John S. Hall (born John Charles Hall, September 2, 1960) is an American poet, author, singer and lawyer perhaps best known for his work with King Missile, an avant-garde band that he co-founded in 1986 and has since led in various incarnations. Biography Early life John S. Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Manhattan's West Village. He recalls being "very quiet and shy" as a child and a social outcast as an adolescent. In 1978 he graduated from Stuyvesant High School. Participation in poetry scene In the early 1980s, Hall began participating in the Lower East Side poetry scene. He read his poems at such venues as Speakeasy and ABC No Rio. According to performance poet Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Hall "became an easily recognizable figure in the scene: pale, bald, dressed mostly in black and white, with wire-rimmed glasses and a porkpie hat." Hall has long been a vocal opponent of slam poetry, taking issue with such factors as its inherently competitive nature and what he considers its lack of stylistic diversity. In a 2005 interview by Aptowicz, he recalled seeing his first slam, at the Nuyorican Poets Café: Despite his reservations about slam poetry, Hall has performed alongside slam poets on such television programs as PBS's The United States of Poetry, MTV's Spoken Word Unplugged, and HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. Early bands Hall performed in at least two musical groups before co-founding King Missile. One was Purple Sunshine, a "hippie band" Hall started because he "was really into hippies and LSD, and tuning in and dropping out, and all that stuff." The other was You Suck, which Hall says was inspired by a band led by punk musician Mykel Board: Over the objections of the band, Board released the You Suck single with a pornographic album cover. The single was not a commercial success, and the band broke up shortly after its release. King Missile In 1985, Hall began presenting his work at open mic poetry readings. After three shows, he became a "featured" poet at the Backfence, a performance space in Manhattan's East Village. In 1986, feeling that "20 minutes of me reading poetry would be totally boring"," Hall asked his guitarist friend Dogbowl to augment his performances with original music. Dogbowl agreed, and with the addition of bassist Alex DeLaszlo, drummer R.B. Korbet, and xylophonist George O'Malley, King Missile (Dog