The Mythic Chaos: 50 Years of Destroy All Monsters exhibit at Cranbrook Art Museum focuses much of its energy on the visual art side of the Ann Arbor-formed collective, particularly the early years with original members Cary Loren, Niagara, Jim Shaw, and Mike Kelley.

But as Frank Uhle's Pulp story, "Collecting 'Chaos'," notes, there were several editions of Destroy All Monsters (DAM) on the music side, with Benjamin and Laurence Miller passing through the band as well as Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton and MC5 bassist Michael Davis.

A 1994 CD box set, 1974-1976, co-compiled by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, features Destroy All Monsters' early experimental recordings. But for many people, the musical style most associated with DAM can be heard on the proto- and avant-punk singles and live recordings starting in 1977, which are centered on Asheton's jackhammer guitar and Niagara's angry-goddess vocals.

DAM's first official record was 1979's "Bored," written by Niagara and Asheton, with Davis on bass, Rob King on drums, Laurence Miller on guitar, and Benjamin Miller on sax. The B-side, "You're Gonna Die," was co-written by Loren, but he had left the band by the time of the recording.

The Niagara and Asheton-led version of DAM recorded three additional singles, which have been compiled several times with the "Bored" 7-inch, and there's a slew of rough-and-ready live recordings out there featuring a lot of Stooges songs in the setlist. The core duo then morphed into Dark Carnival, sticking with roughly the same sound and setlists as DAM before calling it a day in 1998.

Below is a selection of 1977 and beyond recordings by Destroy All Monsters, from Asheton and Niagara-led live shows in Ann Arbor to the original version of DAM reuniting for concerts in California and Japan in the mid-1990s.

A lo-fi audience recording at Ann Arbor's The Second Chance (now the Necto), recorded December 5, 1977.

A December 16, 1978, audience recording in Pittsburgh featuring Asheton, Niagara, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Rob King. This is the same lineup that performed on the 1979 recording in Ann Arbor, which was likely made at The Second Chance.

This self-titled collection was first released in France in 1989, featuring Asheton and Niagara with bassist Michael Davis and drummer Larry Steel, but it's unclear when or where the recording (or recordings) were made.

"Party Girl" live at the Heidelberg in Ann Arbor, 1982.

"November 22, 1983" live at the Heidelberg in 1983. The same YouTube account also posted "These Boots Are Made for Walking," likely from the same show.

"Make Mine Japanese" live at Ann Arbor's The Second Chance, 1983. The May 12, 1983, edition of The Ann Arbor News published "Local band Destroy All Monsters makes video debut, but not on MTV," an article about the band recording this tune (albeit misnaming the song "Made by Japanese").

Silver Wedding Anniversary from 1996 features the reformed first edition of DAM getting down with found sound in California, 1995.

Live in Tokyo and Osaka features 1996 recordings, released in 2004, by the reformed inaugural lineup performing noiseworks.

If you want more original DAM, head over to YouTube to watch Grow Live Monsters, a collection of experimental video and sounds made between 1973 and 1976. (The embedding option is turned off.)

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

Related:
➥ "Collecting 'Chaos': The Destroy All Monsters exhibit at Cranbrook gathers artifacts from the pioneering Ann Arbor art and music collective" [Pulp, January 14, 2026]