In the late '70s, The Avengers burst out of San Francisco, establishing themselves as one of the US's preeminent punk bands. Fusing incisive guitar hooks, explosive rhythms, and adolescent venom, the group forged some of the most in-your-face songs of the era. Their live shows were legendary, playing up and down the West Coast and even blowing Sex Pistols off the stage at the latter's final performance. Byron Coley would reflect that in 1977; "The Avengers were by far the coolest and youngest sounding. They roared without irony, as though this were indeed Year Zero (and, for a moment, it was), with history being overwritten by the new. The honesty of their belief was carried by their sound. And it was convincing!"