On Thursday, January 24th, 1985, Government Cheese played our first gig ever. It can’t be. But it’s true. Government Cheese, in all its loud, licentious glory, has just turned 40 years old. 

We christened the newly built party room behind the Sig Ep house, a square spartan cinderblock and cement affair with no heat. It was freezing outside, thus inside as well. We played in our coats. 

There is no recording of that gig, and it wasn’t a show you’d expect from a band that was going to last four years. A few weeks later we played the Alibi on Quarter Beer Night. We were better, tighter, and had learned a few more songs. Then we played again. And again, we were better than the gig before. It kept going like that, and on Monday, July 8th of ’85, we played Picasso’s for the first time and sold the place out.

We got a van and cultivated reputations in Louisville, Lexington and Nashville. Then in Knoxville, and then Murfreesboro, and then Carbondale, then we got on MTV and found ourselves playing CBGB in Manhattan, J.C. Dobb’s in Philadelphia, Fitzgerald’s in Houston, Canal St. in Dayton, Bogart’s in Cincinnati, the 40 Watt in Athens, the Continental in Austin. And for years, ever since that first freezing night 40 years ago, we never played a gig that wasn’t at least slightly better than the gig before it. 

40 years. Thanks to all of you Cheeseheads near and far, past and present, for being the best fans and friends a rock and roll band could ever ask for. 

And don’t throw away those dancing shoes just yet. We’re not done.