I was in fourth grade when I heard Bad Brains’ “Pay To Cum” on my sister’s copy of the Alternative Tentacles compilation Let Them Eat Jellybeans. It really stood out from the rest of the tracks. It was lightning fast and catchy, the kind of thing I wanted to sing along to. Unfortunately the lyrics were sung so rapidly that they were unintelligable. I could make out a few words here and there but the rest was anybody’s guess, so I would sometimes just make up my own words, like I did with the Misfits. Later I would learn that Bad Brains were pioneers in what was known in the early 1980′s as hardcore punk. Earlier hardcore sounded much different than what is considered hardcore today. Bands such as D.O.A., Circle Jerks and Black Flag were considered to be hardcore. These days I don’t even know what hardcore is. I’ve heard everything from Neurosis to Slapshot be labeled hardcore. Eh – what’s in a genre label anyway?
Bad Brains originally recorded several of their classic tracks such as “Attitude,” “Big Takeover,” and “Sailin’ On” for a self-titled cassette released on the ROIR label in 1982. These sessions have been reissued several times on cassette, LP and CD with different packaging over the years. In 1983, much of this material was re-recorded with much more polished production (courtesy of Ric Ocasek) for the Rock For Light album. The better production does not reduce the edge and power of the material. The punk tracks are very fast, but not so fast that melodic qualities end up in a jumbled mess. The vocals are very distinctive and fluctuate from low to high pitched with the occasional squeal. Occasional straight-up reggae songs provide breaks in the action.
Quickness is Bad Brains 2nd best album behind Rock For Light. Released in 1989 and elusive on vinyl, it finds the band moving towards metal-punk fusion. The tempos are slower and the guitar tone is much heavier. The first track, “Soul Craft,” begins with singer H.R. scat-singing in what sounds like an empty room before the full band kicks in, very loudly with a heavy riff that practically knocks you over. From the moment I heard “Soul Craft” and the follow-up track “Voyage Into Infinity,” I knew this album was something special. Quickness is one of those albums that sounds just as fresh today as it did in 1989. Except for some of the politics…. the last track on side 2, “Don’t Blow Bubbles,” has been criticized for being homophobic. The lyrics are not particularly flagrant, and verses like “don’t blow no spikes, don’t blow no fudge buns” seem kind of silly. In more recent interviews, members of Bad Brains have stated that they no longer hold the same viewpoint that they did when they wrote it.
Black Dots is a basement-studio 4 track recording session from 1979, Bad Brains first ever time in any kind of studio. Well, not all of them were actually in the basment studio space…. Although the recording was done live, HR was set up with a microphone outside in the backyard. It’s interesting to hear these primordial versions of Bad Brains classics like “Regulator” and “Don’t Bother Me.” Tempos are slightly slower than you might expect, except for the title track which sounds like it could have been taken right out of the Rock For Light sessions. The raw home-brewed production captures the guitar crunch and makes for a very powerful sound. Released in 1996 by Caroline with a limited run on white vinyl, Black Dots is a great record for either long-time fans or first time listeners. I prefer it to the ROIR sessions.
