[1] After leaving the army, Ving became involved in Philadelphia's folk, blues and R&B music scenes while studying Sociology at Villanova University.

[5][9] During Fear's performances at the L.A. punk scene, Ving was known for baiting his audience with insults, earning him the nickname "the Don Rickles of rock.

[1][14] Ving was initially approached by the film's director, Penelope Spheeris, while he was posting concert promo flyers to telephone poles in Los Angeles.

[16] Belushi became a fan of Fear after seeing them perform in 1980 on the L.A.-based music television show New Wave Theatre; O'Donoghue had seen the band in The Decline of Western Civilization.

[16][18] A large portion of the crowd were punk music fans and included members of the bands Minor Threat, Cro-Mags, The Meatmen, Negative Approach as well as Jesse Malin[19] who rushed the stage and were moshing.

"[7][16] Both The Decline of Western Civilization and the Halloween SNL performance were an integral part of the history of hardcore punk, having exposed the music genre to a much wider audience.

[20] Ving's vocals and harmonica playing were featured on the track "Got to Get Out of New York" from saxophonist Tom Scott's 1983 album Target.

[21] Ving appeared in Dave Grohl's 2013 documentary Sound City and is a member of the supergroup Teenage Time Killers that came about due to the film.

"[23] Ving (credited as Lee James Jude) and the other members of Fear appeared in the 1981 rotoscope animated film American Pop, directed by Ralph Bakshi.

[10] A year later, Ving played Greer, the henchman of Willem Dafoe's character in the neo-noir rock musical film Streets of Fire[10][26] and also appeared as a criminal in a police lineup in an episode of the short-lived Three's Company spin-off Three's a Crowd.

Ving played Jake McGuire, a motorcyclist bad boy who Angela dates while fulfilling a list of wild things she wanted to do while in high school.

[6] Ving was cast as the main antagonist, a gang leader who murders one of the protagonists, Milo, portrayed by Flea, bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[32] He was also cast as a bartender in Death Rider in the House of Vampires, a Spaghetti Western horror film directed by Glenn Danzig released in 2021.