Punk Music, Invented By Three Black Brothers In 1973!

by | Dec 3, 2015 | History, Modern History | 2 comments

1973, Detroit…. Three black brothers started playing loud music! Punk was born?

Although the Punk scene is diverse and has bled into many genres in recent years its roots are certainly seen as white. Back then there were not that many known black musicians interested in the hard rock scene!

BUT where there is one story there is always another. What if I told you one of the absolute forerunners of Punk were three black brothers from Detroit, independently forging a punk sound long before it had a name!

1971 brothers Bobby (bass, vocals), David (guitar), and Dannis (drums) Hackney formed a funk band. However after seeing the Who in concert and influence from Alice Cooper guitarist David convinced the trio to push towards hard rock and change their name to Death, a controversial choice but David wanted to put a positive spin on a negative word.

Three black guys with screaming guitars and vocals in a black Detroit neighborhood were probably seen as more of an annoyance back then but their vision was ahead of it’s time and they were forming a sound that broke boundaries.

As one of the many protopunk bands they were forgotten when refusal to change their name meant that the record label halted their album recording. However they self released and their sounds found themselves into the underground rock scene.

As the band split in 1977 around the time Punk was shaping they themselves had no idea of the influence the had made.

Their EP was given it’s proper release in 2009, sadly after David’s death from lung cancer. This is when their story started to be heard in the mainstream.

An extraordinary tale. Learn the full story and hear their awesome music in the documentary “A Band Called Death”. The trailer can be seen below.

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2 Comments

  1. Ron Mosely

    Why no articles or posts about the voter supression of over 50 thousand Black registered voters in Georgia just before the election , day November 6, 2018 ….with Sandra Abrams on the ballot for governor??

    Reply
    • Reneegede

      Because Black people in Georgia aren’t going to do anything about it, they usually don’t when they are being infiltrated and belittled by white supremacists. They usually sit there stuck on stupid and in donald-duck-denial about these matters, so I doubt the nation cares about what they allow in their own state. Also, her name is STACEY Abrams, not Sandra. Brian Kemp said Black people are too dumb to vote and Black people say they are too dumb to allow Brian Kemp to be viewed as the white supremacist idiot that he is, which basically makes what Kemp said true. The End.

      Reply

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