The Queers

Oil and water. Michael Jackson and children. Punk rock and popularity. They all mix badly, but no combination is worse than the watered-down punk rock that thrives at Hot Topic and TRL. The best punk sticks to the DIY ethos and requires a little digging to find, but that doesn't mean half-baked Galaxy Club bands deserve kudos for "underground" tags, either. Luckily, The Queers have struck a fine balance between well-known and unknown in their 20-year career, and their blistering play benefits from a satirical, middle-school sense of humor. If you want to shout along to "My Cunt's a Cunt" and "This Place Sucks," don't hold your breath for the MTV premiere. Instead, catch them live on Friday with straight-ahead Dallas rockers Max Cady.