The Beakers had roots in the creative scene of Olympia, Washington,'s The Evergreen State College where singer and guitarist Mark Haskell Smith and drummer George Romansic first had met.
[4] Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil (who became a fan of the band in 1980 while still residing in Park Forest, Illinois) stressed the "quirky, herky-jerky, [...] chaotic, edgy element of new wave" that characterised the group's style.
[6] The Beakers released a 7" single on the independent Mr. Brown record label (an offshoot of the Lost Music Network, more known for OP Magazine), containing the two songs "Red Towel" and "Football Season is in Full Swing" and featuring an altered version of Pablo Picasso's classic painting Guernica on the cover which was designed by Joellyn Rock.
The single received a positive review by NME, praising the "push-pull rhythms [and] stuttering horns, laced and livened with farcical tootings, clever asides and nonsense ravings" in "Red Towel".
), Jon King (of Gang of Four), Roz Allen (of Delta 5), and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden among others, all praising the band's originality and creativity in the then still punk-hostile music scene of Seattle in the early 1980s.