Screeching Weasel back, more intense than ever

On the list of underground legends of Chicago rock, few bands rank higher than Screeching Weasel.

Formed in the mid-'80s in suburban Prospect Heights by childhood friends Ben Foster, better known as Ben Weasel and the group's vocalist and primary songwriter, and John Pierson, a k a Jughead, punk guitarist extraordinaire and sometimes co-songwriter, Screeching Weasel was the punk band that made it cool again to embrace bubblegum melodies -- the missing link between the Ramones and the Buzzcocks and pop-punk's modern-day platinum-selling heroes Green Day, Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy.

Yet though the band's most successful album, "Boogada Boogada Boogada!" (1988), has sold more …