Murphy's Law is an American hardcore punk band from New York City, formed in 1982. Vocalist Jimmy Drescher remains the only founding member of the band, and the line-up has consisted of numerous musicians who have performed with a diverse selection of musical acts across multiple genres, such as Skinnerbox, Danzig, The Bouncing Souls, Mucky Pup, Dog Eat Dog, Hanoi Rocks, Fishbone, Agnostic Front, Warzone, the Cro-Mags, D Generation, New York Dolls, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, The Slackers, Thursday, Skavoovie and the Epitones, White Trash and Glen Campbell. Over the course of their career, Murphy's Law has released five albums, the last of which, The Party's Over, was released in 2001.
Murphy's Law's self-titled debut album was released in 1986. Their second album, Back with a Bong!, was released in 1989 on Profile Records, and subsequently re-released on Another Planet Records in 1994, with the previous self-titled album on the same disc. The band underwent a transformation, with Jimmy Drescher being the only remaining member. Alex Morris had been replaced on guitar by Todd Youth â previously of fellow New York City hardcore bands, Agnostic Front and Warzone, and later of Danzig. Chuck Valle replaced Pete Martinez on bass, and Doug E. Beans took over drumming duties from Petey Hines. In 1989, Murphy's Law opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their Mother's Milk tour.
Stylistically, Murphy's Law made a jump on The Best of Times (1991). While the band dabbled in skacore long before it exploded, The Best of Times combined funk, reggae, ska, and hardcore. The album was produced by Fishbone's John "Norwood" Fisher and Philip "Fish" Fisher, containing guest instrumentation from several members of Fishbone.
Dedicated was released by Another Planet on March 19, 1996. The label had already picked up the rights to their previous material from Profile Records and in 1994 had released a split CD with the self-titled and Back with a Bong! albums on the same disc.
Dedicated was produced by Daniel Rey, who also wrote "Greenbud" on the album. It follows 1993's Good for Now EP and the 1991 studio album The Best of Times. Dedicated was dedicated to former bass player, Chuck Valle, who was killed in a knife related incident in 1994. His picture appears on the back page of the CD inlay and a picture of a tattoo inscribed with the words "In Memory of Chuck" appears on the jewel case inlay. The band did not record another album until The Party's Over in 2001, but released singles, compilations, and split EPs with other bands in between. In 2002 Reflex/Wolfpack Records released a European vinyl pressing of The Party's Over.
In 2002, the band appeared in Matthew Barney's film Cremaster 3 along with Agnostic Front. In 2004, the song "Vicky Crown" appeared in a music video montage featuring Nick Mondo in the game Backyard Wrestling 2. In 2008, the song "A Day in the Life" was featured, as well as Jimmy G. himself as the DJ of Liberty City Hardcore (L.C.H.C) radio station in the action videogame Grand Theft Auto IV.
On April 12, 2010, Murphy's Law announced in a MySpace blog entry that they were working on a sixth studio album as well as a DVD and vinyl reissues of their back catalog. On May 4, 2011, it was announced that Murphy's Law were signed to I Scream Records, who were scheduled to release the band's first studio album of original material since 2001's The Party's Over, as well as reissues of their back catalog. The reissued albums were released on CD, digital download, and vinyl in 2014 with previously unreleased bonus tracks. There had been no news or updates on new music from Murphy's Law until April 2025, when the band announced that they were in the studio recording a new album. Their first song in 24 years, "Go, Jimmy, Go!", was released digitally as a single in October 2025.