walking upstream…
Bad Brains
photo: jason anfinsen · cc by-sa 2.0 ↗Bad Brains
sourcesAndscape — feature on Bad Brains' jazz-fusion roots (Steven Blush and H.R. Hudson on Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, seeing Bob Marley) · Louder Sound — feature on Bad Brains (Sid McCray's safety pins and punk records, Capital Centre reggae discovery) · It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine — Darryl Jenifer interview (Mind Power, accidental Bob Marley sighting at the Capital Center) · Guitar World (via Yahoo mirror) — Darryl Jenifer profile (Stanley Clarke fan club, bass influences) · Premier Guitar — Bad Brains feature (Jenifer and Dr. Know on jazz fusion meeting punk)
In the mid-1970s, four teenagers in Southeast Washington, D.C. — guitarist Gary "Dr. Know" Miller, bassist Darryl Jenifer, and brothers H.R. and Earl Hudson on vocals and drums — formed a jazz-fusion quartet called Mind Power, chasing the virtuoso runs of Return to Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. In 1977 their singer, Sid McCray, arrived at Jenifer's door wearing safety pins and carrying Ramones and Sex Pistols records; punk hit like a dare, and H.R. renamed the band after a Ramones song blasted at triple speed. A year later, Jenifer went to see his hero Stanley Clarke at the Capital Centre and stumbled instead into a Bob Marley concert that rerouted the whole band toward Rastafari and reggae. What held the whiplash together was a borrowed motto — Positive Mental Attitude, lifted from Napoleon Hill — played at hardcore tempo.
the sound in question
1980
Pay to CumBad Brains
walk the tributaries ↓
Chick Corea1970s · Jazz fusion / Post-bop / Latin jazz
Before they were Bad Brains they were Mind Power, a fusion quartet drilling Weather Report and Return to Forever tunes note for note — Jenifer was, by his own account, a devoted member of the Stanley Clarke fan club, chasing his hero's harmonic complexity years before he ever heard the Ramones. The punk historian Steven Blush, author of American Hardcore, put the payoff bluntly: "They had Mahavishnu Orchestra/Return to Forever kind of chops. Nobody else in punk or new wave could do that."
listen: upstream & here
1973
Hymn of the Seventh GalaxyChick Corea
1982
Banned in D.C.Bad Brains
listen forReturn to Forever's "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" moves through knotted unison runs and abrupt meter shifts that only conservatory-trained players could execute cleanly. Cue up Bad Brains' "Banned in D.C." beside it and strip away the tempo: Dr. Know and Jenifer are still locking into tight unison stops and quick chord changes under H.R.'s bark — the same harmonic discipline, just compressed into two minutes of hardcore velocity instead of a fusion suite's sprawl.
Ramones1970s · Punk rock
In 1977, the band's singer Sid McCray showed up at Jenifer's house "wearing safety pins and stuff all over him," carrying Ramones and Dead Boys records that ended the group's fusion phase for good. H.R. remembered exactly how the new name arrived: "One day we were listening to the Ramones... we turned the stereo up from 33 to 78 and we were all pogoing and dancing around. We just started to call ourselves 'Bad Brains.'"
listen: upstream & heresource: American Songwriter — H.R. interview (band name's Ramones/33-to-78 rpm origin, PMA and Think & Grow Rich) ↗
1976
Blitzkrieg BopRamones
1982
Sailin' OnBad Brains
listen for"Blitzkrieg Bop" is a two-minute blast — one chord change, a hey-ho-let's-go count-in, drums that never let up. Bad Brains detonate the same formula on "Sailin' On": the same buzzsaw downstroke guitar and shouted gang hook, but doubled in speed and threaded through jazz-schooled stop-start breaks the Ramones never attempted. Both songs end almost before you register they've started, but Bad Brains get there faster and with more moving parts underneath.
Bob Marley1970s · Reggae / Roots reggae / Ska
In 1978, Jenifer went to Landover's Capital Centre to see his hero Stanley Clarke and instead caught the opening act: "I accidently saw Bob Marley perform live at the Capital Center... It was an unforgettable experience," he said. H.R. felt the same current: "Once we saw Bob Marley, we knew that reggae music was on the rise. We wanted to be a part of it." Within months, the hardcore band that idolized jazz virtuosos was also writing songs in Marley's rhythm, wrapped in Rastafarian faith.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia — Bad Brains (formation as Mind Power, punk pivot, Bob Marley concert) ↗
1973
Get Up, Stand UpBob Marley
1982
Leaving BabylonBad Brains
listen forMarley's "Get Up, Stand Up" rides a rolling bassline and off-beat guitar skank under a call to shake off oppression. "Leaving Babylon" borrows that same push-pull pocket wholesale — Jenifer's bass settles into the identical behind-the-beat lope while H.R. trades his hardcore bark for a Rasta-inflected croon, proof the band could downshift from blast-beat to riddim without losing the groove's feel.