Butthole Surfers Were the Epitome of Every Hell-Raising Rock’n’Roll Legend You Ever Heard

Founded in San Antonio, Texas in 1981, the band freaked out from the word go. The Butthole Surfers revelled in mayhem, purred in mischief, and drank themselves to hell, often to the point of being unable to function or perform. However, rather antithetically to their drink and drug-crazed reputation, before the world of the Butthole Surfers existed, Haynes was on a fast-track route to being a successful accountant, and guitarist Paul Leary was inches away from a masters degree in business administration. As a band they were lurid, surreal and outlandish, genuinely terrifying to some, but it was not without due thought. It takes a degree of intellect to behave that stupidly.