Bad Brains: When Punk Met Reggae (Again)

Roxanna Zoughi on 17 October 2020

Roxanna Zoughi celebrates the legacy of Bad Brains, a hardcore punk band formed in 1977, whose incorporation of reggae and funk distinguished them from other performances of punk.

While acid rock bands like Led Zeppelin dominated the mainstream in the early 70s, there was a different kind of sub-culture growing within Washington D.C.’s underground, characterized by a fast-paced, unrelenting sound that would soon be identified as hardcore. This new sound was beginning to emerge in the late 1970s but had not yet solidified an identity, so when Bad Brains came onto the scene with an experimental fusion of funk and punk, this was a cornerstone in the development of the genre.

Bad Brains formed in 1977 and soon earned a reputation for their explosive live shows, eventually prompting their ban from many venues across the state capital, after which the band fled to New York to freely resume their project. Performances would transition seamlessly from fast-paced punk to slower, bass-heavy reggae lead by H.R.’s versatile vocals, typified by a quick-fire delivery of verse and ranging from guttural tremolos to falsetto shrieks – they could do it all. But Bad Brains weren’t the first instance of a punk and reggae unification. Visually and artistically, both sub-cultures were mutual outcasts whose paths were bound to cross, and soon enough bands like Steel Pulse performed at Rock Against Racism shows alongside Generation X in 1976. But this was more of a side-by-side co-existence of punk and reggae rather than a true fusion of the latter and the newly emerging hardcore sound which had not yet been fully realised – until Bad Brains.

Although the band was influenced by anti-establishment groups like Sex Pistols, they did not seek to emulate the same nihilistic tone in their music which had previously defined the punk sound of the early 70s. In other words, they weren’t simply another punk band intent on protesting their frustrations with the system or helicopter parenting. Instead, Bad Brains promoted the power of PMA (positive mental attitude), a term borrowed from self-improvement book ‘Think and Grow Rich’. “We started kicking PMA in our music, and the message was different than the regular punk rock. You know, a punk rocker can write a song about hate─I hate my mom or some shit, you know? We wasn’t on no shit like that.” tells bassist, Daryl Jenifer, to Jon Kirby in Wax Poetics 2008. The group rejected the pessimistic worldview many punk bands had, and instead embraced a traditional, yet progressive approach to their music and the kind of message they wanted to promote to their listeners, embodied by Positive Mental Attitude.

“We had to come up with an angle […] that would be very radical and creative but then at the same time, traditional. And something that people would be able to relate to.”, recalls vocalist H.R. in 2006 documentary ‘American Hardcore’. The group certainly demonstrated their creative grit in their acclaimed first album ‘Banned in D.C.’ in 1982, which achieved a kind of unsynchronized harmony in the placement of reggae in-between hardcore tracks, taking affect as the calm before (and after) the storm. Punk bands had previously sought to deliver only the storm as they protested their contempt and distrust of authority. But Bad Brains offered a different angle, a new meaning for punk other than the frustrated nihilism of bands before them, whilst at the same time maintaining the musical essentials of the genre. Bad Brains reminded people that punk didn’t have to have a single identity; punk didn’t have to mean sticking it to the man or playing strictly fast tempo heavy music, because it didn’t have to conform to one meaning at all.   

Remembering Eddie Van Halen: Legacy of the Guitar Virtuoso

Roxanna Zoughi on 7 October 2020

Roxanna Zoughi pays tribute to Eddie Van Halen, legendary guitarist of pioneering hard rock band Van Halen, who has died of cancer aged 65.  

Eddie Van Halen is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most innovative musicians of all time, and perhaps the greatest guitarist of his generation, who pioneered the technical advancement of his craft and played by no rulebook in doing so. He has been a huge influence on great modern players who came after him, many of whom paid their respects on social media following the death of their fellow musician and friend, including Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page who posted to Instagram: “He was the real deal: he pioneered a dazzling technique on guitar with taste and panache that I felt always placed him above his imitators.”  

The hard rock sound was first sparked in the mid-60s and bands like The Who had carried its flame well into the mid-70s, until newly emerging acts like Van Halen had begun experimenting with the genre; moving away from the psychedelic and bluesy arrangements some hard rock groups had typically stuck to and instead transformed the sound with an incorporation of pop. And with that, like Hendrix had before him, Eddie made people fall in love with the guitar again.

Eddie had originally considered naming his band after the 7th track of Black Sabbath’s debut album, ‘Rat Salad’ before deciding on his own family name, which unbeknownst to him at the time, would become a household name in rock n’ roll history. Despite being influenced by the Birmingham-born metal band, Van Halen shifted away from Iommi’s moody gothic riffs and went on to produce a vivacious hard rock and pop fusion, reflective of the vibrant southern Californian environment from which it was born. With the release of their self-titled debut album in 1978, the band enjoyed massive success as they sold more than 10 million copies and knocked disco out of its chart top spot. Eddie had proved his musical creativity in melodious opening riffs followed by surprisingly short and straight to the point solos, which despite their briskness, did not in any way belie the self-taught guitarist’s evident talent.

Renowned for their explosive live shows, amplified by David Lee Roth’s vocals and enhanced by Eddie’s athletic and dazzling solos, the group earned a reputation as one of the greatest live performances of rock, and would eventually become one of the top 20 bestselling artists of all time. But Van Halen were not just a band just for rock listeners; Eddie knew how to write great pop songs too. Their ‘1984’ album included some of their biggest hits, namely ‘Jump’, most memorable for its vibrant synth opening perfectly enhanced by Eddie’s shimmering solos.

He can also be credited as the creator of one of the most easily recognizable guitars in rock history, which he dubbed the ‘Frankenstrat’. The instrument sports intersecting black and white lines which cut across a fire red surface, complete with flashing truck reflectors on the back. The freakish creation perfectly mirrored its creator’s equally innovative and experimental musical formulations – an instrument fit for its player no doubt. But Eddie (along with his brother Alex, drummer of Van Halen) was originally classically trained on piano as a young child, which afforded him a wide range of musical skill that allowed him to revolutionize the technical advancement of guitar playing. Eddie’s most notable innovation was perhaps his use of a finger-tapping technique which involved using both hands on the neck of the guitar to produce sound, not so dissimilar to how one would play a piano.

Eddie Van Halen told Guitar World in 1981: “If you’re a musician, you just play until you die. It’s not an ordinary job.”

Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty