The Nuns and Crime were formed before the word punk denoted a particular type of music. When people saw them in the early days, may realized that there was something different about them, and that a fresh energy had been infused into the dying musical expression know as rock 'n roll. It was the beginning of the rebirth of the club scene. The Nuns and Crime represented an older group of people who were bored with the status quo represented by the established order. The Avengers and other bands that followed were presented with a opportunity to express their ideas through punk. They were the first of many bands who thought of themselves as punks and part of a new generation of rebellious youth.

"I heard that Blondie was playing the Mabuhay so I went to see them. Crime was the opening band. I went there to see this Crime thing because I read about them in Rock Scene magazine. I thought they looked real cool and they were different, so we went to the Mabuhay. I could not believe what I saw. I mean, here was this band trashing shit, out of tune, they were horrible. Me and John were laughing but they were popular with the crowd. It was this new realm of lets-be-trashy-and-obnoxious-and-get-away-with-it."
Brittley Black

1977 was a year with a lot of activity on the local scene. The Mabuhay was hot and bands were coming from all over to play there. Blondie, the Damned, Ramones, and Devo, among others. New bands were being formed all the time: The place was packed almost every night with people coming to see what all the excitement was about. Punk and the Mabuhay became overnight sensations.

"Me and Tim Mooney used to see Ricky Williams walking up and down University Avenue in Palo Alto. He was out of place there. He always looked like a singer to me, so one day I asked him if he would be interested in getting together with Tim and I to sing. He just flat said, 'No, I'm a drummer.' A month or so later I ran into him and he wanted me to come and play with him over at Paul Draper's house. He had not only been playing with Crime at the time, but he had been jamming with Paul, who played bass. So I went over to their apartment and we played. The cops came over and tried to bust us because we were playing in this apartment in Redwood City. I thought what they were doing was kind of interesting. I really wanted to get Tim Mooney involved and I wanted to convince Ricky to sing. He decided to give it a shot but he was so nervous about singing he had to take a lot of Quaalludes and get drunk in order to sing. He sounded really bad. Tim and I got fed up and we quit trying to do anything with him. A couple of months later he called and said, 'Let's try doing it again.' This time, we rented some time in a rehearsal studio in San Jose. Things just clicked right away and we didn't have the problems we had before. Ricky stopped getting really fucked up and we just started writing songs. We were able to write a lot of material in a few months.
"I remember Ricky playing me a record that he did with Crime. It was the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. I thought, if these guys could make a record, then we're ready to play in the City. We came up and got booked at the Mabuhay Christmas night, 1977, and that was our first gig."
Michael Belfer