The House Band of the Internet

History

Before the Band


Airport Parking Lots
Always

Severe Tire Damage is mentioned prominently, right next to those gleaming spikes.
Teeth

Zero
1987

The band "Zero" releases a song titled Severe Tire Damage on their album, "Here Goes Nothin'".
Band

Vice Academy
1989

In one scene two guys listen to a tape of their favorite rock band: Severe Tire Damage. It was not one of our songs.
Read more about the movie at IMDB
Movies

N.W.A.
October 27, 1989

Using the name "N.W.A.", our band makes its first performance.
Gig

Nigels
January 20, 1990

The band changes its name 4 times in one night, still not calling itself Severe Tire Damage.
Band

Box of Rocks
February 24, 1990

The band goes by another name for this gig.
Band

Give Me Liberty
1990

A graphic novel by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons show the band, Severe Tire Damage. The artwork looks surprisingly like us.
Comics

Oil Supply
August 11, 1990

The band goes by another name for this gig.
Band

Severe Tire Damage Before The Rolling Stones


Severe Tire Damage
September 22, 1990

This is the first time that the band performs under the name Severe Tire Damage.
Gig

The Vampire Lestat
October 31, 1990

The band uses a different name for a Halloween performance.
Gig

RU-486
December 31, 1990

The band continues to use different names to be topical and provocative.
Gig

The Creeping Features
October 31, 1991

The band uses a different name for a Halloween performance.
Gig

Playboy Magazine
September, 1992

In "Real Men Don't Bond", by Bruce Feirstein: "... Real Men still keep waiting for a band to be named either Republican Guard or Severe Tire Damage." You're welcome.
Read the Article
Playboy

Severe Tire Damage
June 24, 1993

Severe Tire Damage makes the first livestreamed performance on the Internet. Performing from Xerox PARC, the broadcast is seen live as far away as Australia. Engineering by Ron Frederick and Steve Deering.
Read More
MBone Gig

Mrs. Doubt­fire
1993

Robin Williams' character pretends to be the singer of Severe Tire Damage. He was never in the band.
Movies

The Making of '...And God Spoke'
1993

In the mockumentary, a production designer explains his affiliation with directors who made music videos for little known bands: "Bjorn Again" and "Severe Tire Damage".
Read more about the movie at IMDB
Movies

Smith­sonian Maga­zine
September 1994

The infamous article that proposes Severe Tire Damage's drummer as "rock's smartest".
Press

Severe Tire Damage's Fifteen Minutes of Fame


Severe Tire Damage
November 18, 1994

The band opens for the Rolling Stones, broadcasting from Palo Alto, California.
Read all about it
Gig

Wall Street Journal
November 18, 1994

Mentions MCasts by Severe Tire Damage.
Press

Sky TV
November 19, 1994

Covers how Severe Tire Damage opened for the Rolling Stones.
SKY TV

The Wash­ington Post
November 19, 1994

Documents the first MCast by Severe Tire Damage.
Press

Sunday Boston Globe
November 20, 1994

Covers Severe Tire Damage's opening act for the Rolling Stones.
Press

Rolling Stones Web Site
November 21, 1994

Stones techs call us, "furry Palo Alto Geeks".
Press

The New York Times
November 22, 1994

Coverage of Severe Tire Damage's opening act for the Rolling Stones.
Press

Inter­active Age
November 28, 1994

Covers Severe Tire Damage's opening act for the Rolling Stones.
Press

News­week Maga­zine
December 5, 1994

Compares Severe Tire Damage to the Rolling Stones, favorably!
Press

Enter­tainment Weekly
December 9, 1994

Passing mention of Severe Tire Damage opening for the Rolling Stones.
Press

Fortune Maga­zine
March 20, 1995

Fortune smiles on our drummer as he mentions Severe Tire Damage.
Press

Com­puter Chron­icles
May 2, 1995

Coverage of the band, including interviews with bass and drummer.
Computer Chronicles

The Cheifet Letter
June 1995

Mentions how the band opened for the Rolling Stones.
Press

The Red Herring
August 1995

Article by drummer Mark mentions our weekly MCasts.
Press

The Wash­ington Post
September 13, 1995

Describes how the Rolling Stones followed Severe Tire Damage on the web.
Press

Nano­topia
November 13, 1995

The show features Mark Weiser, and even lets him drum.
TV

C|Net Central
1996

Severe Tire Damage's tech crew gets to play.
C|NET TV

The Official Computer Bowl Trivia Book
1996

Asks "What was the first rock group to perform live on the Internet?" We'll give you one guess.
Press

Using the Internet / Life on the Internet
1996

More band coverage, including the drummer's work.
PBS TV

San Jose Mercury News
May 26, 1996

Reprint of computer bowl questions, including #41 that readers of this site will know.
Press

The Boston Globe
October 10, 1996

Passing mention of Severe Tire Damage playing for Korean television.
Press

Korea
January 1997

Severe Tire Damage in a 4-hour piece about the Internet.
TV

Usenix
January 10, 1997

The band closes a computer conference, our largest gig.
Nerds

Computer­World
February 17, 1997

An article about Mark Weiser barely mentions Severe Tire Damage.
Press

;login: Newsletter
April 1997

Discusses the Severe Tire Damage performance at USENIX.
Press

Internet Guiden
1997

Full article about the band. Too bad you can't read Swedish.
Band Photo

The Internet Cafe
1997

Guitarist and vocalist chat about Severe Tire Damage.
The Internet Cafe

C|Net Central
May 3, 1997

Severe Tire Damage's Mark Manasse talks about bilking the known universe out of their money.
TV

Wired Maga­zine
May 1997

An article about drummer Mark and the hazards of Severe Tire Damage.
Press

Severe Tire Damage
July 26, 1997

Check out Severe Tire Damage's way-cool bass player.
Bass Player

Austrian TV
September 8, 1997

An Austrian film crew has dinner with Severe Tire Damage.
TV

Konrad Maga­zine
1997

An article mentions (in German) how the band eats at Beppos.
Dinner

New Media News Online
October 20, 1997

A reporter is amazed at how much sushi and saki we can consume.
Press

San Jose Mercury News
November 15, 1997

Front page coverage by Silicon Valley's best newspaper.
Merc Photo

New Media News
November 19, 1997

Mark Weiser speaks of calm computing. Of course, we know better.
TV

KFJC 89.7 FM
November 21, 1997

Severe Tire Damage meets their favorite DJ: Rocket J. Squirrel.
Radio

The Wash­ington Post
December 15, 1997

Severe Tire Damage becomes the "house band of cyberspace".
Press

San Jose Mercury News
January 6, 1998

An article about our drummer with an embarrassing photo.
Merc Photo

KFOG 97.7 FM
January 29, 1998

We do a Spice Girls spoof on commercial radio.
KFOG

Career­Tech Online
February 2, 1998

Severe Tire Damage teaches bad habits to aspiring engineers.
CareerTech

San Fran­cisco Chron­icle
June 23, 1998

Severe Tire Damage heads up a list of geek bands.
SF Chronicle

Zits comics
August 5, 1998

"Severe Tire Damage" is just another dumb joke.
Zits Cartoon

They Might Be Giants
1998

Another band, They Might Be Giants, releases an album with our name.
Band

Windows Refund Day in S.J. Mercury News
Feburary 16, 1999

Severe Tire Damage plays at "Windows Refund Day" and the singer makes rude comments about Microsoft and greed.
Merc Photo

Severe Tire Damage in the New Millenium


Cal State Hayward
March 1, 2000

Severe Tire Damage elucidates to a horrified classroom.
Cal State Hayward

Monk (TV series)
March 10, 2006

Another Severe Tire Damage joke in the episode, "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist",
TV

Wired Maga­zine
June, 2008

We are accused of killing the recording industry through Internet distribution.
Press

History of the Internet
July, 2014

Severe Tire Damage gets it's own page in the history books.
HOTI

Master Minds
May 7, 2020

Now that we're trivia, a contestant on the game show, "Master Minds" is asked about us.
Press

Live­Video­Stack
August 19, 2022

Even the Chinese are curious about how we became so ridiculous.
Press

Rolling Stones
October 7, 2022

A documentary that describes how Severe Tire Damage scooped the Rolling Stones.
Press

The Telegraph
July 4, 2023

An article reliving Severe Tire Damage's opening act for the Rolling Stones.
Press