Thing With a Hook

Half Japanese are the purest expression of the idea that intent matters more than technique. Jad Fair and his brother David formed the band in 1975 and spent decades making recordings that were deliberately anti-virtuosic, built on enthusiasm and noise rather than musical training. John Peel championed them; so did Kurt Cobain.

Thing With a Hook, from Loud (1981), is characteristic Half Japanese: an approach to rock music so basic it becomes radical, guitar that is technically wrong in ways that are musically right, Jad's voice delivering the lyric with the commitment of someone who knows exactly what he means.

Half Japanese's place in the outsider art tradition of American music is secure. Their influence on the lo-fi and indie movements that followed has been acknowledged by everyone from Yo La Tengo to Sebadoh.