Bad Brains

Bad Brains were a beautiful mess of a band, a crew of black D.C.-area hardcore fanatics
with Rastafarian leanings and an astounding gift for taut, aggressive, snarling blasts of punk.
Banned in D.C. spans their Eighties work: Early tracks such as "Pay to Cum," "I" and "Banned
in D.C." display a band in unrestrained fury -- quick, sinister guitar lines, unhinged
drumming, lyrics just this side of comprehensible. Even when the group veered... More >

As hardcore fans have always known, they were as historic a band as Fugazi or Black Flag. And as the subtitle knows, they weren't about songwriting--this was a band band, one of the few with the talent, experience, discipline, and love to bend master chops to a downpressed style. There are no weak links or even unequal partners. Sure H.R. and Dr. Know got the attention, but skank scholar Darryl Jenifer and power polymath Earl Hudson stand just as proud. From this seminal unit proceed both Living Colour and Limp Bizkit--every metallurgist who saw that guitar heroism had to get faster and funkier. A great sound--and a lyric sheet you'll need. (Grade: A)