The documentary Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King begins with a title card that says, "Ann Arbor, Michigan - 1975" and then cuts to a blurry, grainy, backlit film of David and Jad Fair with their friend David Stansky jamming in the Fair family's living room.

[Edit, June 8, 2022: WCBN-FM DJ Frank Uhle recently talked with one of the Fair brothers and asked him if the family ever lived in Ann Arbor; the answer was "no." The Fairs did grow up about 90 miles away in Coldwater, Michigan—the same town where Uhle grew up and the families knew each other. The confusion may come from Half Japanese's 1980 song "Ann Arbor," which makes it sound like the Fair brothers lived here; apparently, it was more aspirational than actual:

Kiss me now
And if you want to later on
We'll open the window
And put the speakers by the window
And put on Springsteen
And wake up Ann Arbor
And we'll tell everyone on Hill Street
And we'll tell everyone on State Street
And we'll tell everyone on Shakin' Street
And we'll tell everyone on Love Street
We'll tell about a real love
In Ann Arbor, Michigan
I'm talking about
Real
Love

End of edit.]

The brothers' time living in Ann Arbor Coldwater was a warm-up run for the primitive rock 'n' roll band that they officially started in Uniontown, Maryland, in 1977 with the car-crash-erific Calling All Girls 7-inch EP. The Fairs couldn't play their instruments whatsoever, but their unholy sound became an inspiration to Yo La Tengo, The Pastels, Beat Happening, Nirvana, and countless other punk-adjacent bands.

Forty-two years later, Jad is still bashing his untuned guitar and singing about love and monsters in Half Japanese, which just released the Invincible album. Meanwhile, David is a retired librarian and, like Jad, a prolific artist.

Jad's wondrous paper cuttings are featured in the 15 videos he made for every song on Invincible, which is far more musical than some Half Japanese offerings but no less sui generis. Check out the video playlist below. 

Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.