The brainchild of South Carolina punk legend Chuck Walker, Bedlam Hour was SC's primary proponent of the straight-edge movement. The most prolific of the SC punk bands, Bedlam Hour released several full-length records on vinyl, including the pop-punk masterpiece "Rock the Cradle". Later, bands such as Green Day and Blink 182 would score massive hits with a sound Bedlam Hour embraced in the mid-1980s.

Bedlam Hour's music was punctuated by catchy hooks and deft guitar work, but the true heart of the band's creativity lay in Walker's lyrics. 10 years before "emo," Walker penned sensitive, introspective and poetic lyrics that struck a chord with kids in the punk, metal and straight-edge scenes.

Bedlam Hour was known all over the southeast United States for its wild live shows in which the band would feed the audience freshly-made snacks (made on stage with a small waffle iron). The band's core lineup in the late 1980's was made up of Walker (guitar, vocals), Scott Frey (drums) and Adam (bass), who often appeared on stage clad only in an adult-size diaper.

One of the most long-lived of the SC punk bands, Bedlam Hour continued to release material through the late 1990's with several different lineups fronted by Walker, though many fans still point to "Rock the Cradle" as the band's definitive work.