John Haggerty (born October 17, 1960,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) is an influential Chicago

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist. Haggerty was a member of Naked Raygun from 1983 to 1989. Upon leaving Naked Raygun, He formed the band

Pegboy Pegboy is an American punk band from Chicago, Illinois with a relatively large cult following. They were founded in 1990 by John Haggerty (ex-guitarist for Naked Raygun), along with his brother Joe Haggerty (drums, formerly of The Effigies), ...

with brother Joe Haggerty, Steve Saylors, and Larry Damore.

Background

The eldest son of a

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, hot-water production, sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

father and a

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

mother, Haggerty first picked up the guitar at age 16. His early influences included

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

Michael Schenker Michael Schenker (born 10 January 1955) is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group (MSG). He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf S ...

and Brian Robertson. Upon discovering the Chicago punk scene at O'Banions, Haggerty quickly began searching for his place in

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

. His biggest influences were the

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. The ...

, the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a Northern Irish punk rock band from Belfast. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the Deep P ...

and

the Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

. John also plays in a band called the Nefarious Fat Cats which features an all star line up including himself and brother Joe,

Jake Burns John "Jake" Burns (born 21 February 1958) is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers, although he has also recorded with Jake Burns and the Big Wheel, 3 Men + Black, and as a solo artist. Early life ...

of Stiff Little Fingers, Herb Rosen of Beer Nuts and Rights of the Accused, Mark DeRosa of the band Dummy and Scott Lucas of Local H. John toured with Stiff Little Fingers in mid-2011 as a substitute for Ian McCallum, who could not make the tour due to illness. In 2021 Haggerty became a member of industrial/punk/hard rock supergroup The Joy Thieves by contributing a guitar track to their song "Nihilist Landscape" from their album, "American Parasite."

Partial discography

Naked Raygun

*'' Throb Throb'' (1983) *'' All Rise'' (1986) *'' Jettison'' (1988) *'' Understand?'' (1989) *''Last Of The Demo Hicans'' (1997)

Pegboy

*''

Strong Reaction ''Strong Reaction'' is the debut album of Pegboy. It was released in 1991 through Quarterstick Records. Critical reception ''Trouser Press'' wrote that "quibbles about the occasionally melodramatic lyrics, in which the passage into adulthood di ...

'' (1991) *''

Earwig Earwigs make up the insect order (biology), order Dermaptera. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cercus, cerci, a pair of forceps-like pincer (biology), pincers on ...

'' (1994) *'' Cha Cha Damore'' (1997)

Singles and EPs

* 1990 - '' Three-Chord Monte'' EP (Quarterstick) * 1991 - "Field of Darkness"/"Walk on By" 7" (Quarterstick) * 1993 - '' Fore'' EP (Quarterstick) * 1996 - ''Dangermare'' (Split with Kepone) 7" (Quarterstick)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haggerty, John American rock guitarists American male guitarists 1960 births Living people Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American guitarists Naked Raygun members Pegboy members Stiff Little Fingers members 20th-century American male musicians