Pere Ubu Vinyl Records
Led by hulking frontman David Thomas -- whose absurdist warble and rapturously demented lyrics remained the band's creative focus throughout their career -- Pere Ubu emerged from the urban wastelands of mid-'70s Cleveland to become one of the American underground's most influential bands. Ubu's 1975 debut single, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," and their 1978 debut album, The Modern Dance, introduced the self-destructing melodies, scattershot rhythms, and industrial-strength dissonance that they used to capture the angst and chaos of their times with both apocalyptic fervour and surprising humanity for decades.