3 Teens Kill 4

3TK4 (3 Teens Kill 4) was a musical group based in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s. They are most notable for featuring David Wojnarowicz, a famous artist, as a member.

In 1980, Brian Butterick, Jesse Hultberg and David Wojnarowicz worked as busboys at New York City's Danceteria on West 37th street, before the club was closed down for not having a liquor license. The Danceteria staff party was held at TR3 in Soho in December, 1980, and was 3 Teens Kill 4 No Motive's first performance. The poet Max Blagg chose the name from a New York Post headline, and performed with them along with others from Danceteria.

Julie Hair joined the band for their 2nd show adding her rhythm machine making 3 Teens Kill 4 a stripped-down, 4-person ensemble. The band's signature style of found-sounds played on hand-held tape recorders, toy instruments, spoken word and multi-vocals, in a pop music context took shape. The low-tech tape sounds achieved the same results as sampling, and tape-looping, which were just starting to enter the pop music genre.

As the band's only released album was getting started, the inclusion of Doug Bressler expanded the instrumentation to actual guitars as well as toys and Casios. Guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, tape players, and toys were passed around on stage. Clarinet and flute were also used as was a microphone sewed into a glove, and a can of Beans. The band's performances had an anarchic intensity that relied on ambiance, and surprising sounds, more than actual music.

In 1982, Alan Mace and Bobby Bradley, the managers of the Pyramid club, financed the self-titled, independently released album, 3 Teens Kill 4 No Motive. A cover of Chaka Kahn's Tell Me Something Good (written by Stevie Wonder), included the newscast of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. 3 Teens Kill 4's deconstructed version was typical of the harsh, reality-based attitude in their songs. Apart from rock clubs, they performed in non-rock venues such as the Civilian Warfare Gallery, , and White Columns. The East Village, Manhattan was in its heyday of art and music.

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