Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a number of local musicians were influenced by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and many of them would go on to form bands of their own. In the Luzerne County of 1979, Bill Space and David Steve from the Eighth Street Bridge joined with John Gonska of the Whazoos and Mutt Lee to form a new band in that aforementioned tradition. In time, bassist Fran Festa joined in as the fourth member of the original Great Rock Scare, a group that rose to unprecedented local success.

Even before the band’s first performance, their formation and impending arrival was drawing media attention and fanfare. Their name was provocative, a reference to the fright surrounding rock and roll music’s influence and perceived unsophistication during the 1950s and 1960s. On the 1980 i

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