The groups is now best-known as featuring musician Matthew Sweet, before he went on to greater success as a solo performer.

Sweet grew up in Lincoln in a musical family, and as a child he learned to play multiple instruments; by his early teens he was already a very proficient bass player, having practiced the complicated bass lines of Yes records for hours every day.

[1][2] While in junior high school, he met some of the Specs' other band members, who were all college students, at a music store (Correction: he did not meet the other members at a music store but was invited to a band practice by David Snider, who was an acquaintance).

[2] As the Specs, they started performing more new wave and 1960s music (Correction: these were songs The Specs were covering as Spectrum, prior to Mr. Sweet being invited to join the band), by bands such as the Jam, the Vibrators, the Yardbirds and the Who.

[6] In 1983, Sweet left Lincoln to be part of the Athens, Georgia music scene and became a member of Oh-OK, Community Trolls and the Buzz of Delight,[1][2] before going on to have a successful solo career.