See Hear Podcast - Bad Brains: A Band In DC

Punk music branched out in the late 70s / early 80s into a harder, faster, thrashier style than its earlier predecessor. If (as is often claimed) the original wave of punk was a reaction to the complexity of prog and the lack of danger in other forms of popular music, then hardcore was the next phase of that during the era of post-punk. It was about catharsis and screaming out about injustice.

Then there was Bad Brains.

Welcome to episode 129 of See Hear Podcast.

Tim has selected the 2012 documentary Bad Brains: A Band In DC for round table discussion. Bad Brains brought something different to the table for their time. In America in the early eighties, punk bands generally weren't playing reggae music as a regular part of their sets. Certain British bands were combining punk energy with a reggae outlook in their music. Bad Brains had gone from being influenced by the jazz fusion stylings of Return To Forever to being converted to punk via the Sex Pistols (already making them unique). Seeing Bob Marley perform made them convert to Rastafarianism and incorporate reggae as well as hardcore punk into their music – not a hybrid, but two sides of the same coin.

The documentary goes back and forth between current day events (at the time of filming) and archival footage of the band to tell their story. We get a worrisome start with a “how-did-we-get-here?” approach to the rest of the film.....a trope I'm quite fond of. In a way, the Bad Brains tale could be the story of millions of bands, but they're seen as hugely exciting pioneers of what they do. Many important bands that followed sang their praises as an influence (Beastie Boys, Nirvana....)

HR, their “lead throat” gradually became more and more unstable in his behaviour, and in a time where no one was using the expression “mental health”, his behaviour was probably explained away as “that's just HR”, rather than investigating if there was something wrong.

Sadly, Kerry wasn't available, but Tim and I discussed positive mental attitudes, wearing motorcycle helmets on stage, not showing up to gigs, punk that wasn't nihilistic, and much more. The film may be found online at: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6e5wnw

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