black punk punks your punk

March 29, 2009 12:44 PM

mid-70s proto-punk band, Death, have finally gotten a real disc out. unearthed in crates lost for decades, their founder dead before seeing it happen, their children never knowing the shadowy past of their forebears, the sound of black pop-punk-politi-metal-wave is finally here.

dig the stodgy new york times on this matter! see what was said on metafilter before (not nec' so stodgy, naturally...)!

{big ups to stinkycheese for letting me have this}

posted by artof.mulata (16 comments total)

Not to be confused with Jacksonville, FL's crucial mid-90's technical/death metal pioneers Death, after whom the genre of death metal takes its name.

Big ups to Individual Thought Patterns
posted by baphomet at 12:51 PM on March 29, 2009 [3 favorites]

Excellent music. Pieces of mc5 are there, as well as the more rocking parts of Thin Lizzy.

Highly recommended.
posted by gcbv at 1:06 PM on March 29, 2009

One of Detroit's best kept secrets. Until now. Highly recommended.
posted by joe lisboa at 1:07 PM on March 29, 2009

Hey, neat! I heard about this on the CBC's program Q the other week (mp3 link to podcast), thought it was really interesting.
posted by greatgefilte at 1:07 PM on March 29, 2009

This record is awesome by the way. I was worried the single tracks would be the stand-out & the rest of it would be filler, but that is not the case at all. "Freakin' Out" is probably my fave. Time to rewrite the history books.
posted by stinkycheese at 1:31 PM on March 29, 2009

Ah, yes, my friend Ben introduced me to this band about a month ago. Excellent, excellent stuff.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:57 PM on March 29, 2009

thanks for this, it's GREAT!

(for some reason I feel like sayin' SUCK IT BAD BRAINS!!!)
posted by snsranch at 2:37 PM on March 29, 2009

This is great stuff. Thanks for the post; I missed the earlier one.
posted by defenestration at 3:57 PM on March 29, 2009

for some reason I feel like sayin' SUCK IT BAD BRAINS!!!

What, like the world can only have one late-70's black punk band? Bad Brains still rule.
posted by ornate insect at 6:08 PM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

Holy shit is this amazing stuff!
posted by Kattullus at 7:02 PM on March 29, 2009

I favorited this just 'cause you wrote the words Big up to StinkyCheese

(and so I can check it out later....thanks!)
posted by mannequito at 7:07 PM on March 29, 2009

ornate insect: THAT was the joke. (Albeit not so funny.) So now there are two...If you know of any more please let me know. And FTR, I agree, they kick ASS!

Great post!
posted by snsranch at 7:40 PM on March 29, 2009

Any links to audio or video?
posted by bpm140 at 9:46 PM on March 29, 2009

bpm140, check the linked nytimes article for audio download links... and glad you liked it to everyone who says so.

as for black punk bands beyond death and bad brains i don't know.

there was greg tate's black rock coalition back in the 80s as a front line for all these bands who identified on a racial basis within their chosen genre so maybe look into that. not really punk at all, but fun and interesting at times there was 24/7 spies (sic?), living color, tigi clay, mos def's one-off black jack johnson and probably more. fishbone at certain heightened moments and the busboys, but only in a live setting.

can't think of anybody else off the top of my small, box-like head. (john butcher axis?)
posted by artof.mulata at 6:38 AM on March 30, 2009

We passed that NYT piece around at work when it came out. Great story. The son of one of the band members - who never told his kids about the band - recognizes his dad's voice when someone played the single at a party, then finds out the single is considered a rare gem by collectors:

This news astounded Bobby Sr., who dug the master tapes out of storage last May for the first time in three decades and sat down with Dannis for a listen. The music “literally took our breath away,” Bobby Sr. said.

“We looked at each other, and we said: ‘This is truly some of the best rock ’n’ roll we ever heard. Wow, David was right.’ David knew it, and always believed it, much more than we did.”

bpm140Any links to audio or video?

Also see MP3 links from the previous thread:
Politicians in My Eyes
Keep On Knocking
posted by mediareport at 6:42 AM on March 30, 2009

I'd heard the track "Politicians in My Eyes" when it was making the rounds at Stereogum and elsewhere online recently, and I was completely blown away. Thanks for this post! Gotta get my hands on this. I can't believe their original label took issue with their name. It's a fine name. They were right to walk.
posted by saulgoodman at 9:42 AM on March 30, 2009