Their Hometown Called Them a GANG. Everyone Else Bought Tickets.
The story behind Mike Muir and company being banned by the city of Los Angeles from playing live shows starting in the mid 80’s.
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Suicidal Tendencies could sell records, tour overseas, and earn a Grammy nomination. But playing their own hometown was another story. How did Mike Muir and a band from Venice, California, become so feared that Los Angeles promoters refused to book them? This documentary explores the rumors, real incidents, and unofficial blacklist that kept Suicidal Tendencies off local stages for years.
From backyard parties in Venice to the breakthrough success of “Institutionalized,” Suicidal Tendencies built a following that challenged expectations of what a punk band should look like. Their audience included Mexican and Black fans from their neighborhood, while their bandanas, flannels, and loyal supporters helped fuel assumptions about gang connections. Muir argued that outsiders misunderstood both the band and the people showing up to see them.
But this wasn’t simply a story of innocent musicians facing invented accusations. There were fights, damaged venues, and concerns about concert safety. The question is how those incidents became a reputation that followed the band everywhere, making promoters, insurers, and venues unwilling to take a chance on a hometown show.
We follow the controversy surrounding Perkins Palace, the difficulty of getting local shows booked, and the growing gap between the band’s international success and its treatment at home. While college radio and MTV helped introduce Suicidal Tendencies to new listeners, their name and image continued to create resistance within the music industry.
Along the way, this video revisits the evolution from their debut album to Join the Army, How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today, and Lights… Camera… Revolution! Songs like “Institutionalized” and “You Can’t Bring Me Down” helped establish their place in hardcore punk and crossover thrash, even as controversy threatened to overshadow the music.
Their August 1990 concert at UC Irvine became a test. With Exodus and Pantera on the bill, heavy security, and officials watching closely, the show offered a chance to challenge the worst predictions. Irvine wasn’t Los Angeles, but the concert mattered to the band’s effort to return to local stages.
There was no simple announcement ending the blacklist. Instead, the comeback unfolded through showcases, smaller appearances, and promoters gradually becoming willing to book them again. Years later, Los Angeles honored Mike Muir with a mural, delivering a twist to a story defined by rejection, suspicion, and police attention.
Using reporting and Muir’s interviews, this documentary separates the band’s own explanations from the claims made about them. It examines how race, neighborhood identity, punk scene politics, and fear shaped the reputation of one of the most recognizable bands to emerge from Venice.
Was Suicidal Tendencies really too dangerous to book, or did its reputation become bigger than the evidence? Watch the story behind the blacklist, the struggle to get back onstage, and the hometown that eventually celebrated a singer it once feared.
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@rnrtruestories
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
lots of requests to do these guys, so here ya go. Throw requests down below for what other stories on them or other bands you wanna see.
@ethiopianeyes
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
They played in memphis 1991. They opened for Queensryche. 🤘🏽😎🤘🏽
@DeanS-r1c
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Looking back the fact that no one ever talks about Bad Religion and the LADS really seems more than a little racist. Might wanna cover that?
@nigelgrim
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
S! T!
@Jamie_Kearney
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Independent popular band vs. Jew record industry and their bs propaganda arm. It's that simple.
@DeanS-r1c
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
The first time I heard "Institutional" it was on a right of the dial major New Wave radio station in the Bay Area. Was lucky enough to see them a few times back then. Great band.
@Edman116
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
1991, got to our seats early at the Philadelphia Spectrum to see Queensryche. We decided to go get some beer and food before the show started. Glad we did, I had no idea what Suicidal Tendencies was about, until that night. Our seats were great just 20 rows from the stage, but when we got back to where our seats were supposed to be, the first 30 rows were in a huge pile and people were jumping off of it! I was amazed and was my first, up close, look at a mosh pit. Wild!!
@SamuraiChef-h9w
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
They were great in Hershey PA with Slayer
@TeraGreene1
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Shout out to Dogtown. I was a Junior Lifeguard there for many years, and we had competitions up and down the beaches and harbours. Dogtown was a great training ground for the world, growing up in the 90s. And many of my crew of punks, misfits, goths, ravers, Skins… well, we rocked Suicidal Tendencies’ hoodies. I smile whenever I see someone with their logo on. They have good taste. 😊
@jergervasi3331
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
They had an awesome "side project," Infectious Grooves, And bassist Robert Trujillo ended up in Metallica.
@jergervasi3331
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
When they played the Providence Civic Center on the Queensrÿche "Empire" Tour back in the day, the cops arrested guitarist Rocky George at the Burger King across the street right before the show. No one knew why…
@SOCALTIKIS
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
I was at the Perkins Palace show in Pasadena ,CA..,83-84' with toy dolls & social unrest. Great teen memories 😊
@d_hurl
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Uhhhh, no dude. How hard is it to do research? Oh yeah, you're that guy who made crappy Guitar Hero videos & now just reads wiki articles.
"From the start," they didn't wear dickies & look like cholos or whatever, Mike Muir was a bleached blonde surfer looking dude & the rest of the band looked like angry surfers too.
Just search Surf Punks L.A. Punk Documentary Dutch TV, skip 5.5 mins in to see what they looked like. -You're not welcome.
@DarthEcoli
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Can you say 'Feel like shit?' Sometimes I do feel like shit. I ain't happy about it but I'd rather feel like shit than be full of shit? Ohh, and if I offended you, I'm sorry but maybe you needed to be offended. Here's my apology adn one more thing: Fvck you
I mean I prefer the older stuff like first album and Join the army but the above lyrical quote is quite valid. Also, it was from memory and can't believe I remembered it after all these years.
@col.greasebagmcqueen9933
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Something similar happened to my band in the county we were from. There was a riot at one of our shows that started with the actions of a bouncer that was doing things he shouldn't have been and another huge bar fight between a bunch of rednecks and a bunch of tourists. These incidents had absolutely nothing to do with us or our music but just because we were the band that was playing when they happened. We didnt playbin our town for about 4 years. It was actually fine with us because nobody wanted to pay worth a damn anyways and we preferred staying on the road.
@gatorhunts4209
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Asleep at the wheel hell yeah. You can put a bullet in my head but you can't kill a word I've said!
@AndyIsHungry
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
ST! ST! ST!
@patswayze7359
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Not a fan
@Stromboli15
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Let’s not forget about the young man on bass with Suicidal Tendencies , Robert Trujillo, who also played with Mike’s other band Infectious Grooves. And of course eventually ending up stepping in on bass with Metallica after Jason Newstead’s departure. 😎🤙🔥🔥🔥💯🎯🎯🎯
@TheChristafershawn
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
“Singer” is pronounced with a soft G…unless of course you are referring to the sowing machine manufacturer.🫵
@dabirdcageofdoom
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
If your old like me, you have watched band after band go through this kind of problems. If you dare to be different some people will fear you.
@demogothic3716
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Suicidal 4 Life!!! 🤘🤘
@gatorhunts4209
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Megedeath show in vegas they wouldn't let em play
@gatorhunts4209
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
They couldn't play in Las Vegas either! Pissed me the f off. The band that replaced em got booed straight off
@Greenmanofmyth
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
First time I saw Suicidal they wiped the floor with Alice in Chains at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney 1993. I'm a huge AIC fan, but Layne was wasted and it wasn't their best show. Saw them again at Selina's a few years later. Words are not sufficient.
@thesnapperkeeper
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Louiche is the man.Very good guy
@mader348
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Sui is and has always been the epitome of so. Cal culture. Been a fan since the beginning! Long live ST!
@S-A_E.E_O
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Nice thorough piece. I saw them in San Francisco in the late 80s. No issues. Back then as a hesher at crossover shows, your worries were skins in the pit and getting off the street before midnight as a minor (cops hung out in front of venues).
@Stromboli15
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Back in the 80’s there was a group of “vatos” that went to Suicidal Tendencies on a regular basis. These dudes would coalesce into a group who flew colors and tagged V13 or Venice 13. Mike and Rocky used to typically sport baseball hats and wore them with the “bill” folded up and clearly tagged names or Suicidal written on the bill, “vato style”. This combination of style/dress along with the loose affiliations of the V13 crew added the increased concern that they were a gang. LAPD considered the whole group a gang, of course those were the Chief Daryl Gates years pre-Rodney King incident. An excellent example of this style of dress can be found in the 80’s movie Colors with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. I knew a few guys who were regular security at ST gigs in LA and the Valley, one of whom was “Big Frank” Harris who also managed Zed records right by Cal state Long Beach. I distinctly remember him mentioning several occasions when he worked shows at the Country Club in Reseda and shit got very, very, outta hand with the crowd and their “pit dancing”. Extremely violent at times and the cops came to stop the show. Same thing occurred soon after with a repeat at the Hollywood Palladium. That incident made the LA news BIG TIME, and immediately afterwards Chief Daryl Gates started to call them a “gang”. Them being the band and their fan base. 👌😉💯🎯🎯🎯
@JamesAllison-k2i
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Ruined the scene
@nickgangone9541
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
I saw Suicidal open for Metallica in 1994. They gained at least 4 new fans that night, between me amd my friends.
@TruckDonFump
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Hey can you do a Die Kreuzen wrap?
@neilclarkwork
October 29, 2026 at 1:59 am
Saw them just last year opening for slayer. They still have it and Mike still gets into the pit.