How Bad Brains created a new punk genre
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- Опубліковано 25 кві 2024
- Bad Brains combined elements of hardcore punk, reggae, funk, and any other music they liked into one explosive new sound. This is the story of how this band from Washington D.C. took over the punk community.
#badbrains #punk #punkrock #musichistory
We played in suburban punk rock n roll bands as teenagers until we heard bad brains....then we played hardcore. Their contributions to punk culture deserves recognition. They changed everything fir us in 1980.
I saw BB live in 1990. This was obviously more than a decade into their career. They were full on INSANE. Metal, punk, hardcore, reggae all melded together. 100% originality.
A white kid from suburbia sees these guys, and gets to hang out with them.. insane energy, years later on the night of our senior prom while waiting for the bus to providence a limo pulls up and the kids scream LOSER! I smile , flip them off and go see one of the greatest shows of my life at lupus heartbreak hotel. Also had rock for light stuck in my piece of shit cars tape deck all through high school you could say it was my soundtrack, What a time my teacher for a class called media studies was the bartender at the club and I was able to force the class to listen to rock for light on vinyl.. was such a fuckin great and strange time to be a teen. God bless these dudes. The good the bad and the ugly. I still got a little PMA. I THINK😜😂
That’s funny, I was also musically influenced by a high school Media Studies/Graphic Design teacher around 2004, but the Bad Brains lured me in. He was once in a punk band and rode a Harley to school every day which seemed like an ironic decision for this tall, soft spoken, pensive guy with fair features that all the girls had a crush on. One day I saw the Bad Brains self-titled album on his desk next to Purple Rain and a couple other CDs. Anyway, that contrast really influenced my mixtapes/mp3 filled CD-RWs and general taste in music. It may have even influenced my visual design choices throughout a design undergraduate program too, like the saying, contrast is the spice of life.
@@Thuja814 radical. Did you ever get into pushead? The artist??
Seen em live in Tacoma wa. The band came out started playing then HR came jumping 5 feet in the air looking like a jester with 3 huge dreds on his head. Everyother band member were standing by their amps. But HR needed the rest of the stage. One of my top ten gigs I've ever been to.
Remember bang crammed into this venue in San Francisco that was called the Trocadero Transfer or the Bridge Club, depending in the year, for the God of Love Reunion show. The entire audience moved in a wave. There was no pit just a wall of flesh and humanity. HR controlled the audience, standing stock still. He just held the mic and sang a few songs like that, then when he did start dancing the crowd lost their minds. Walked out of that club soaked to the bone. I took my shirt off and wrang t out on the sidewalk wishing that I could do the same with my jeans. It was many years later that I would see them at Slim's in San Francisco on the Build a Nation tour, and it was at this show that I realized that it wasn't about HR anymore. He seemed to just be such a small part of this whole thing now. I guess that none of us were as young or as Naive as we used to be.
I got to hang with them in New York and then later opened for them twice, once in the band Aerobic Death and another time in Agent 86.
That’s awesome!
That ROIR cassette was like a religious sacrament for my crew. We had different nationalities, ages, and levels of society but were united by our quest for sex, drugs, rock n roll and every other type of music that tickled our fancy. From Classical to Cumbia. None of us were punks but some of us liked the pistols, Devo, etc.
Brains at CBGBs in 80, 81, was bonkers. The best live show ever. And they were super accessible. Darryl had a crush on a girl in our crew. She liked him too but she was in high school. We hung out backstage and watched HR talk smack in Jamaican patois. lol We thought he was the most.
HR invited me and a buddy to the home of the Bad Brains. Some barren, huge warehouse in a busted part of Brooklyn. Bushwick I think. 80' or 81'? This neighborhood was the edge of nowhere. I'm born and raised in the hood but this seemed liked 3Xs that. HR got us so high on ganja. HIGH af!! They lived there with their rasta women who mostly kept out of view. He asked about our musical plans and we gave him half baked juvenile answers. Mostly he was a dude, a rock star older brother. Then it was time for practice. With few words and no fuss all 4 Bad Brains came together like Voltron in the practice area of the warehouse and and blew our minds playing songs, almost every one of them was new and all were AMAZING. Blew our brains 🧠 🧠 🙄🤪 !!! Phenom experience.
Dave Dictor, from MDC, said it best, "Could of been the most important band."
I'm reminded of another music hero of mine, Syd Barrett. Mental illness is really insidious, and the last people to recognize it and take appropriate action are other stoners. Anyways, Rock On!
Bad Brains Live is one of my all time favorite albums, ever. That said, Bad Brains is one of my favorite bands ever. Great Video!
In their prime, they'd smoke any/all bands.🔥
Yes yes yes
Amazing video my man! Very informative and you waist no time at all! You touch on key elements but dont dwell on about it. I love this. Keep making this type of content please! Keep up the great work! 🙌
House of Suffering is the best Bad Brains track and I will die on this hill!
Better than Sailin’ On? IDK
Big Takeover
Yes. It's the song where HR reaches the highest, vocally and emotionally, and succeeds.
The whole of I Against I though.
I saw them as Soul Brains at Maritime Hall in SF in 01, amazing show, besides catching a spin kick to the head in the pit I went backstage and downed a pitcher of of beer for the headache
Didn't know he was originally English, I saw them in my home town UK in the 80's absolutely blew me away and then randomly picked up a hitchhiker a few years later who had been to the same gig and we remembered each other at that point lol
Top 3 American punk bands (in no order) the Ramones,the Misfits & mufukkin Bad Brains 🖤🤘🏻🤤
Favorite band since I first heard the ROIR tape around 1988.
excellent video, mate!
the I & I Survived dub album is fantastic and an extremely under appreciated bad brains album!
Great video, as always! When I first got into punk rock in high school, Bad Brains were the first band I saw where everyone was black. It really hit me that there were people that looked like me and played (and listened to) this music, which is great. Of course, I was disappointed by the homophobia and that made me look at them a little different, but at that time I felt seen by them. Then, I found out about other bands like Pure Hell and Death which have all-black members, and It made me appreciate punk rock even more. Then, I realize there is a whole community around it, Afropunk, which is flourishing even today. Again, this was a great video. Thanks for making it!
(Quick sidenote: I think on future releases of Quickness, "Don't Blow Bubbles" was turned into an instrumental track called "Instrumental." As far as I can tell, the original track still exists on streaming, at least on Spotify.)
Super interesting perspective - thank you!
Check out Negro Terror, you would probably like them too
BAD BRAINS 🎸🧠 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 Thanks For Sharing 🎸🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
The cat in the crowd at the Lawerence, KS show was a skinhead. He was not a racist. He did not spit on HR
He went by Tweety & was one of the nicest, most mellow kids around.
It was my first time catching Bad Brains & we are very excited to catch the band.
I was in college, at KU, & at parties, I would regularly argue that Bad Brains were not only the most seminal group in Hardcore but quite possibly the best R&R to ever come about. Meant it then & still do.
SCHWAAAYYYYY!!!!
I've NEVER seen what Skeeter Thompson looks like!!! Just heard "Another story about Skeeter Thompson" by LATE! like 20 years ago!!
One of Grohl's best tracks EVER!!!🤘🎸🤘🎸🤘🍻🍻
Great Vid .Love this band.
possibly the best hardcore band ever. their later stuff that was more reggae oriented is also great but in such a different way. dynamic to say the least
After BB broke up, HR (the band) would book shows that regularly had iconic local bands like Void, Government Issue, etc opening for touring bands like Husker Du, JFA, Negative Approach, etc - it was a great time to live in DC.
ps I've always heard ROIR pronounced as "roar" -
Another band that I read that influenced Dr. Know was Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke was in it. Romantic Warrior is a great album by them.
Cool video man. Another thing many dont realise was an infleunce was a lot of the heavier bands like Sabbath and Budgie. I remember reading an interview in spin magaxine around the time "quickness" ce out and i think it was Daryl or Gary mentioning that and calling it "dooms day music " Speakjng of Quickness, that album was slept on so much it was a cross over in diversity and jsd the rock appeal like I against I but had more of a variety . God Of love had a mix of both rock and reggae with a few hsrdcore songs . The ROIR tape is my fave i did a whole video duscussing it on my channel - celebrating its 42nd birthday.
Loving your content. ROIR tape is their best work hands down. The energy, the lack of Rick Ocasek's production. Tight.
Totally fair
Black dots > roir s/t
Yo the dad pretty much pulling up a chair and telling his boys to show him what they learned is so dope! That’s love!
This is a very good video sir. Boutta check out some more from you. Definitely got my sub for sure.
Thank you!
Bad Brains are the best live band I’ve ever seen. I was fortunate enough to see them twice. Once in 1983, and again in ‘85. At the ‘85 show, I had my foot on HR’s vocal monitor for the entire show.
That’s awesome!
Bad brains are an absolute classic my favorite track buy them is rise
That RISE album ain't bad. 3 Bad Brains and a stand in is head and shoulders above the rest.
Love this video! My personal favorite album is Quickness. But I Against I is amazing, for sure. I do prefer the live versions on Youth Are Getting Restless though.
Thanks for the great video, very informative. Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
Very well done, thank you! You got that PMA.
Awesome video!
I'm genuinely glad to hear HR might be enjoying better mental health these days. He was erratic, to say the least. I saw the Soul Brains in 2002 or so and honestly, it was a far shout from their glory days. HR was just...not present. I always kinda felt for Dr. Know and Darryl because they're so badass at their instruments as well as just seeming like good dudes.
The You Don't Know Mojack podcast has great interviews with both Darryl and Anthony Countey that are fantastic. The podcast also interviews some of the people involved with HR's solo work. Definitely helps fill in lots of gaps and details about Bad Brains and HR.
And punk/hardcore just flat out wouldn't be the same had they never existed. They blew minds.
I toured with Soul Brains during that era. From my personal experience, I saw HR exhibit severe social anxiety. If he was alone backstage or at the hotel with just the band around, he was very comfortable and at ease and conversational. However, when in public and surrounded by fans he would clam up. I feel this was because most fans treated him like a deity and it was uncomfortable for him to interact
I was in a band in the late 80s called blind Justice from New Haven and we played with human rights at the anthrax in Norwalk ct. then some time after that played with bad brains at a tiny club also in Norwalk. Those was when Israeli was the singer. They were really nice guys that seemed a bit down in their luck. You’d never know that they were the good fathers of hardcore.
The mosh pit theory sounds pretty legit, Sid Vicious started the pogo, along with the Bromley contingent in London
One of my fav bands oat
They were a light in a tunnel. The race didn’t matter. Just the words.
Earl Hudson great drummer and his Wikipedia entry is five lines long. Clearly no one at Wikipedia understands the importance of drums. In one of my early bands we played Batman by Neal Hefti too, although we played The Jam version. They should have played him The Clash who could really play and speaking of great drummers Topper Headon also great so no surprise they found The Clash on their own as no band better at mixing punk and reggae. I know when I looked into the term years ago it is believed moshing comes from the late 70’s So Cal punks.
God of Love was my introduction to the band. I saw them play at Trax in D.C. I had no idea what I was witnessing but the place was packed. Somewhere in my house I still have this flimsy pink promo record from that night.
I grow up skateboarding listening to bad they influenced me,I'm Mexican so they broke down racial 31:56 barrers pma all day. thank you I really enjoyed that makes sense Deftones played with the bad brains cause maverick the record label.
bravo good sir!
Thanks!
I have the snare drum from the recording of i against I….GO!
We got that PMA
I agree with you.
Do Fishbone!
I Against I best song
Minor Threat Vid was killer! Thanks 4 all u Do
Thank you!
you're genuinely becoming one of my favorite youtubers, thank you very much for this one🙏 i'd love to see a video about the smashing pumpkins at some point too
That’s very nice - thank you!
Yeah their live album in Amsterdam, Youth are Getting Restless was my introduction to them and it was pure fire. I think Rollins Band played that same show, because they had a live track recorded there, Maybe "Do It"? or something off that EP.
That is such a vicious album, the hardcore right after the reggae......
David Vanian was born in 1956 not 1967
Great ending! Good thinking!!, "if you clicked on this you , you know the Impact". All the clicks I waste watching ppl regurgitate old info , this was refreshing and worth a Subscription. The content was fresh as well!
Heavy
its called a skim board, and its the funnest thing you can do on the beach if you cant surf
FUCK YEAH!!!!!!
HUNTING ROD?!?
As much as I love the first record, I couldn't believe how much better the production was on _Pay to Cum_ off _Banned in DC._ And the 'slower' _Black Dots_ version.
Dave Vanian Definitely wasn't born in 1967, not unless New Rose came out when he was ten.
Nice review, I enjoyed it. I'm in my latter 40s and got really into punk in the 80s as a 11-15 year old skateboarder. Was into the misfits, circle jerks, and such, but remember hearing Bad Brains and being blown away by their sound. Still love the song Big Takeover! I knew that HR had some chronic serious mental health issues (assumed schizophrenia or bipolar) but did not know about some of the more homophobic stuff and all that. People were not as open minded back then for sure, but I would venture to guess that his mental health issues played a role in a lot of the reported unstable and erratic behavior. Good to hear he's been doing better. I think i recall that some big bands had a benefit show for him in recent years.
Mental issues mixed with cluster headaches which is also called suicide disease. It's so painfully most people kill themselves
Saw bad brains in Cleveland w chuck mosley from faith no more singing. You did not mention him in this video. Not that I am a huge fan of fnm just thought you missed something. Ps bb is also the reason why the beastie boys have thier name hense the bb. You also didn’t mention that Mca from the b boys produced a bad brains record. Rest in peace mca
They are great Hardline.
What's your cat's name?
Ajax! I have another one named Echo, a little calico who might be in past videos I dunno
I love listening to suburban white kids describe what inspires me.
Those "waterboard things", are called "wake boards" =^.^=
That’s what I thought, but they called em water boards in the book 🤷♂️
Stay with someone who looks at you the way your cat does ;)
Haha he is good at getting what he wants
Please do Meat Puppets video
Bad Brains are kinda overrated as a whole. They were fucking awesome as fuck until like 1985-ish. Apparently one of those bands you'd get scared to play with simply because you knew you were going to get blown off stage, and for good reason. I'm not even going to pretend anything they've done after 'I Against I' is any good. Seeing them play live nowadays is just sad.
There is the argument that the Hardcore genre is somewhat defined by a particular “Hardcore beat”, and that that beat hadn’t been played that fast until Earl and the Bad Brains. They were the first.
Check out The Middle Class Out Of Vogue EP They were playing just as fast before BB
ROIR is pronounced "roar"..now you know...
Yeah but a lot of people listen to these instead of watching them so I figured I should spell it out so they didn’t get confused
@soundofhistory_ it's also known as the yellow tape..as there were a few releases in different colours..yellow one is the first one..I collect ROIR tapes.
I didn’t know that - sounds like a cool collection!
All sorts of stuff on that label..the tapes have been fun to chase but have gotten more difficult to find nowdays..from bad brains and germs to brother Bernard rocking the gospel ..suicide..sigue sigue Sputnik.. nico.. Johnny Thunders..etc etc..
Bad Brains are considered a hardcore band and they did not invent the genre.
Then who did? I’d argue they have as much of a claim as anyone
@@soundofhistory_ Black Flag and The Middle Class were both before Black Dots was recorded..
Black Flag and Bad Brains were formed in the same year and released albums around the same time. The Middle Class formed later than both. But I think it’s fair to say they all had a hand in creating it
@@soundofhistory_ The question is Who invented a new genre. Nervous Breakdown EP was recorded in January 1978 and released February 1979. Out of Vogue EP was released in 1978. Black Dots demos were recorded in 1979 and released in 1996. Bad Brains were third on the hardcore tip.
Release date is only part of it. The bands didn’t have great distribution and there’s very little to say that too many people in DC had these west coast albums. I think Bad Brains created something that Black Flag was also creating on the other side of the country at he same time
Clash already did it (mixed punk in reggae, listen to their first album), I like bad brains but they aren’t as innovative as people want to say.
That is certainly a take.
@@johnchedsey1306 ya it’s a fact
No, it’s a take
@@kyleinnes4963 big facts
@@sawyer_Benton Big takes sunny
Again.....talk, talk, talk...where are the musical examples ?
Talk to UA-cam’s copyright system, not me. Is this your first time on UA-cam?
It's bad brains not the bad brains😂😂😂
People, including members of the band, say both
@@soundofhistory_ I've never seen any of their shirts or album covers say The Bad Brains...just saying 🤔
You do realize there's a whole Bad Brains official documentary, right? What's the point of this video? Are you some sort of expert?
Yes. I am the one and only expert, only listen to me on all things Bad Brains. Have you never been on UA-cam before?
got to do descendents next😢😢
That actually is next haha. It’ll still be a bit though - gotta finish up grad school work