The boys made their first television appearance on Philadelphia's "Dancin' On Air", which was a locally produced American Bandstand clone that featured school girls dancing to their favorite songs. Although it wasn't apparent at the time, the show's producers had booked the group as a gag (figuring that their unusual "look" would provide some sort of freak show) to augment their yearly Halloween segment. All they had to do was set up their equipment and lip synch to "Party Hardy". Pretty simple, right? They hadn't counted on the reaction of several fourteen or fifteen year old girls who got a little too close to the stage and quickly came unglued at the sight of Luis, Gregg, Dave, Kevin and Brian wailing away. The segment barely made it to tape when some of the girls, obviously overwhelmed at what they were witnessing, burst into tears and had to be escorted out of the studio. Teeze was never invited back, but did manage to engrave their name on the bathroom wall next to a then-unknown going by the name of Madonna.

Plenty of "underground" street buzz was spreading about this maniacle glam band from Philly. Articles and reviews started appearing in music magazines as well as traditional mainstream media (an early color shot appeared in Oui magazine). SMC Productions, the group's management firm, also licensed one song to lead off a heavy metal compilation album called "Iron Tyrants", which was released by World Metal Report magazine.

It was also during this time that the band began transitioning the new songs into their regular three-set per night stage show. Before the year was out, most of the cover songs were gone and the show was trimmed down to one 90 minute blast of metal mayhem complete with local opening bands. Even though Teeze had always attracted record setting crowds to their club gigs, the group decided to test its strength by doing a special holiday concert at a VFW hall known as Forest Lodge in Sellersville, PA in December. The idea for the gig was to celebrate the impending release of the album and thank the fans for being so patient at the same time. Well, some folks to this very day still claim it was the unlimited supply of beer and lack of security personnel that caused one long, unforgettable, crazy night. Approximately 1500 rowdy fans showed up, got loaded, fought and partied until the sun came up. Teeze rocked so hard that the hall's huge circuit breakers were blown more than once, the stand holding the soundboard collapsed and crashed to the floor and Gregg Malack's Marshall caught fire and threatened to burn the whole building down! Female fans were still crying for more as the group fled the stage and local police arrived to pick up the pieces.

The stage was set as the New Year began with anticipation of the group's first album. "Teeze" ( SMC-1200) was released on February 4th on the group's own blood-red SMC label. The group's management had no idea what to expect when that first pressing of 2000 copies soldout within days and they were forced to rush release a second pressing of an additional 5000 to meet demand. A special concert was planned at the historic Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA (co-promoted by WYSP and featuring the legendary Dead End Kids as support) to raise funds for further pressings. The group's management had been actively trying to get major label interest, but had met with rejection probably due to their extreme appearance. One major independent distributor, California's Greenworld Distribution, did express interest and sent their New York office down to check out the band. Greenworld was a major worldwide distributor of heavy metal and punk titles and had released Motley Crue's Leathur Records debut and LPs by Slayer, Megadeth, Great White and Keel, among others.

It was the comparison with Crue that got their attention and, after experiencing the Keswick show while a blizzard of snow raged outside, they signed Teeze to a one album exclusive distribution deal. A sub-licensing agreement was also reached with Holland's Roadrunner label for all territories outside the US. The original eight track album was re-designed, repackaged and remastered. "On The Run" was added to the new LP re-issue and "Crank It Up" was added as a tenth song to the cassette release. A special picture disc was also planned but never released. The Greenworld re-issue hit the streets in June and was an immediate hit. The new improved full color cover was brutally shocking in its presentation. Long time fans accustomed to Teeze's colorful, shredded look now had an LP cover in dripping color to hang on their walls. The back cover photo was a live shot taken from the February Keswick concert.

Critic response from around the world was swift and unanimous: Pennsylvania Musician's Metal Mike Davis proclaimed them "red hot...power metal from the tightest outfit since Victoria Principal's sweater"; the Aquarian Weekly's Bill Chemerka pleaded "you've got to check out Teeze, Pennsylvania's most impressive heavy metal band"; the August 24th issue of Billboard called the album "an all-out heavy metal assault"; Circus called Teeze "a cross between Aerosmith and Kiss by way of Rush"; and Baltimore's Relaxer East described it as "two sides of metal madness that will placate the most discriminating head-banger". But perhaps it was Malcolm Dome from England's hallowed Kerrang! Magazine that summed it up best by declaring "I've unwrapped a wild one here.Teeze are truly wonderful and their anthemic 'Party Hardy' is a worthy successor to Kiss' 'Rock And Roll All Nite'...the next smokin' Motley Crue!"