Greg Kihn - vocals, guitar; Gary Phillips - keyboards; Greg Douglass - guitar, vocals; Steve Wright - bass; Larry Lynch - drums, vocals
Kihnspiracy, the album Greg Kihn released in 1983, was the big breakthrough album that would firmly establish him as an MTV rock 'n' roll hero. Featuring the infectious single "Jeopardy", the album would be his most successful to date, and that single would take Kihn to the #2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
Kihn had been working the country (especially his own Northern California region) with his super-tight Greg Kihn Band since 1976, and by the time this show was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, GKB was one of the best live acts in the US.
Musically, Kihn, during this period of the 80s, was rivaled only by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and the Boss. In addition to the obvious, original hits ("Talkin' To Myself," "Jeopardy," "The Break-Up Song," and "Testify") he surprises the audience with a handful of great covers, most notably Little Richard's "Keep A Knockin'" and Patsy Cline's immortal country gem "I Fall To Pieces."
Kihn, an aspiring singer-songwriter who had migrated from his native Baltimore, Maryland, to San Francisco in 1974, had worked on and off as a disc jockey while developing his own musical chops.
Shortly after landing in the Bay Area, Kihn became one of the first artists signed to Matthew Kaufman's fledgling indie label, Beserkley Records. Beserkley had made a splash with such Bay Area artists as Jonathon Richman & the Modern Lovers and Earthquake. But it was Kihn, with his keen sense of radio-friendly melodies, who went on to be Beserkley's bestselling artist. After a slot on a popular Beserkley compilation, Kihn formed the first version of the Greg Kihn Band with Ronnie Dunbar on guitar and backing vocals, Steve Wright on bass, and Larry Lynch on drums.
Kihn stayed with Beserkley for several years, and the success of his later hit singles, "The Break Up Song" and "Jeopardy," secured a major-label distribution deal for the cutting-edge record company from the late 1970s, onward. By 1985, Kihn's popularity began to wane and he started working with smaller labels, such as Clean Cuts out of his native Baltimore.
He returned to work as a morning DJ, and kept touring sporadically through the 1990s. He launched a third career as a successful novelist and author in 1996. His first book, Horror Show, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award.