Along with other early melodic punk bands JFA, Minor Threat and The Big Boys, San Francisco's Code of Honor is considered to be one of the founders of a movement dubbed Skate Punk. Code of Honor played cynical and political hardcore punk with frantic energy. In the summer of 1979, Code of Honor guitarist Michael D. Fox and Steve Tupper founded Subterranean Records as a vehicle to document the rabidly growing San Francisco punk scene. The label went on to release classic underground recordings by proto-grunge band Flipper as well as the Dead Kennedys, Chrome, Helios Creed and many others.

Lead singer Johnithin Christ passed away on March 5, 2009 due to complications of pneumonia. He had successfully survived a brain tumor but the chemotherapy and steroids depleted his immune system. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.