'Dog' days of rock return

The singer's pants were falling off as his long hair fell in front of his dark sunglasses. The drums pounded loudly to the music.

"We're The Imperial Dogs and we fuck just like we play: loud, hard and fast!"

Don Waller, Tim Hilger, Paul Therrio and Bill Willett showed off their musical talents to an audience of students at Cal State Long Beach on Oct. 30, 1974. The band dressed in chains, fur pants and leather. It was the day before Halloween, but the band wasn't in costume.

Instead of following the norm of their generation and wearing the traditional fashion, the members of The Imperial Dogs rebelled. Instead of dancing to disco, they insisted on playing loud music, wearing revealing clothing and screaming into microphones.

As Waller said during the concert, "If you don't like this stuff, get yourself a fucking crew cut!"

The performance was one of the first to be captured on video and set in place for a documentary. In black and white, the performance, now made into a DVD, gives the vibe of a home video and brings viewers back to the fun and rebellion of the 1970s. The newly-released DVD "The Imperial Dogs: Live! In Long Beach," includes a 20-page booklet with pictures and a history of the band.

The CSULB show started off as a thesis on decadence and "death themes for rock ‘n roll" for an honors student, Linda Pascale. She wanted to videotape the band performing as part of her thesis. Waller was surprised the university actually agreed to all of this.

Displayed on posters around the school, Pascale promised "an evening of sex, violence and public outrage." That is exactly what the attendees got.

Host Phast Phreddie Patterson threatened to like the crowd otherwise he had "some friends outside that will stomp ya!"

The Imperial Dogs opened its set with "Til the End of the Day." The song began with a drum roll, loud guitars and a bare-chested Waller setting the pace for the night. "Baby, I feel good!" he sang.

The band's sound resembled Iggy Pop and the Stooges and The Ramones, even though The Ramones didn't exist in The Imperial Dog's heyday.

"We were years ahead of our time," Waller said in an e-mail. "We were doing this stuff way before The Ramones, The Germs, The Weirdos, Black Flag and any of those other so-called proto-punk bands."

"This Ain't the Summer of Love" sounded like a song that the Pixies would have written. The song starts out slow, almost like a ballad, and then picks up with Waller screaming and a guitar solo by Hilger.

Waller was insane on stage. He spat blood and vomited on stage during the instrumental section. These crazy punk habits inspired official Imperial Dogs Barf Bags.

"Sweet Little Strychnine" sounded similar to The Misfits and had members of the audience dancing. A couple, dressed almost identical to the band, spun around in circles and shook their hips as the band played.

With such eccentric performances and a raw sound, The Imperial Dogs set the pace for other punk bands to come. Iggy Pop, who attended one of its shows, as well as fans, enjoyed its music and sex appeal.

As the official band Web site states, "Some people say The Imperial Dogs were ahead of its time. Those who were there swear The Imperial Dogs' time is … NOW."