IN: Nomeansno (sometimes stylized as NoMeansNo or spelled No Means No) was a Canadian punk rock band formed in Victoria, British Columbia and later relocated to Vancouver. They issued ten LPs, one collaborative LP, numerous EPs and singles, and gained an international audience following extensive touring. Critic Martin Popoff described their music as "the mightiest merger between the hateful aggression of punk and the discipline of heavy metal."

In 1979 and at age 25, Rob Wright returned to his family's home in Victoria after studying in Calgary. His younger brother John, eight years his junior, played drums in the school jazz band. They were inspired to play punk rock after seeing D.O.A. perform at the University of Victoria. The two began rehearsing in their parents' basement in 1979, and took the name Nomeansno from an anti-date rape slogan. They also briefly gigged as the rhythm section for the local cover band Castle.  Nomeansno recorded its earliest material in the months that followed on a TASCAM four-track recorder, with Rob playing electric guitar and bass, John playing keyboards and drums, and both brothers singing. Some of these recordings were issued as their first two self-released 7"s, the "Look, Here Come the Wormies / SS Social Service" single (a 1980 split with another short-lived Wright brothers project, Mass Appeal), and the Betrayal, Fear, Anger, Hatred EP of 1981.  The brothers began performing live as a bass-and-drums duo in 1981. Their sound developed without a guitar, and John Wright later reflected on these developments:  ...without a guitar player you can't rely on the standard hooks that punk rock and rock n' roll in general relies on. The guitar player - the guitar god quote unquote - was such a focus for so long that by the nature of not having a guitar player, the bass and the drums have to do a lot more. It also makes the vocals more important, or at least it makes a lot more room for the vocals. You don't have guitar solos, you don't have the wash of high end. And the things you do on the drums are different, if you just did a straight four beat on the drums it would get kinda dull after awhile. It isn't as though bass guitar hasn't been a prominent instrument at times in other bands but it made us approach things differently, our song structure couldn't just be verse-chorus-verse. It had everything to do with how our sound got off to a unique start.  Some of the songs they played in this period were released on the Mama LP of 1982, which was self-released in a limited pressing. Writing for Trouser Press, critic Ira Robbins described Mama and the early 7"s as "Devo on a jazz trip, Motorhead after art school, or Wire on psychotic steroids." This same year, John Wright also joined the Victoria punk band The Infamous Scientists.

What other songs did the brothers make together?

OUT: released 7"s, the "Look, Here Come the Wormies / SS Social Service"


IN: The Smothers Brothers are Thomas ("Tom" - born February 2, 1937) and Richard ("Dick" - born November 20, 1939), American singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic guitar, Dick on string bass), which usually led to arguments between the siblings. Tommy's signature line was, "Mom always liked you best!" Tommy (the elder of the two) acted "slow", and Dick, the straight man, acted "superior".

The brothers were both born on Governors Island in New York Harbor, where their father, Thomas B. Smothers, Jr., a West Point graduate and U.S. Army officer, was stationed. Tom was born on February 2, 1937, and Dick was born on November 20, 1939. Major Smothers served in the 45th Infantry Regiment (United States) and died during World War II, while being transported from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Fukuoka, Japan, to a POW camp in Mukden, Manchukuo. They were raised by their mother in the Los Angeles area.  They graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, and attended San Jose State University. After a brief time in a folk group called the Casual Quintet, the brothers made their first professional appearance as a duo in February 1959 at The Purple Onion in San Francisco. They were a popular act in clubs and released several successful top 40 albums for Mercury Records, the most successful being Curb Your Tongue, Knave! in 1964. Their first national television appearance was on The Jack Paar Show on January 28, 1961.  The brothers appeared in a segment of the television series Burke's Law, in 1964, in which they played two compulsive hoarders. Their first television series was a situation comedy, The Smothers Brothers Show (1965-1966). Tom played an angel come back to earth to oversee his brother Dick, who played a swinging bachelor. It did not do well in the ratings and had little of the music that was identified with the brothers. Tom would say in 1969 that "Four Star gave me ulcers."

Where were they born?

OUT:
The brothers were both born on Governors Island in New York Harbor,