Bad Brains: RFI/D

Bad Brains sound better then ever today!

I haven't listened to them at all in probably more than 10 years. I recently found an old copy of I Against I with Jane's Addiction's s/t on the other side (that's pretty good too) and I can't stop playing it. I had to go and buy used copies today of I against I and Quickness. I couldn't find Rock For Light.

I have been missing out all these years.

A lot of us limeys heard essential early US HC/Punk through the ROIR tape label releases, because these escaped the punishing import taxes which could triple the cost of an import LP at that time.

The first "full-length" (we're talkin' hardcore here, people) Bad Brains recording is "the yellow tape," issued on ROIR in 1981 or 1982. It's now available on CD with its original cover art of a lightning bold striking the US Capitol dome. (I used to have a denim jacket with that painted on the back in high school. Moving on...) These same songs were also available on CD for awhile in the late 80s under the title Attitude: The ROIR Sessions. The second full-length Bad Brains disc is Rock For Light which contains re-recorded versions of some "yellow tape" songs and a bunch of other stuff, including the best reggae songs they ever did, "Rally Round Jah Throne" and "I And I Survive" and "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth." The original mix, as released on PVC Records, was available for awhile on CD, so scour those used bins, because, as has been mentioned, the late-90s Caroline reissue sucks sucks SUCKS.

ok, i finally undertand. i love black dots, so i picked up rock for light because it was supposed to be their best. and of course i was bewildered that anyone could like such a shitty sounding record. but as i type this i'm ripping the tracks, and i'm going to pitch shift them down a half step like that amazon review suggests.

http://c.myspace.com/00066/69/14/66264196_l.jpg

No, man. But uhm got the orig "Rock for Light" today and it's so great I just gotta revive

In fact when this version of "Right Brogade" kicked in I actually yelled "OH YEAH!!!!". I am on my own. I'm putting off going out for this rec. No higher praise can actually be afforded a rock record. Give me a week and I may have to change my position pretty squarely.

roffle @ people criticizing production jobs on late 70s/early 80s hardcore records.

black dots is pretty tight, I thought it was just some cash-in shit but I love the raw, upfront sound. 4 guys in a room kicking ass.

the black dots version of "pay to cum" is my favorite version of that song

INCREDIBLE

http://www.spinner.com/2006/09/26/exclusive-watch-bad-brains-live-at-cbgb-1982-dvd/

wau wau wow

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So MTV this week in between commercials and early morning videos (between around 6 and 8 a.m. est) is showing footage of current Bad Braisn jamming and such. I think I recognize Dr. Know and Daryl Jennifer, but am not sure about the rest. Is that HR? They do not sound like the Bad Brains I saw back in the 79 to 85 era...

HR is still in the band but by all accounts his contribution to live performances now is reminiscent of Weekend At Bernie's

The utter shock of seeing them with regularity on MTV was completely erased for me by the noodling nature of the clips. I would think that anyone who has only heard about how great the Bad Brains are would see those clips and wonder what the big deal is.

Exactly right.

are these clips online?

http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2008/02/04/artist-of-the-week-bad-brains/

LOL

RFID?

that first clip kinda sounds like Stain-era Living Colour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugHJ_a8ydUY
Bad Brains - Paranoid

now ever since '79 h.r.'s been poppin' his collar, poppin' poppin' his collar

check the backflip at the end

Fucking incredible. What a band. True innovators. One day, they'll be respected like the Stooges are now.

I've had Bad Brains forever but have never heard Rock For Light. Does anyone prefer RFL to the original and why?

rock for light is longer and has more great songs (including alot of which are on s/t) but has worse production than s/t and does have some shit songs. you can't really go wrong though, seeing as s/t is the single greatest fucking punk album ever.

My Bad Brains interview in Spin, 1987:

http://books.google.com/books?id=komIU8HDrboC&pg=PA83&dq=bad+brains+chuck+eddy&rview=1&cd=1#v=onepage&q=bad%20brains%20chuck%20eddy&f=false

the new darryl jennifer album sounds kinda incredible to me

Wow, did not know there was one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Cbgb-1982-Region-NTSC/dp/B000GI3RKQ

Just buy this and see why they were so, so, very excellent

that is some valuable advice for people unaware that bad brains are so so very excellent

listening to black judas: kinda lol but yeah, good

this clip is gr8.. outside stage, chevrolet banner, fist-pumping 80s crowdgoers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53tUc4Ub2zQ

Was just going to mention the '87 Florida set, odd that it appeared today. Great great set, band's on fire.

Hitched the '89 UK tour. Was fun. Gabba of Chaos Uk wound up getting a lift from somewhere near Bristol to the top of the M5 in a truck with a racist driver. Bumped into him as he got out of the cab at hitching point.

Trying to think what the name of the Best of cd which seems to have pretty decent sound is. What's on my walkman comes from there, think it includes Rock For Light stuff.

I have listened to thousands of bands in my life. When people ask me what my favorite band is, I say that I have heard so much music I cannot really narrow down a list to one single favorite. However, if you held a gun to my head, the first thing out of my mouth would be the Bad Brains and I'd be okay with that.

I often said that the ROIR tape was the best hardcore album ever but "I Against I" was the best album ever. A little hyperbole, but not that much now that I think about it.

Those videos are great! The old one, the one from '87, just amazing!

I got to see the original lineup of the band a few times. The last was in Cleveland in 2002 I think, a reunion tour that had as support a new band featuring the original Faith No More Singer (he was a chef in Cleveland by then!) and HR spent the whole show in a rocking chair on the stage. Very bizarre but unsurprisingly so.

In the article in Spin that xhuxk posted above (some time ago), the photo they used is the one from the inside of the 'I Against I' vinyl. The skinheaded dude right under the drum kit is Raybeez from Warzone. He was doing security at that early show.

Many years later, he and I became friendly in New York and he did security for all the shows at The Ritz and Roseland. I caught the Bad Brains at the latter venue and he was up front. I went up to him and said "Man, it's like that photo" and he smiled, knowing what I was talking about, and said he wouldn't rather be anywhere but right there.

Unbelievably amazing band and a big part of my life.

Am I correct for feeling physically ill and actually offended that Bad Brains are *supporting* something called Slightly Stoopid:

http://www.greektheatrela.com/events/event_details.asp?id=1986

ugh i fucking hate that band

Slightly Stoopid b/w Bad Brains and the Dum Dum Girls.

Jay Reatard was originally supposed to headline...

Mary Stein (daughter of Sire Records Seymour Stein and murdered NY realtor/former Ramonees manager Linda Stein) just premiered a Bad Brains documentary at SXSW. Has anyone seen it yet?

There are also 2 DC filmmakers working on 80s DC HarDCore punk docs now

!!! wanna see that

Banned in Dc: Bad Brains Greatest Riffs
was the compilation I mentioned last year. Think it has been mastered at the right speed and so it seems Caroline have attempted to at least partially right their earlier wrong.
http://www.amazon.com/Banned-Dc-Brains-Greatest-Riffs/product-reviews/B00008V5TK/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_4?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addFourStar

Dr. Know is running for president.

http://www.libertystickers.com/product/Ron-Paul-DrKnow/

Ha ha.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/42901/i-against-i-thirty-years-after-the-golden-age-of/

Long Washington City Paper cover story suggests HR may be battling with schitzophrenia

plus a review of the movie

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/film/2012/06/21/a-close-viewing-of-bad-brains-a-band-in-dc/

Both are written by Mark Andersen, who co-wrote the Dance of Days book with Mark Jenkins about the DC hardcore punk scene

The first piece is spot-on in recounting the bullshit that is a Bad Brains show in 2012. So sad.

Saw the movie doc "Bad Brains: A Band from DC" last night. Well-made movie with awesome footage of early years Bad Brains and coverage of the sadness that is HR circa 2012, struggling with mental health issues. HR (wearing a woman's wig) showed up for both of the 2 showings of the movie. Saturday night, Mark Anderson asked HR in the q and a portion afterwards about his health, and he insisted he was fine.

http://dcist.com/2012/06/the_seven_best_moments_of_last_nigh.php

These 7 items and more

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2012-06-21/bad-brains-band-dc/transcript

Some of HR's answers on this radio interview are o0.

Is HR's mental state really a fresh debate in 2012? I thought he's been nuts for years. Decades?

Like, I last saw the band in ... 1999? HR was there, but he just stood there, grinning between songs (which were otherwise solid).

Here's a bit from what I wrote about that show:

An eerily docile H.R. received a hero's welcome when he waltzed on stage, an unsettling grin giving way to his effective if somewhat distracted recital of the band's "Attitude." Dr. Know's blazing leads flew in and around the rhythmic knots tied by Hudson and Jenifer, while H.R. mainly stood still behind the microphone, his hands clasped in front of him as if in meditation. Hey, if that's what it takes to keep him from throwing himself at the crowd, so be it.

If you think the Beatles were something, if you think the Jam Band was something or the Police or even the latest overnight sensation with, you know, the Jackson Five and Mariah Carey, well let me tell you, Beyonce, she has something to listen to finally.

wise words there

TS: being in a band with HR vs being in a band with Mark E Smith

Is HR's mental state really a fresh debate in 2012? I thought he's been nuts for years. Decades?

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, June 24, 2012

It's just that the movie doc has just been recently released. When I saw them in their 79 to early '80s heyday HR was not like this onstage

Plus, isn't there current tour their first in a couple of years

their

I dunno. Looks like the band has played at least a few shows every year. I guess my point was that coming aboard maybe around the "I Against I" era, even then I knew H.R. was nuts. I'd heard all the stories.

why isn't this 50 year old guy doing backflips, i want a refund

Exactly. That is EXACTLY the nature of the complaints here. You imbecile.

If you get a chance to see the movie doc, you should-- no matter when you learned about HR's mental state. As I noted upthread, there's great archival footage and there's also interesting interviews. I think the directors only have music clearances right now to show it at film festivals.

So that it's entirely clear that this isn't about back flips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWM24NTnDzs

Anyone who dons an outfit like that knows just what he's doing.

That's what the Brains think, which is why he's been kicked out of the band so often. I am less sure.

are you mark andersen or just his knight in shining armor

the band might wanna turn his amp off next time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUucrF8DMtw

"Anyone who dons an outfit like that knows just what he's doing."

http://networkawesome.com/show/live-music-show-the-great-daryl-nathan-entertainment-show/

lol @ H.R. in the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2209817/Brooke-Shields-denies-woman-puffing-marijuana-pipe-leaked-Twitter-picture.html?ITO=1490

kinda less fun now the website is just an endless celebrity content farm but still

still awesome

Since this was revived, I will mention that I tried listening to Black Dots, as recommended on one of the 80s rocking music poll threads, but I am just not into their songs or the vocals. I'm pretty sure I must have tried some of their other albums before. It just doesn't seem worth the effort for me.

Are there hardcore punk bands from the early 80s that you like?

A few. It's not like something I really listen to much any more, it just came up because of the 80s poll.

'i againsts i' could really use a remastering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=r326c3DewuE

the mix of the drums is lol on headphones, its like they hard-panned a thin crash cymbal to each ear

http://citypaper.com/news/baltimore-8217-s-baddest-brain-1.1409063

great read, hope the album's half as good as sold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9HrlF1rHiw

Looks like a menu from an ital retro diner.

Looks like a menu from an ital retro diner.

― endless budgie (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, December 7, 2012 11:50 PM

http://badbrains.com/merch/fire-burn-babylon/

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9EjKvWw--s

adeline otm

Oh my god, that's the cutest thing since the little girl singing along with Magma.

I still act like that when the Bad Brains come on.

The Big Exercise Takeover

http://twitter.com/Chris__Richards/status/326677103347105795/photo/1

I own this shirt.

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/262/n1977335753082190wi9.jpg

Does anyone know the HR solo albums on SST from the early nineties? Found a few of 'em really cheap, was wondering if I should pick 'em up. I love the Bad Brains, if that helps, but don't recall ever hearing HR solo.

Just always assumed they were reggae with some metal-rock...But I never heard 'em either

HR's mid-80s solo album It's About Luv is OK, don't know any 90s ones though.

Iirc they were all reggae?

nah there was some weirdo fishbone sounding stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3c-wCDfOAM

Bad Brains Reissuing Their Albums, Kicked Off by 'Pay to Cum' 7 " in February

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx22bO1yT9w

With the help of the band, Org Music and Dave Gardner spent over a year tracking down the best possible audio sources for each title, including many original analog tapes that were previously thought to be lost for good.

Each title will receive a standard (black) vinyl release and limited edition color vinyl release, with many also available on CD and cassette.

The releases will be distributed internationally.

All audio is being remastered by Dave Gardner, chief mastering engineer at Infrasonic Los Angeles.

More titles will be added to the series as Bad Brains regains control of additional masters.

Preorder Info Here: https://badbrainsrecords.com

Release specific info:

Rock For Light: This reissue will use the original mix of the album, as the band originally intended. This will be the first legitimate pressing of this version in decades. (Most fans will be more familiar with the 1991 reissue, which was remixed by Ocasek and bass player Darryl Jenifer. That version used an altered track order, significantly different mixes and a speed increase of the master which results in a raising of the pitch by one-half step.)

Live at The Fillmore 1982: This is the first ever physical release of this incredible live recording.

Punk Note Series:
Bad Brains Records and Org Music have partnered with designer John Yates (Stealworks) to bring his fictional ‘Punk Note’ series to life. Limited edition color vinyl pressings for each full-length studio album from Bad Brains Records will be reimagined and stylized as a classic Blue Note release. A nod to Reid Miles and Francis Wolff, and their amazing work at the Blue Note label.

Zine:
Org Music is creating a sixteen page fanzine-style booklet, printed on newsprint, which features never before seen photos, vintage concert flyers, and new writings about the band from contemporaries like Henry Rollins, Chuck Dukowski, Jack Rabid (Big Takeover Magazine), and Jesse Malin. The zine will be available from select independent record stores as a gift with purchase, and from the Bad Brains Records web-store.

this is awesome

now I will have had something mastered by the same guy as Bad Brains

I notice none of the SST stuff, whose rights I guess will forever be in the hands of Mr. Ginn.

Exciting, esp Rock For Light at correct pitch.

Yeah, the fact that Rock For Light has been out of print in its proper form for 30+ years is a fucking crime. It's their best album IMO. (I have a German import CD from the early '90s that has the original mix.)

This is awesome news!

For the self-titled, they show cassette and CD options but you can't choose those for some reason. Guessing still hammering out the kinks, regardless I'm so glad this stuff will be getting out there again.

I notice none of the SST stuff, whose rights I guess will forever be in the hands of Mr. Ginn.

More titles will be added to the series as Bad Brains regains control of additional masters.

Perhaps they're in the process of wrangling those rights at the moment. I never really understand why it's such a struggle, certainly so much that the Huskers guys essentially gave up the fight - Meat Puppets and Dinosaur got their rights back, Sonic Youth reissued Sister via Geffen IIRC. I also don't understand why Ginn's reluctant to relinquish those tapes, since he appears to have no interest in exploiting them financially, or preserving SST's legacy.

I love these records, though Bad Brains' homophobia casts a long shadow over their music. When I interviewed Bob Mould over the summer and we discussed the early days of hardcore, he was quick to mention the "die faggots die" note they left after staying over at Grant's parents' house. He was still, justifiably, angry about it.

I am confused about the rights, tho, because I'm pretty sure some I Against I stuff was on that compilation they put out 15 years or so ago.

why it's such a struggle, certainly so much that the Huskers guys essentially gave up the fight - Meat Puppets and Dinosaur got their rights back, Sonic Youth reissued Sister via Geffen IIRC.

this isn't strictly true, i spoke with terry katzman before he died and they used the same lawyers, tried but there were specific things in the husker contracts that were worse than the meat puppets and dino contracts, didn't get into the specifics

also i think ginn knows mould is really well off and really wanted to shake him down

Sounds like exactly the kind of asshole Ginn would be. It makes me so mad that so much of the SST catalog is just sitting there, idle. Not that i want Ginn to profit off it while he continues to fuck over the artists, but that stuff should be getting lovingly reissued by someone.

man I wish I Against I could get the full treatment, remixed and dried out...decades of really *wanting* to hear this record and just always finding it unlistenable

I Against I is literally one of my favorite albums ever.
I cannot even fathom it being better.

I don't know it has a really cool energy, good tunes, but I can't stomach that metal sheen it has, the drum sound, weird choices for this band. I usually end up listening to the Quickness instead.

the weird sound is what I love

this is great news, obv

also, wtf were Ocasek and Jennifer thinking with that 1991 remix hack job?

I thought that was Rock
For Light. They did I Against I too?

sorry for confusion, RFL is the hack job, I Against I is the weirdo mix that I find endearing

Black Dots and The Youth Are Getting Restless are my go-to’s

Black Dots is fuckin amazing

I love the ROIR one and RFL (original) as well, but wow they sure arrived fully formed

all the accusations of homophobia are 100% otm and don't detract one iota from the power of this stuff for me, YMMV

Would love to hear not just remasters but remixes. Few great band have been shafted worse by unfortunate production choices.

*great bands

why it's such a struggle, certainly so much that the Huskers guys essentially gave up the fight - Meat Puppets and Dinosaur got their rights back, Sonic Youth reissued Sister via Geffen IIRC.

this isn't strictly true, i spoke with terry katzman before he died and they used the same lawyers, tried but there were specific things in the husker contracts that were worse than the meat puppets and dino contracts, didn't get into the specifics

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, December 3, 2020 10:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

also i think ginn knows mould is really well off and really wanted to shake him down

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, December 3, 2020 10:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Oh, that makes a lot of sense, thanks UMS.

got a discogs notice that the Rock for Light reissue is up for pre-order now. grabbed since my non-messed copy has gone missing.

Just seen this on YT, watched it a few years ago, really enlightening and also pretty upsetting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzH9t3iKy0E

Yep re upsetting.

FUCKING HELL: Previously unreleased live Bad Brains from 1980 & 1981 coming on Record Store Day!

Time Traveler Recordings, a new label founded by the award-winning “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman as an outlet for music in other genres, blasts off on Record Store Day Black Friday with Live at the Bayou, an exclusive, limited two-LP set of blazing early concerts by Washington, D.C.’s potent, influential punk unit Bad Brains.

The Nov. 28 release — which will be succeeded on Dec. 5 by a CD edition — captures the four-piece unit in ferocious early form during appearances at the titular Georgetown club on July 14, 1980, and March 15, 1981. The 23 tracks comprise the earlier live performances to receive legitimate release, and are being issued with the full cooperation of the band.

The super-heated collection features the feisty, outspoken Black quartet — vocalist H.R. (Paul Hudson), guitarist Dr. Know (Gary Miller), bassist Darryl Jenifer, and drummer Earl Hudson (H.R.’s brother) — ripping through their early repertoire, much of which formed the basis for the group’s classic first two studio albums: the self-titled debut set issued in 1982 by cassette-only label ROIR and Rock for Light, the 1983 sophomore offering produced by Ric Ocasek of the Cars.

Highlights include renditions of Bad Brains’ self-released single “Pay to Cum” and such linchpin tracks as “Big Take Over,” “Attitude,” “Sailin’ On,” “At the Movies,” and a number that defined their status in the local clubs of the era, “Banned in D.C.”

...

Originally formed in 1977 as a quintet playing electric jazz fusion in the manner of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bad Brains soon gravitated to the burgeoning punk sound boiling over in London, New York, and Los Angeles and, after witnessing a live show by Bob Marley and the Wailers, they embraced the spiritual tenets of Jamaican Rastafarianism and the riddims of reggae.

Though the band was from the first lumped in with the explosive sound of hardcore, then developing on the West Coast by such new bands as Black Flag, TSOL, and Dead Kennedys, their excursions into power-chorded, bottom-heavy metal (exemplified on Live at the Bayou by a cranked-up cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”) and the jazz-tinged outbursts of Dr. Know’s playing (in the manner of John McLaughlin and Pete Cosey of Miles Davis’ ‘70s groups) resisted such easy pigeonholing.

So that's what the "Paranoid" mention I saw earlier was about...

oh hell yeah, never seen these circulated before

2500 copies agdfhaskjgfhbfdb; [redacted]

a bit thin for a 2LP but I'm not complaining

Tracklist
1. Supertouch (4:29)
2. Attitude (1:25)
3. 1-2-X-U (1:10)
4. The Big Takeover (3:06)
5. The Man Won't Annoy (2:45)
6. Right Brigade (2:35)
7. Redbone (1:59)
8. Paranoid (1:25)
9. Stay Close (2:38)
10. Pay to Cum (1:34)
11. Suck Sess (1:59)
12. Banned in DC (2:35)
13. I Love I Jah (5:51)
14. I (2:39)
15. At the Movies (3:17)

afaik the two covers and "Suck Sess" are unheard/unreleased

(as far as previously documented songs)

Wasn't Dr. Know at one point hospitalized and on life support? What is the status of the band right now?

By 2016 it appears Dr. Know (Gary Miller) recovered, needed some physical therapy, and just had lots of medical bills to pay off. Not seeing any upcoming live Bad Brains gigs listed anywhere. The last time I saw HR, he seemed physically weak, his voice was soft, and he seemed to be struggling a bit mentally. Very sad. That was a number of years ago.

I see that HR is doing an Autumn 2025 solo tour

0/10 Lakewood, OH - Winchester Music Tavern
10/30 Madison, WI - The Annex Live
10/31 Chicago, IL - Reggie’s Music Joint
11/1 Davenport, IA - Bootleg Hill Honey Meads
11/2 Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar
11/4 St. Louis, MO - Red Flag
11/5 Covington, KY - Madison LIVE
11/6 Hamtramck, MI - THE Sanctuary Detroit
11/7 Fort Wayne, IN - Piere’s
11/9 Louisville, KY - Goodwood Whiskey Row

https://www.nbcwashington.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/bad-brains-live-recordings-record-store-day-release/4020164/

One of the Bad Brains gigs on this newly released live album is from when they opened for the Damned . But the linked story doesn’t spell that out

The Record Store Day live album - Live At The Bayou - is really good. The recordings are soundboard tapes, with minimal crowd noise but plenty of clarity and punch. They play songs from their first two albums, plus things that popped up on the "Pay to Cum" single, Black Dots and The Omega Session, and covers of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" (with totally different lyrics) and Wire's "12XU" (which makes me wonder if Minor Threat's version was as much a tribute to Bad Brains as to Wire). There are also versions of two songs I don't think they ever recorded in the studio. If it gets released on CD, pick one up.

I think now that when Bad Brains opened for the Damned at the Bayou circa 1980 is not on that record. The story goes that the Damned were so wowed by Bad Brains they said to them you should come to England. The Bad Brains subsequently flew over without work permits or gigs scheduled, and were immediately sent back to the US.

the Bayou release is now out on 2CD

it totally smokes, the first set has what I think might be the best-ever recorded versions of "Right Brigade" and "Banned In DC"