’s Asshole” and “Nine Foot Worm Makes Own Food”). At their first paid gig, the announcer forgot their name and announced them by the title of one of their songs: Butthole Surfers. They liked it.