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Sacred Love
Posted at 8:11 PM on March 1, 2007
by Tony Lopez
(14 Comments)
Every now and then, I've wondered how it is that punk rock didn't become more of a vehicle for black artistic and personal self-expression. With punk's natural themes of alienation and isolation, it seems like we would have seen a lot more black punk bands during its birth. I saw a documentary recently that shed light on this subject, "Afro-Punk." I knew that bands like Fishbone, Suicidal Tendencies and Dead Kennedys were important in getting out, among other things, the fact that punk rock wasn't an exclusively "white" experience, despite all the punk rock and hardcore stereotypes. But I also knew there had to be more to it than that.
In "Afro-Punk," James Spooner chronicles the black experience in punk rock. He traveled all over America: east and west coasts, upper Midwest and deep South. We come to find, through interviews and concert footage, that black punks have been there from the very beginning and have dealt with a whole host of issues independent of the music itself: being alone in a sea of white faces at the clubs, harsh treatment at the hands of other blacks outside the punk scene, lack of family acceptance, and even misapprehension of punks by each other.
One scene was basically an exercise in cognitive dissonance. New York City's hardcore/metal band Cipher's frontman is a guy named Moe Mitchell. While a roomful of white hardcore punks slam, Moe shouts a song describing the cruelties of the Middle Passage and calling for reparations. The irony seemed lost on the audience but not to Moe and the rest of the band.
The interviews are sharp and compelling and Spooner never inserts himself into the film. He leaves it to the scenesters and musicians to tell the story of black punk. We get interviews with members of Fishbone, Orange 9mm and TV on the Radio.
And we get a friendly reminder that the greatest, nastiest and hardest hardcore punk band was black!
Comments (14)
Great questions/thoughts... I have no answers. But I remember wondering about some of these things as a teenager exploring American hardcore punk. I have wanted to see this film ever since I first read about it a while back.. Now I am going to have to hunt it down.. Bad Brains are simply one of the best bands (punk or whatever) ever. "How Low Can A Punk Get?" wow! Never got to see them in their prime but a friend and I were literally in the car driving down to First Ave to see them maybe 12 years ago (?) when they announced on the radio that the show had been cancelled because H.R. had been arrested the night before for assauling a fan with his mic stand... sorry.. this really has nothing to do with your posting, Tony.
You're right, Wells T. Bad Brains were one of the best, regardless of genre. Can you imagine seeing them in their heyday? Damn.
Bad Brains the hardest, nastiest!!?? Are you kidding??
No, I'm not.
Let's hear your suggestions.
I agree that Bad Brains were an awesome band - and I was lucky enough to see them live once upon a long long time ago, and it was an intense experience. But I wouldn't say they are one of the nastiest or hardest bands ever either. I always lumped them in more with the positive punk movement led by Minor Threat. They relied heavily on melody and incorporated a lot of jazz and reggae influences in their work. They were harder and faster than a lot of their contemporaries and were "nasty" in that sense, especially for the time they were living in, and they definitely helped create that overall sound and genre and influenced the DC scene for years to come, but I'm not sure I would go with the meanest, nastiest label either.
More thoughts?
They were harder and faster than a lot of their contemporaries and were "nasty" in that sense
That's exactly what I meant, Ali. IMHO, nobody rivals Bad Brains' ferocity, be it their music, lyrics or worldview.
But the bigger point is the black experience in punk and how it compares to rap and hip-hop, which was taking off at about the same time that the hardcore scene was getting huge. "Afro-Punk," among other things tackles the question of why certain young black kids became more attracted to the punk scene rather than the rap scene that most of their peers were into at the time.
Ok, Tony... so to finally address the actual question... I will give it a sorry stab. While I am in no position to presume why some Black kids took to punk rock I think maybe it is easier to say why maybe more didn't... Based on my experience as a young white boy in Wisconsin... I turned to/sought out/was intrigued by punk rock/new wave because the only other alternative was top 40 or metal (especially the 80's brand of "hair" metal that was so prevelent at the time).. I had always been picky about my top 40 as a preteen, opting for Abba, the Bee Gees, Journey, Pat Benatar, Devo and Blondie; the latter two which led me to further explore new wave and punk rock at my local library..Most of the kids loved the Crue et al. But Punk Rock offered a social conscience, something unlike anything else, anger, passion, humor, something I could easily do at home- music likely being made by other kids who were also being picked on because of the type of music they liked..
Maybe the reason more Black kids weren't into punk rock is because they had their own punk rock and it was just given a different name and... rap (I don't think the term hip hop came around until a little later at least not as a descriptor) Don't forget, when rap first came along it was totally radical. Radical enough to make even hardcore punk look downright traditional. Hardcore had non-musicians playing guitars and drums as hard and fast as they could. Rap/hip hop had non-musicians playing turntables, etc... to get it going. Plus it had the social conscience, something unlike anything else, anger, passion, humor, something I could easily do at home yadda yadda yadda.... could it be that simple?.. probably not, but just a thought.
I just wanted to add that I know not all hardcore or old school hip hop groups were non-musicians (in fact, I think the instrumental members of the Bad Brains were a gigging jazz band before they formed the Bad Brains..) I was just trying the emphasize the importance of the DIY ethic in both musical forms. thanks.
Interesting that you bring up DIY, Wells T. This is specifically talked about in the film. You gotta see it. It's available through Netflix if you do that kinda thing. The filmmaker packs a lot of stuff in only 66 minutes! Another cool thing about it is its lack of preachiness. As I said before, Spooner does a great job of staying out of the way of the stories that are told. Let me know what you think if you're able to catch it.
I will definitely report when I watch it as I fully intend to... and sorry about the typos in the last two entries..
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