Dubbed by Thurston Moore the "world's first noise band," Destroy All Monsters formed in 1973, a quartet featuring art school outcasts Niagara, Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, and Carey Loren--musicians with little in the way of traditional talent. Kicking up a primitive and shrill squawl, the band's few performances were highly visual, art-shock spectacles made all the more impactful by Niagara's B-movie-queen looks and freak-out stage presence. From 1978 to 1985, Ex-Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton and ex-MC5 bassist Mike Davis joined Niagara to turn D.A.M. into a fierce Detroit punk outfit with some limited success in the U.K. and some scattered EPs. A brief, mid '90s reunion of the original quartet brought a return to avant-noise. Kelley, Shaw, and Loren toured throughout the '90s and '00s without Niagara and self-released several full-lengths.