Song:Big Takeover
Album:Banned In D.C.: Bad Brains Greatest Riffs
The one big change in today's music business is bands can easily distribute their own music. That wasn't the case when Bad Brains started out in the 80s. It was a big barrier for them to be anything more than a cult band. Bad Brains were a mix of punk and reggae. They are from Washington, DC. They started out in 1976 as the jazz fusion group Mind Power. Then they were influenced by The Sex Pistols to change to punk and call themselves Bad Brains. Of course the kicker is this was a black band. Of course no one was expecting a black punk band. The lead singer is Paul "H.R." Hudson. He's a Rastafari originally from England. He records reggae as a solo artist and punk as a member of Bad Brains. Other members are Gary "Dr. Know" Miller on guitar, Darryl Jenifer on bass and H.R.'s younger brother Earl Hudson on drums. Bad Brains moved to New York in 1979 when they were unofficially banned in D.C. They became very popular in New York clubs but they couldn't get a record deal. Their 1982 debut album was released only on cassette. For the 1983 album Rock For Light, they signed with the Passport Records owned label PVC. The album was produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Big Takeover was on the first album and re-recorded on the second album. Later on the British label Caroline released Rock For Light on CD and they released this comp. They signed with Caroline in 1987 and in the 90s they recorded for Epic and Maverick. By this time the band had become more of a metal band. The other problem was H.R. wanted to devote his time to reggae. So he left several times taking his brother with him. But he would always return when he needed money. He also behaved erratically on stage and sometimes attacked fans. The band that has been most influenced by Bad Brains was Fishbone. So they are an influence but not really successful. Bad Brains is still around. Their latest album for Megaforce was released in 2012. H.R. and Dr. Know have had recent health issues. They said in a recent Rolling Stone interview they are planning a new album. Here's Bad brains performing Big Takeover at CBGB's in New York City 1982.
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