They began the band with the idea of starting "The World's Worst Band". The name (made up by beloved band friend Mark Potter) was chosen because lime-flavored Jell-O was widely regarded as the worst Jell-O flavor, and Bill thought the name reflected their band's talents. Barely able to play instruments, the band began playing punk shows around Buffalo, New York, with the intention of acting crazy onstage. The band was so technically inept that Joe (then playing bass) had to color-code his bass so that songs could be learned by color, such as "red, green, blue, blue, green", etc. Practicing in Joe's mom's basement was proving pretty useless so they decided to start to do some live shows in the local punk clubs.
The group was quickly banned from local punk club McVans for smashing TVs on stage with a sledgehammer and generally making a huge mess. They quickly changed their name to AJP (American Jell-O Party) in a direct rip-off of the Sex Pistols name-change-to-sneak-into-places-they-were-banned trick SPOTS (Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly). A re-naming of the band proved successful, and they got back into McVans only to repeat their violent conduct, and get re-banned. Following this, the name was quickly changed back to Green Jell-O.
One of the band's early shows was held
in a Masonic Temple in Kenmore. Local teenage jock thugs in the rowdy, drunk and hostile audience broke into the venue's kitchen mid-concert and found a full case of ice cream sandwiches, which they proceeded to throw at the band and all over the stage. By the end of the night the stage was ruined and Green Jellö had to reimburse the venue for damages.
Another early gig at a local YMCA also ended in the band having to pay for cleanup - this time for spilling tons of fake blood on the carpets. The band then got the reputation as a "food-throwing rock band" - and the audience members started bringing their own actual green Jell-O specifically to throw at the band. Later in their career, it wouldn't be unusual to see fans showing up with garbage bags filled with green Jell-O, pudding, whipped cream, or anything messy to throw at the stage and at the band.
They then managed to find a good friend in local punk club (The Continental) owner Bud Burke. Bud let the Jell-O guys play the club on a regular basis and the shows got wilder and wilder. Inversion boots, wheel of torture, whippings and a whole night of Zeppelin tunes played horribly were not uncommon. The audience loved them and the shows were packed.
In 1984 Green Jellö opened for The Ramones at a Buffalo State College summertime outdoor free concert, and the band (who as the opening act had their equipment set up in front of the Ramones' gear) were pelted by the audience with the usual Jell-O, whipped cream and pudding. In the end, Green Jellö had again made a mess and The Ramones' equipment was also covered in mush. They were not pleased, to say the least (Dee Dee was especially mad). Years later in an interview with New York Rocker magazine, Joey Ramone singled out Green Jellö as the worst (and messiest) band to ever open for the Ramones. Of course, Green Jellö took this as the highest praise.
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