Beat Happening met while attending The Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band took its name from a student art film, "Beatnik Happening", made by Bret's girlfriend. The band's basic line-up was drums, guitar and vocals, though when they formed their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Heather once joked in an interview that the history of the band could be told through a list of the various people whose drums they'd borrowed. Heather and Calvin had been members of a previous band and approached Bret, who had no musical experience at the time, saying they ought to start a band and go to Japan.