Flipper is an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1979, continuing in often erratic fashion until the mid-1990s, then reuniting in 2005.

[5] Founding member and original vocalist Williams was credited for naming the band,[6] but was fired before it made any recordings.

The lengthy A-side had minimal lyrics ("She's a sex bomb, my baby, yeah") and gained the band notoriety within the punk community.

[10] Mark Arm claimed, in the 2006 documentary American Hardcore, that Flipper's charm as a band lay in their ability to upset audiences while attracting their undivided attention and curiosity at the same time.

Fans began spray painting "Flipper Rules" in various locations around San Francisco and eventually the world.

[11] A follow-up 1984 Subterranean studio album, Gone Fishin',[5] featured the opening track "The Lights, the Sound, the Rhythm, the Noise", as well as "Survivors of the Plague" and "Sacrifice".

The original lineup splintered after a period of touring, and singer and core member Shatter died on December 9, 1987, of a drug overdose[6] after forming A3I.

[5] Rubin also reissued Album – Generic Flipper and the singles compilation Sex Bomb Baby on his Infinite Zero label.

As part of a legal settlement, Subterranean was awarded the right to reissue its Flipper records on vinyl in the United States.

[17] Flipper played two shows at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill on October 10 and 11, 2015, with DeSmartass returning on bass and David Yow (formerly of Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard) on vocals.

[19] Kurt Cobain wore a self-made Flipper T-shirt, seen in the booklet pictures of Nirvana's In Utero,[12] on the band's first performance on Saturday Night Live in 1992, and also in the music video for "Come as You Are".

[20] In the documentary American Hardcore, Moby stated that he fronted Flipper for two days while singer Will Shatter was in jail because he "knew all of their songs".

[22] Eric Avery of Jane's Addiction has said that Flipper's rolling rhythms and repetitive riffs were an influence on his band's early sound.

[23] In Get in the Van, his memoir of the early 1980s punk rock scene, Henry Rollins of Black Flag described the Flipper experience: "They were just heavy.

Belgian electronica/industrial band Lords of Acid covered Flipper's song "Sex Bomb", and released a live version on the 1995 "Do What You Wanna Do" maxi-single.