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Punk rock on steroids
The Bad Brains and the search for that color-blind, stage-dive-inducing hardcore sound
By Rory Sazama
Punk rock received a frantic reevaluation in late 1979 from a group of four young African-Americans (H.R., Darryl, Earl Hudson and Dr. Know) hailing from the Washington, D.C., known as The Bad Brains.
They managed to Americanize the punk rock music emanating from the United Kingdom at the time and to single-handedly break down all racial barriers within that music genre.
Largely influenced by the early recordings of The Clash, Sex Pistols and Bob Marley and Rastafarian lifestyle, The Bad Brains played a frenzied version of punk rock (known as hardcore) at breakneck tempos, perhaps only comparable to hearing a record played at twice the intended speed.
The brief, bombastic approach to songwriting would become the blueprint for all music in this genre to follow. The Bad Brains quickly established themselves as thee quintessential American hardcore band. In a genre where musical competency was shunned, mocked or considered unnecessary, The Bad Brains showed that it was essential to be good at an instrument.
A high level of technical proficiency was needed in order to play music at such breakneck speeds and still be inspirational.
Dr. Know’s furious and complex guitar work remains grossly underrated, a byproduct of dismissal of any movement in music that is not easily digestible, but also to the lack of respect and credit that African-American musicians tend to receive.
From Minor Threat and the scores of bands that sprouted up from the Washington, D.C., scene in the early 1980s to current day hip-hop stars The Roots, no band has been more cited by other musicians of youth-oriented music as one of the most important groups of the last 25 years.
Perhaps even more significant was the effect the band had on the tearing down and disregarding of racial barriers within the punk rock scene. The Bad Brains thrived in a predominantly young, white music environment. They proved that people of any race or religious background could not only be a part of a movement in music, but also be accepted not because they were “cool black guys who happened to play punk rock” but because they were passionately creative human beings — human beings who were crafting mind-blowing, stage-dive-inducing hardcore music.
The bulk of the early recordings by The Bad Brains still retain a sense of volatile and frantic energy that seems to make a lot of what is considered punk rock by today’s standards more akin to Barry Manilow’s musical output.
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