Hey if y'all wanna discover some modern black punks I didn’t mention look up these: X-Ray Specs Zulu Meet Me @ The Altar Negro Terror Black Pumas Pleasure Venom Whole Wheat Bread F**k U Pay Us
@@iamhereblossom1588 yeah and they just randomly throw acts together in there, it’s a fun show to watch if u love history of music and all, but it’s more a celebration for the hall of fame and the grift is for someone then for immortalizing various rock icons
@SurfingOnBrainwaves agreed. Although I was old enough for some venues at the time, they did not play in my town as early as 1979, but I was fortunate enough to see them on the i against i tour, and it was fantastic.
As a Latino rocker, I've always been a big fan of multicultural punk rock and other forms of aggressive rock n roll. The first punk band I got into was Suicidal Tendencies who have always had Black and Latino line-ups. As far as the origins of punk go, don't forget Peruvian trailblazers Los Saicos from the early 60's. As far as the modern era goes, there's Radkey who are the epitome of rock n roll. It's funny how people don't realize that throughout the history of punk rock, there has ALWAYS been Black and Latino representation right at the forefront. So glad to see you include Whole Wheat Bread in your recommendations as they are a great live band!
Los Saicos nunca fueron padres del punk ni el proto-punk. Aunque ame a los Saicos hay que admitir que todo el discurso de que Los Saicos crearon el punk es puro sensacionalismo, en ese entonces e incluso antes existían bandas de garage y surf haciendo música agresiva con letras violentas que rompian con la norma de las baladas y rocanroles de la época. El mérito de los Saicos es haber encontrado ese sonido por si mismos en un momento donde la accesibilidad a la música no era tan grande como hoy.
Los Saicos are so fucking good. Hearing them for the first time was very similar to hearing the stooges or Death for the first time. Totally out of left field and nasty as shit lol. I love it
I got bullied for a majority of my childhood for listening to “white people music”. Hell, I still mostly do. My parents literally had my sister take my iPod with all my favorite bands on it, wipe it and put tons of radio hits on it. I was devastated. It took countless hours finding the right yt videos to rip and put in all the info manually.
why are supportive parents an exception and not the norm 🫠 I want better for us. having your own family look at you weird when you be yourself and don’t fit into what’s expected is such a common experience and it is so painful 😭
@@rwmartinez1262ure... person will NBA players as your avatar... I'm sure you don't perpetuate a stereotype at all -- sincerely written by a black guy that got bullied growing up for listening to punk and hardcore
growing up I can’t say how often I heard “why do you listen to white music”, or got told I was acting “white” because I liked punk and hardcore music (still do). Meanwhile, these bands introduced me to political and social issues way, taught me about diversity and inclusivity. while friends/coworkers joked about my PMA All Day tattoo, no one ever seems to know who the Bad Brains are.
@@Tomdelongpenis I never thought about that; I did usually clap back with the “why do you listen to xyz”, and found hip hop, rap, house music, progressive rock, etc because of it. When it’s less about the genre and more about the music/message/etc, you find what you like more. If I were stuck on it needing to be punk/hardcore, I never would’ve found the politics in Rap, Metal, Hip hop, “world” music, etc. I feel like People get so caught up on trying to make shit easy to identify that they lose opportunities to find what they really want… but I guess that’s kinda part of the punk thing too, where you’re encouraged to be, not to become. All that anti-poser ethic and DIY breeds it
@@dariuswilliams7509 bro, to this day. I’m 34 and I clean up just find for work, but wifey and I will still rock the band tee and jeans as default. I still can’t bring myself to buy band hoodies though, somewhere inside I still think 50/70 for one of those Gildan hoodies is too much 😂
I was a black girl being raised in the same house as my passing older half siblings in the 80’s. AC/DC, Beastie Boys, were in constant rotation in my older brothers room. I didn’t even think about it until he would drop me off at the bus stop blasting Metallica and i got confused looks ( I was a teen in the dawn of west coast gangster rap) I feel like I’m home here. To me my intro to black rock has to be Gap band and Funkadelic and Hendrix, from there the more Indy the better!
I was a black teen girl in the mid 2000s influenced by nu metal, screamo, etc. Also grew up on gap band, hendrix and funkadelic from my dad. It would've been cool to have you as a sister!
@@Heavenhellhaleema That would have been awesome, I feel like that too! I was an weird kid though and walked to the beat of my own drum. I probably would have been embarrassing, lol . This is the great side of social media ,we get to meet like minded people from across the globe.
@@tayriobravo6204 Lol I was the queen of all things embarrassing so we for sure would've had that in common 😅 but I agree, this aspect of social media is cool. Cheers from Northern California 🙌🏾❤️
As a 44yo Black gal who grew up in the suburbs during the 80s and 90s listening to folk, rock, metal, alt and grunge (still do) while my peers were solidly in the R&B/Rap camp...this video was illuminating. It was also heart breaking because I'd have LOVED to have seen some of the bands you mentioned in this video and am now on a hunt to see if I can find any more media related to them. I grew up feeling othered for my music tastes and now it's wonderful to see that no...I was just appreciating genres that my people started.
yeah but the way your being judged by them your judging them for not liking punk and stuff. Don't think you didn't want to other people when you got the chance. We get it your a stem major and don't get why sex is everywhere.
@@nyxx7813 I...really have no idea what you're on about hon. Never was troubled by other people's musical tastes. My mom (also Black) was into pop, country and opera. Dad (still Black) was into Jazz, R&B and folk. Big brother was into hip hop, rap and rock and little brother was into synthwave and tech core. It was interacting with anyone outside of my immediate family where the othering happened. What in my post made you think I would have crapped on other people's musical choices just because I didn't share them?
"The issue here at least on the UK side is many of the early punks weren't actually working class. A lot of them actually picked up their aesthetic and possibly even politics from art school...So the working class connection at least when it comes to the actual bands themselves isn't exactly crystal clear. Like the age of Matt Walsh's mistress." God. Fucking. *DAMN* the set-up for that aside joke took me the fuck out. 😭
The working class made up for it with the later 'Oi' bands & demonstrated their inferiority to the earlier bands in the process. The lower middle class aren't much different in terms of circumstances as the working class, the real difference lies in upbringing, it has to be said that most working class people ( speaking as a person from a lower middle class background ) I came into contact with were more often than not more stupid, narrow minded & bigoted, they also tended to be inverted snobs who reckon they have some sort of exclusivity on what is fashionably called today 'authenticity'.
@@layditms2 the only thing different about art schools of today amd now is the technology. They're still overpriced, pretension for students too lazy to make actual art...
Punk is latino, and black, and urban, and suburban, and it is also none of those things. Punk is punk. It is for all who have ever felt like "the system" wasn't designed for them. Black is certainly a label for which the system was not built for. "We are all brothers and sisters in binds." La Familia is big my brother, don't ever leave anyone out in the rain and La Familia will keep growing.
@@rwmartinez1262 and that's how you show people you don't know shit about the history of punk music. The background vocals of nearly half of classic punk are in spanish. The music flourished in So Cal and Mexico City as it struggled to become accepted elsewhere. Go do some research.
I was lucky enough to see them accompanied by my best friend when they came to Barcelona in October 2016; I've always had a hard time not being able to see bands like the Ramones and the Cramps, but at least I was able to see to the TRUE PARENTS of Punk: DEATH.
That band was so good. And in the film when they mention the label "didn't know how to market them," it left me floored. Here's how they could've marketed them: it's a band that's better than all the other current bands and that's all you need to know. I saw Death's album on the thumbnail and that's what lead me here. I figured, if you're gonna talk about Death then you probably know your shit.
Great video! As a white kid growing up in 1980s suburbia, I was enthralled with punk and I'll die listening to it! I didn't know anything about Death until way into my advancing years. The documentary about them was amazing and I was blown away by their forward thinking in music. I think more people are beginning to know about them, deservedly so!
I just listened to politicians in my eyes mind you I don’t listen to this Genre of music but I really enjoyed it played it twice even, I didn’t even realise the song was 5minutes long until I finished my second listen😭
there's not enough shade under the sun to throw at the sex pistols, so i'm living for every moment of it here. pure hell was sadly missing from my punk education, but i definitely need to check them out, they sound _entirely_ up my alley.
The first white fans of hip hop in NYC were punks. That's just a fact. At one point, the communities all had a whole lot of drives, passions, and interests in common. They really did mirror each other in a lot of ways, and even swapped influences early on.
@@RevShiftyEven Bill dissed The Beastie Boys in this video, which was really unfair. They were real hip hop artists AND punks. Also, remember Malcolm and Buffalo Dance? The crossovers go WAY back.
Seriously - when I choose a CD/cassette from the shelf that was recorded at the turn of the '80s and '90s and look at the booklet inside, I will find a dedication to Bad Brains for the inspiration.
@@Miodowy Every. Single. Time. Their brief time in DC literally helped create the entire DC scene just a couple years later, which also inevitably leads to everything Discord and the whole post hardcore scene. You couldn't overstate their importance if you tried.
I would love to see your thoughts on the traditional skinhead scene and how it has carried on till today. ( traditional skinheads refers to the first wave of skinheads in the 60’s who held anti racist beliefs and were trail blazers for participating in multi racial cultural spaces and events. It as refers to people like me who even now proudly call themselves a skinhead but keep the spirit of anti racism alive)
It's funny to read this having grown up around original skinheads Like how do you attach to things and '' keep X alive'' when the Originals already are ?
Me too. I'm an anti racist skin. If anyone accuses me of being a Nazi, just by looking at what I'm wearing, I politely let them know I'm Jewish. That stops them in their tracks usually
Skinheads came from mods, they listened to black ska music but if you think they were anti raciest your miles off. They were into football violence not peace and love and did not care for minorities, why would they it was a terrace cult. If you did not experience the cult in its hay day then your a cheap knock off who missed the boat, who will never know what it is to be a skinhead. The skins finally lost the terraces to the casuals which is the exact time they become irrelevant. I witnessed it all.
Skinheads originated in working-class areas; the entire culture was based on Pakistani immigrants taking jobs away from native-born whites. Read a book and stop basing your opinions on internet misinformation. Skinheads were always bigots; anti-racist skinheads did not emerge until 1987.
The band that got me into Afro punk the most was actually the AfroPunk festival outside of BAM in Brooklyn. I hung out with the lead singer of American Fangs for a bit. They were really cool. I couldn't believe how good their music was. I'm going to play their debut album again right after I'm done with this video. Nice job!
Glad you mentioned Death. I've seen many compilations called 'History of Punk' where someone (most of the time a white male) plays riffs in chronological order to tell the history of the genre. I've seen many of them, and never has anyone played anything by Death. Once I actually pointed out that Death was missing and someone commented calling me a poser because Death is a death metal band from Florida. Also, that quote about the Sex Pistols being the first boy band is pure gold.
Saying Death is a death metal band from florida is aggressively stupid lol. I’m from the punk scene is MI and Death does have a solid level of recognition up here
Great video, Billiam! I’m not a punk guy, but I’m a metalhead and it’s nice to see the diversity of the “alternative” genres being brought to attention. There’s so many black metal musicians (not to be confused with Black Metal musicians) that don’t get the credit they deserve.
I'm only 8 minutes in and I love your attitude on music history. Also, maybe it's because I'm autistic, but I never quite got my head around the idea that my skin color was expected to make a difference in my music choices. If you feel it, you feel it, end of debate. I'm not about to apologize for loving BOTH Nine Inch Nails AND Missy Eliot, fight me.
Listening to this, I couldn't help thinking about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, another black musical frontrunner not really given her due until recently. She was a vocalist who was also a badass on a guitar who influenced those who became household names (Elvis, Chuck Berry, etc) while hers languished in anonymity for years.
@@Godloveszaza Elvis never pretended to invent anything. He grew up singing with black gospel choirs, listening to black records and basically living in a black neighborhood. He was signed to a record label specializing in blues, then played on blues programs by DJ's who thought he was black. But luckily for him, he was white. On top of young, charismatic, and really good looking. The fact that he didn't use his platform to speak out against segregation, or acknowledge his privilege makes him look more complicit in hindsight. Which probably came from growing up in poverty with the "don't rock the boat" mentality that many poor folks never escape. And made worse by the fact that he got locked into a nightmare contract as a teenager, by a manager who pretty much owned him, his family, and his career, until his untimely death at the age of 42. Elvis didn't knowingly steal anyone's career. But he did waste the opportunity to do more for his influences. And himself.
@@mperezmcfinn2511disagree.he was a pedophile and he was smart enough to know exactly what was happening. He could steal from us but couldn’t put us on. He’s a loser and he always will be. Who steals from black people and never even shouts them out?????? Who rapes little girls?? Pls with the bleeding heart he was poor. He was white and he WAS complicit
As a white dude who used to play punk, Death was probably my biggest inspiration for performing. That album is incredible front-to-back, shame it wasn’t released on time.
Wow, thanks for this! I consider myself well versed in Punk and I had never heard of Pure Hell. With the time-frames mentioned in the video it's hard to think they wouldn't have influenced the Pistols. A more in-depth look at the reggae and ska on the British and then American punk scenes would be a cool follow-up. It would be cool if Prince Buster was more well-known. Oh, and The Monkeys were the first Boy Band. Challenge accepted.
It's hard to think pure hell could have possibly influenced the sex pistols at all, since Steve Jones and Rotten never went to NY until after they finished their album, and pure hell never went near London until whenever, at least years after Bollocks. I've watched a few shows since seeing this video - they are great, though not overly distinctive like bad brains or DK - , without an album, there's nothing other bands can learn from. I agree with you about the Monkees, Davy Jones couldn't even play a tamberine, just hired as top cutie available. Like Sid..
Why? Living colour was very much of their time and where pretty popular back then. Bad brains could be bigger, then again, they play hardcore which is an underground movement, it shouldn't be bigger.
@@AgentLemmon Yeah well I mean in a legacy sense. They are big but they aren’t really household names such as Metallica ect. And I think it should be that way in my opinion. When I said this I didn’t mean that bad brains should be main stream or any of that.
Living Colour was at one point on SNL, opening for The Rolling Stones, & Cult Of Personality was on the radio night & day. They couldn’t have been much bigger. Band Brains were far more important, & should have been a household name.
Thank you for covering this. And bringing Bobby, David, and Dannis Hackney back to my ears. Very needed nuance throughout this video that did not fall on deft ears. Love your videos, keep on keeping on.
Thank you for a wonderful video, youngblood. I never heard of Pure Hell, but I saw the documentary about Death and was blown away! My son, who was raised on everything from Pfunk and Fishbone to Disturbed and Killswitch Engage, is now is now in a DC hardcore band. I just shared your video with him saying, " this is ours, son, we did it first." Again, thanks.
I just stumbled upon this video today. I'm from the DMV. What is the name of your sons band? I'd be interested in checking them out if they are playing a show some time soon.
I love knowing the DC hardcore scene is still moving. Being turned onto Fishbone as a young kid completely changed my taste in music (and everything else), and the DC scene is still legendary in some circles. It sounds like you did real well by your son, and I wish him and his band luck. Are they supporting I could check out on TH-cam or the like?
Not only should a person not limit their musical palette, they should actively seek out styles they've never heard of before. If a person limits themselves based on anything other than what they find enjoyable they are only hurting themselves.
@@greghauser742 No one's saying to do that. But art isn't necessarily about what you like. For example I never liked shakespeare in high school (besides macbeth) but i can still understand that he had a huge influence on language and storytelling as we know it today
I love Death!!! Started listening to them freshman year of high school, bad brains + X-ray spex soon after. Literally JUST found out about pure hell a couple days ago. Listened to Noise Addiction straight through and loved it. I was so psyched to see this video on my homepage and recognize the album covers. Black punk deserves all the love
I think this was a really cool video. So many of us modern punks are very anti-racist. The anti-bigotry and anti-racism is what drew me into the genre You're right that it's a very "white" genre, so i try to seek out less white band to support them so that our genre and community grows And you should definitely join a band. Playing punk on stage is an adrenaline rush I've never managed to replicate
Punks are from everywhere, there’s a lot of whites people in the genre, but also a lot of blacks and latinos. Seek bands not based on race or ethnicity, but based on quality. (Bad Brains are the 2nd best punk band of all time, not based on ethnicity or race, but based on how awesome their music is).
I grew up in Maryland, and so I went to DC often, especially to the old 9:30 Club. Bad Brains changed so many people's lives. Thank you for posting this. Hey, Johnny Lydon (né Rotten) did come from the working class; he also recorded with Afrika Bambaataa. The rest of the Clash also were very much working class. Bad Brains came from upper middle class suburbs in DC metro area, btw. They didn't exactly come from poverty.
The Bad Brains also helped create the entire DC scene and sound. That's why much of the DC scene was always different from what you'd find in NYC or LA at the same time, though a lot of those earlier scenes all had their own unique sounds.
Despite im more into of post punk, this is truly fascinating to learn. Bonus points for add hobie in the thumbnail. It's about damn time he's about to get recognized
One really important figure missing here is Spot (AKA Glenn Lockett),SST Records' in-house engineer and who died a few months ago (RIP). Son of a Tuskegee airman and a white mother, he was behind the boards on some of the most influential albums/bands of the early to mid 80s (Black Flag's early releases, Minutemen, Husker Du's Zen Arcade, Descendents, Misfits, etc). Spot had a background in jazz, folk, etc., and really was essential to those the SST bands' evolution from basic 3-chord thrash to something more ecletic and influential.
I would never want to be associated with SST's sound and engineering. It might of worked on one or two albums on the label but the HuskerDu catalog suffered for it.
@@brianmiller1077 That stuff was recorded 40 years ago under the most threadbare of conditions. SST didn't have the money to properly record all the bands they wanted, so they and Spot developed a way of recording cheaply and quickly with minimal time for mixing and mastering. The point was to get albums out to promote the bands as live acts while they are touring, rather than touring to support an album (Mike Watt talks about this all the time). Huskers and Black Flag definately suffered, but I think Spot's recordings are of the MInutemen sound perfect for that band's stripped down aesthetic. The problem I hear now listening to them is not so much Spot's production as much as how horribly the SST cataolgoue has been mastered for CD and digital formats. Unfortunately, Greg Ginn still has many of those master tapes and he isn't letting them go without a fight or a big payout.
@@brianmiller1077 Also Husker Du's sound suffered even more AFTER they ditched Spot and SST. The drum sound on Flip Your Wig or Warehouse: Songs and Stories? Yikes.
I'm white & know very little about music history, so this was a really interesting video! I checked out Death's ...For The Whole World To See and loved it, I'll definitely listen to the other bands you mentioned. The idea of these musicians sticking to their values in the face of oppression & at the expense of fame/money/recognition really resonates with me. I'm glad their art has survived the test of time despite the barriers working against them. Thank you for sharing!
I honestly could do one of these for practically every genre. House, EDM, ballroom, ragtime, the list just goes on. I might just do a few of those honestly
@@lilbilliam PLEASE do. The fact that ALL American music, and its global spinoffs came from Black American creativity cannot be overstated, in the age where the Ed Sheeran type appropriators believe copying existing music is inevitable, since they lack creativity and vision themselves❤🔥
@@lilbilliam The first Drag Queen was an ex slave who was doing drag balls in the late 1800s. They did the styalized dancing and dress. His name was William Dorsey Swann and was the first to be documented as referring to himself as a queen. I get irritated when people think "black and latino" people created drag🤣 Now they having whole voguing contests in Europe and underground drag balls in China. If you think its a story to bring out on this channel, puleez enlighten folks that THAT CHIT IS BLACK TOO😊
I had the good fortune to see Death headline a music festival in Connecticut back in 2013. Truly awesome experience, one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen
Punk emerges in the US. The Clash played their first gig on the night of July 4 1976, after they met the Ramones in person, and had been listening to their album. The Ramones were on the their first UK tour when John Lydon was too uncertain to take the stage, and the day the Clash took their first stage. Punk is a term first used in a punk song by the Ramones. The way genres as created is by someone getting an identity, usually through a label by outsiders, and that identity becoming a point of relation for those in the scene or other outcasts looking for solidarity. The Ramones created the nucleus of that scene - but there was absolutely DNA all over the place. As for "white guy music," the Ramones used to go catch every early Run DMC show they could. That is by Daryl DMC's testimony. They got their first stage by Lou Reed. Run DMC is absolutely pedigree. They adopted their leather jackets from The Ramones. Again, by DMC's admission. The first clearly punk band that had Black members, it was Pure Hell - in 1974, same year The Ramones formed. th-cam.com/video/-S-H7vyhcCA/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=PureHell-Topic
The MC5 and The Stooges predate the Ramones by some time. After leaving school, James Osterberg worked with blues musicians in Chicago as a replacement drummer. He returned home to create something new based on what he had learned. The Ashton brothers took things further. A young John Lydon saw the original Stooges' only London gig and later did a cover of No Fun with the nascent Pistols. The Ramones came along later.
Anytime who grew up a fan of punk in the north Northeast knew that the earliest white fans of hip hop were the punks. The scenes had a lot in common at that time, and their hands helped support and boost each other. But that was pretty Northeast specific, it would seem. Not many scenes were as large, densely packed, or interwoven as NYC's was back in the day.
@@bluelines1 Except both bands were rooted in blue's and psychedelia and had their long jams/freakouts,the stooges were once known as the psychedelic Stooges,which was something the early punk bands avoided,an influence on punk, yes,but more along the lines of proto punk,while the mc5 bordered on cock rock
From one brother who has always had more of an affinity for the alternative to another, this was 🎯 When you mentioned the part about rebellion, dismantling power structures within punk etc and it’s connection to the black experience, I leapt up and screamed “YES!” at the screen. You get it. You fucking get it! You made an instant subscriber out of me bro! 👊🏿
Hed pe is severely underrated. Also wanted to state that women were often sent to the back of the room in early punk years which is why the riot girl movement arose. All music is for everyone!
@lil' bill oh yeah, in the early 90s, they would get a beat down in the mosh pits if they tried to get near the stage. It was a big problem back then. Love this video was very enlightening!
Wasn't familiar with Pure Hell. Those guys are great. I'm glad I was able to find them through your video. Punk music always has resonated with me, but it took until my early 20s to find what the genre actually had instore.
Loved this. Growing up I knew Bad Brains but hadn't heard about Death until the documentary. I definitely didn't know most of this history. Thanks, great stuff as always.
as a gen z-er, the first three minutes of this are surprising because i saw bands like bad brains and death coming up and thought that that was kinda the appeal of punk: that it was inclusive and anyone can do it, even all black bands. It's made me continue trying to to make rock music early into my 20s, and i find the dichotomy between generations interesting. Interesting video nonetheless, punk is incredibly black!!
I discovered Death a few years ago, and I love them! They had so much chaotic energy, and even if the other "punk" bands that came after them hadn't heard them, they were definitely punk before punk was punk!
What's with the quotes around 'punk'? The bands that "came after them" actually started the whole thing. No one even knew Death existed until 2009 when that record they recorded in 1975 was finally released.
Because believe it or not there were people that actually listened to their music and took inspiration from it. They may not have said it themselves but you can definitely tell if you compare the music.
@@lazyspacepirate Except there weren't. There's literally no example of anyone from the 70's or even the 80's punks scenes that have ever cited Death as an influence, or talked about them at all. That's objectively true. Don't you think that's a little odd for a band you think they "took inspiration from"? *Someone* would have at least mentioned them at some point, right? Everyone talked about the Stooges, MC5, and New York Dolls, yet no one ever talked about Death even once, because no one knew they existed until 2009 when their record was finally unearthed and they started touring the U.S. They didn't influence the punk scene. They were completely separate from it. Your theory is conjecture at best.
Most of the punks I grew up with also were really into hip hop and graffiti culture. So many of the styles of dress and even the "energy", often feels super similar. This video presents a deep dive into the history of punk, from the proto-punk/garage rock scene. You did a rad job digging up another massive example of black musicians 100% spearheading revolutions in musical styles. Most people never hear about this, and assume that white folks "created" these styles, when in fact they often had close ties or knowledge of underground black music and actively imitated innovations they experienced in those scenes. There's also the huge influence in Britain of the Caribbean immigrants who brought with them working class rude boy culture, which influenced skinheads (which were originally white working class kids who frequented soul and ska dancehalls), which later influenced British street punk of white musicians. Just goes to show that mass media is a mirror that reflects the power structure, and so white bands get all the credit, while many of the black originators, are barely named in pop history. Massive props for this insightful (and wry) correction of the historical record!
The originators of punk were mostly white, actually. At some point people are going to have to stop tryin to revise history to suit their own narratives and accept the fact that Whitey originated something they like.
I'm a black Metalhead and Goth guy. I've been listening to Goth Rock and Metal Music for 15 years, I love Punk to.. I dress Goth, Punk and Metal, I live in a white diverse area, but I work in a mainly black area, a lot of black people think the same, I never contributed to that hivemindset. I just enjoy what I enjoy. I'm a Goth and Metal musician myself for over a decade. Thank you for making this video, I wish there were more about black punk, metal and goth rock bands.
New members of Pure Hell personally and my brother played with them for a short period of time. They did have a huge following in Philly and some in New York. They were good guys that never got the recognition they deserved!
Absolutely! Was looking for this comment, crazy cool and interesting how it even predates anything in this video, it shows how far back traces of punk have gone even outside of the U.S. and Europe
Artists like Little Richard and James Brown influenced future rock and punk acts in letting it all out on stage; being raucous and displaying energetic movement
i think the 60's girl groups planted some serious seeds too. their music wasn't exactly punk but it was simple in structure, high energy, contained relatable, honest emotion in the lyrics and was played by working-class teenagers without formal music training for the most part. and yeah pretty much all of them were black! their songwriting had a huge influence on bands like the ramones, stooges, misfits etc bc it was catchy, easy to play and unpretentious compared to late 60's/early 70's rock
This video is amazing. I'm a Blackndude with eclectic music tastes myself and there are few people who have taught me something new about music. This video taught me a lot. Excellent work
Bands like pure hell and Bad Brains we're so top-tier to be so underrated and Industry defining it is sad. Somehow we got locked part of our music. Even today bands like fire from the gods and Sevendust explicable that they do not get more respect and accolades from our community
Bad Brains are hailed as punk gods with in the actual punk scene (and by extension my sub-culture, the skateboarding world). They’ve been disrespected by the industry, but fuck the industry. The music industry especially the rock and roll side of it is racist as fuck. Bad Brains dosnt need their recognition
Pure Hell and Death were victims of happening too early and not getting the support to get off the ground and finding a wider audience. Bad Brains kind of self-sabotaged themselves (largely because of HR's antics). They actually were asked to open for U2 sometime in the mid 80s and HR screwed that up too.
Whole wheat bread Have been one of my favorite bands since I was a teenager. They play a lot in my Hometown. I think they're from the same area. They are the most Down to earth people while also being incredible musicians. I once saw a WWB show and the bassist did a solo that was so dope. I miss seeing them doing shows. They just dropped a new album so hopefully a tour will follow❤
im so glad you brought a light to a amazing band that nobody knows about and should. theres a documentary out about them that was amazing. definitely should watch.!! and a shout out to another all black rock band from the 80's/90's " Living Colour" cult of personality has one of the hardest intro's ever in my opinion!!
Lil’ Bill I just want to say thank you for putting the spotlight on pioneers of punk telling the history of punk. I am 58, have been Rock and Roll since 1970, and also I am Black. To all who play outside the lines of what they say ( society says ) keep up the good work and make sure younger folks know about how much better it is being on the outside!
I grew up in the SF punk scene revolving around the Mabuhay Gardens as a little kid. Since my dad did the lights and sound, I was there almost every weekend. Back then, it seemed like everyone knew they were following a trail blazed by Black, Hispanic and Asian kids. In retrospect, particularly looking from a main-stream lens as well as a white one, it has come to look like bands like the Clash and the Pistols were the dawn of the genre, but tbh it was the beginning of the end of it. A bit like Nirvana suddenly made a generation of punk lovers out of the jocks in my high school who used to beat us up for looking weird, the Sex Pistols made fans out of the straight kids. Small pockets of fans might raise eyebrows, but no-one really cared until the money started coming in, and as always that process starts with whitewashing. Bands like the Bags, Alley Cats and The Know were my first influences, and for many of us the introduction to the world of talk-back rock. To this day, I consider Alice Bag to be a genuine role model going into later life. As an 80's kid Bad Brains, particularly I against I were in heavy rotation in my walkman. Absolute genius. I'm stoked to hear about a Detroit band!! Oh, and I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that John Lydon is, was and always will be a hypocritical twat but then again the Pistols were created by Vivienne Westwood to sell clothes. lol And as I'm thinking about it, I might as well point out the the whole "oi" thing was also stolen from Black music at it's core. If you've never seen This is England, now would be a good time. th-cam.com/video/F4pt7d-ys5Y/w-d-xo.html
@@ambrsanford3703 So Don Letts is trying to say Oi is a black creation now? Interesting. I don't see where he explains that in the video though. Can you link the timestamp where he talks about it?
@@greghauser742 The Nazi "skinheads" co-opted a fully formed subculture with roots in multicultural (primarily Jamaican) music. It's literally the entire video..
@@ambrsanford3703 ...That's skinhead culture in general, not Oi music. Oi started in the early 80's and it was mostly white skinheads making that music.
i’ve been frustrated lately with how a lot of mainstream musicians i like have turned out to be horrific people. seeing this video and listening to these bands has given me incredible music to listen to over the next week by musicians who are also really fucking cool people outside of the studio, and for that i am extremely grateful.
This shit got me so hyped to relive my musically younger days . So many memories. I actually got really deep in the east bay punk scene. I lived at Hazmat in Jack London sq in Oakland and frequently attended Burnt Ramen events in Richmond. I also almost fought Dean, the only other black guy in the scene at the time at the East Bay rats fight night.
As someone who was in the NY scene from the early-mid 90s, The Bad Brains were always well respected and universally worshipped by not only hardcore fans, but the biggest hardcore bands in the scene during that time. You also need to check out Chaka Malik's late 80s hardcore band "Burn" & 90s Post hardcore band "Orange 9mm" as well as Carley Coma's band Candiria & the CT based hardcore band Ground Zero.
I tripped over myself into seeing Orange 9mm opening for another band I wanted to see, and was so blown away I don't even remember what band they were opening for. And Candiria are absolute legends. I'm not even really a metal fan, but as time went on and they added math core to their sound, on top of the funk, hardcore, metal, hip hop, and even folk flavors that were already there was really something else. And their songwriting they always next level. They were blending all those different flavors of music years before anyone else was, and they were never cringey about it. I'm so happy to see them mentioned here. Absolute legends to those who know.
@RevShifty hopefully the youth starts listening to them. I believe Candiria are still together, playing shows at venues on occasion. Chaka is still performing with Burn. Would love an Orange 9mm reunion!
I became more and more agitated the further constraints you put on the hypothetical protest at the start of the video. I feel that if there were a Bekdel Test for punks, this would be it.
Why would you willing sit through an hr long video if it just makes you more and more angry? Do you have literally nothing else to do with your time? Or are you just stupid. It's probably both, either way thanks from the engagement
i’ve been obsessed with egg punk lately, and i’ve been wanting to branch out within the punk genre. when i saw the premiere, i was super excited since the timing was perfect! i’ll definitely check out these punk legends 🤘
Bravo! Great job! Thank you. I am a 62 year old punk rocker still playing in a punk band to this day and agree with you on every front in this video. I had friends in punk bands as long as 40 years ago that I believed were great artists and caring people with radical anti establishment tendencies only to find out decades later that they were always just racist capitalists in waiting
By "racist capitalists" I'm guessing you're referring to conservatives. Sounds like you're one of many who can't seem to cope with the fact that there were always conservatives in the scene to a degree, and it was never some exclusively leftist circle jerk.
Great video. I moved from suburban ATL to NYC in '89. Fell in with some skaters who introduced me to CBGBs. Saw Fishbone and RHCP there. And then 24-7 Spyz and Living Colour not long after. Cant remeber if I saw BB. But was familiar with them since bootleg tapes were on every corner in NYC. But '89 also introduced me to Public Enemy and I got re-routed from my potential punk journey into hip hop. Started making hip hop music videos early 90's and sample heavy music and jazz & reggae took over. Finally managed to play Bass in a band in 2000 and played CBGB's (only the lounge) But Still! And well it was neo-soul but it still counts. Kinda.
While I’m glad that Death eventually got their music released, it seems hyperbole to claim “Punk rock’s history is very black” based on one band with one single which apparently wasn’t even heard by the bands that actually popularized the genre. A band that doesn’t even predate The Stooges (the band that actually got cited as an influence by later successful punk bands) nor Los Saicos. Im latino and I love late 70s & early 80s punk but I wouldn’t say “punk is peruvian” just because one band did it years before others. I’d much rather admire them by their own merits and how they were ahead of their time but I can’t say their efforts shaped the evolution of the genre, due to them remaining mostly in obscurity until not too long ago. And none of this is to discredit Death or Los Saicos, credit where credit is due. But like I said, to say they influenced the artists that put Punk on the map is simply not true. So yeah, great job for shedding light on a obscure yet interesting band while shitting on bands that actually shaped the music while injecting “white people” every couple of seconds. Your admission of refusing to play in a band with whites speaks for itself. Imagine if D.H. Peligro thought like that…
The thing is that "los Saicos" as far as I can tell from the research I've done, has never influenced black punk rock bands in America. And the reason why that is important is because most of white punk rock is influenced BY black rock bands in the 70s and 80s. I'm not saying that Latinos don't deserve credit but its a stretch to say you guys were as influential in the U.S as you were in Latin America. Also, Lil Bill refusing to join a band because whites were in it is completely fine because white people have a history of cultural appropriation, stealing, and a superiority complex against black people and that includes white Latinos as well if you were wondering.
@@My_name_is- bruh, for your first 3 sentences: that’s literally what I said. Underground Latin bands did NOT influence the first punk wave. I don’t know how you interpreted what I said as me advocating that Los Saicos influenced The Stooges, Ramones, etc 🤦♂️ And you saying that Lilbil is not wrong for refusing to play with whites because white people have a history of cultural appropriation and a superiority complex is assuming that ALL whites (“white latinos” included as you said) are cultural appropriators with a superiority complex. That’s like me saying “there's nothing wrong with someone refusing to play in a band with blacks because they have a history of smoking crack and stealing". Two words: stereotypes, prejudices.
@@CareCrow78 don't play stupid with me. It's very well documented that white people have put Africans through hell for the past 400 years. Don't bullshit about stereotyping white people being this way and that being prejudice because we see the bullshit everyday. You will never convince me that the white people in that band are the victims of prejudice/racism when the whole system is in all white people's favor. Eminem is a prime example of cultural appropriation. Every white person that is asked who is the best rapper will say Eminem for a reason. It's clear to African people that you guys might not outwardly hate black people but will always want to feel like you need to be at the top of everything. The white people that don't even listen to rap always show up in every TH-cam comment section of every video and every Poll to make sure that Eminem is at the top of that list of any black rapper. It's obvious that you guys just want to colonize black culture. By putting yourselves at the top. TikTok is another example of white people trying to colonize black art as it has a bunch of white teenagers at the top like Charlie D'amelio and Addison Rae building their careers off the back of black people's dances.
Just realized im like six videos behind i need to watch that batman movie so i can catch back up with this channel i dig your style how you ride the line between the best kind of rant comedy and delivering factual information in a blunt way
Bro I loved the history you unfolded for us, I watched all the way through. But I can’t help but say you’re like Anthony Fantanos black doppelgänger. All love
This is the sort of content I look for when watching TH-cam. This is an exceptionally well researched and argued statement on Punk. Thanks for this! I had always been aware of the influences of Ska and reggae had on punk; I listened to both extensively growing up. This was enlightening in terms of the influence of bands like Bad Brains and Death who I had heard of. I can't believe I had never heard of Pure Hell. Great video!
Death didn't influence anyone...No one even knew they existed until 2009 when their album was finally released to the world and their documentary came out a few years later.
I am so happy you made this video! Punk and its sub genres was a special interest of mine growing up, and im so happy to learn about these bands. Im kind of mad that with all my time researching punk ive never heard of any of these groups, but im thankful someone like you has taken the time to educate me on them 😊 cant wait to check all these bands out!
@@xbfdx988 The Sex Pistols were manufactured. Not an organic band. Pieced together by a producer looking to cash in on an emerging scene. He was also responsible for Generation X which is where we got Billy Idol. SSSputnik, the list goes on. McLaren was a capitalist. Just look at Johnny L now. At least Sid had the decency to burn bright and go up in smoke. The one thing they had over the Monkees was their “ability” to play their own instruments and write their own songs. Neil Diamond was not involved. Now The Damned, The Clash, Souixsiee and the Banshees, The Pretenders … The GoGos … they were organic. The one thing we can really take from the internet is history. Dig a little. You’ll have a blast.
@@tsquipnottsquip5128 they wrote one of the all time classic punk albums which isn't what a boy band does so they weren't. All other criticism don't take äway from that or their huge influence from punk especially in the years following and the thousands of punk bands that launched because of their influence
@@tsquipnottsquip5128 actually I knew who this from books in the 90s a good five years before I'd ever have the Internet. It doesn't make them any less legendary for a band manager to find members.
52 years of listening to rock music and I'm still learning 🙂. I knew about Bad Brains from another video, but Death and Pure Hell are new to me. The latter have seriously intrigued me with their flourishes of psychedelia (wah-wah and echo on guitar that no one else in punk was using, to my knowledge) -- who knows what else they might've done had they continued on? Of course, that's often the sad part about bands like these: they didn't get the chance, or when they did re-form, whatever creative juice they had earlier has seeped away.
Been waiting for this one in particular; can't wait to check it out. As someone obsessed with music, specifically rock, and even more specifically punk, I am always happy to see people prop up music that isn't the same 10 or 20 bands; and this is that x100, because black punk artists have long been denied their due. Just look at a band like Detroit's Death; absolute trail blazers, but you have to go out of your way to know that, and it's sad.
Right on! I am An Old (not just internet old, which seems to be 30), and can't tell you the number of times I stood in Hollywood (and elsewhere) lines waiting to see if HR was going to show up. 😆 There's a lot of great music out there. People are uploading their old tapes and videos. If that first wave or 2 or bands is too caustic for you, give Fishbone a try. If you like thrash, try Hirax.
Semi-relevant: One thing that always stood out to me about the influence of Black rock n' roll on the history of music is how influential Little Richard was. Lemmy - who was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix before Motorhead - wrote in his autobiography that when he discovered Little Richard, he loved the music so much that he became obsessed with it. He cited Little Richard as a massive influence on Motorhead, who obviously in turn would inspire generations of punk and metal bands.
For literal decades, Motorhead was the one band punks, skinheads, and metal heads all had in common. It cracks me the hell up to know that all sprang from Little Richard, because the real world is just that wild.
Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson are probably the biggest influences on rock music as a whole. I could be wrong or just plain uneducated, but that's where I see most influence coming from.
Pure Hell and Death are the best, both blew my mind on the first listen when I was a teen, they still rip harder than most bands. Both way too heavy for their time. Sick vid, long live rock n roll ! Also Led Zeppelin being the biggest cover band is the realest shit I’ve heard in a while haha
bad brains is the only one here that I already know, good stuff. SiM (silence iz mine) from Japan is so heavily inspired by them, and they even have an ep called i against i
I'm 43 and was teased, bullied, and ostracized by my Black friends for listening to Rock and Metal in the 90's. Luckily, I found a diverse (Asian, Latino,) group of stoner, skater, metalhead burnout geniuses in high school to hang with and it was glorious. Then the garage rock revival of the early 2000's hit and I started slowly meeting more Black folks into rock. Now, I see that young people listen to any and everything on their phones and no one bats an eye. At first I was a bit jealous that they have a freedom I didn't but now I'm proud that I suffered and am living long enough to see the changes!
Death is not a punk rock band, it's hard rock, just like dead boys, punk rock didn't exist when these bands were at their peak, y'all just making shit up at this point.
Yea the death thing is reaching where they a bit before there time yes but so was The Stooges or blue cheer which came out befor death and the fact he missed out black punks from the uk like Don Letts is anoying but what do i expect from a Black American probably thinks spider punk is an American too
Grunge started like in the early 80's, so by the time "Smells like teen spirit" became huge as you kind of insinuated, the grunge scene was pretty much over in a lot of ways accept on mtv. It kinda grew side by side with thrash and Buzz Osbourne from Melvins said hardcore is very influential. So you're not wrong tho as far as hardcore being influential, it's just more direct. Great video! wish I heard Pure Hell when I was in my early 20's and obsessed with 70's glam cause they're fantastic. Same with x-ray specs.
Loved this video, there is one specific moment in punk history where it really hits a meta-level for me on the influence that black people and black music had on the sound. Back before Iggy Pop formed the Stooges he left Ann Arbor and moved down to Chicago specifically because he recognized that all the white blues bands in Ann Arbor at the time were just copying the real blues, so he moved there to try and understand the real thing. This led Iggy to find blues drummer Sam Lay (legend) in Chicago who got him a gig playing drums for Big Walter Horton (legend) in no small part because having Iggy around would help Walter's otherwise all-black band play white clubs. Now I've set the scene so here's what I'm getting at, after spending some time in Chicago, Iggy got high on a bridge one night and realized he hadn't been able to understand the blues because he COULDN'T understand the blues since he wasn't black and the black experiences that created the blues were not his own. So, he realized that if he was going to make a sound that was actually unique he had to find a way to play a simple and stripped-down version of the blues that conveyed his own experiences rather than copying experiences he'd never understand. This realization is quite literally what led to the Stooges forming and to me is one of the key moments that created what would definitively become punk music. It just goes to show that even outside of the obvious influences black artists had on the sound, i.e. the actual musicians discussed in this video, the influence black folks had on the genre is still always there. In my opinion, Iggy was the first artist to bring the attitude and ethos that punk is so known for today to a wide audience, I think the fact that attitude came largely from the influence of black folks around him and the realization that he couldn't just be another white boy playing the blues is really damn cool. Hope whoever reads this agrees.
Fantastic video, Bill! Well researched and I enjoy your brand of humor. It's so important not to lose this important branch of punk rock history. Thank you!
Damn I'm such an uncultured kid, I always felt like an outsider in punk because of how white I was made to believe it is. Reminds me of Shonalika's recent conversation with Vlad Von Kitsch about being goth & poc. I'm discovering more and more about how much of my heritage was obscured from me to the point I mistook it for someone else's.
The punk scene did become white and, yes, macho. From the Sex Pistols to skate punk. The punk scene was originally queer. Rebel, rebel on the street/Makeup on my face/Stockings on my feet/All the straights asking me why/I'm not a normal American guy/What makes America so straight/and me so bent?
@@ittixen Gatekeeping isn't real, and punk is everyone's heritage, not just yours. It was mostly whites and latinos who created it, and a handful of blacks. It's always been multiracial in other words. No one said it was just a white thing or tried to paint it that way so I'm not sure why a lot of you are saying it was "obscured" from you. The information was always there.
Jon Butcher over in Philly is a great under-rated guitarist. He has nothing to do with punk, but anyone into Hendrix, Clapton, Eric Johnson, Buddy Guy, or Stevie Ray Vaughan will like Jon Butcher's catalog. "Wishes" and "Send Me Somebody" are two favorites.
nice video! you now have 71.701! i downloaded some songs by death back in napster times, thinking it was the deathmetal band. been a fan ever since. it took over a decade till i found a physical record.
fu, Punk is and always been Majority White. I sincerely Appreciate Bad Brains, and most Especially Body Count, but don't pretend Black Folks own every musical style for the last 150 years. It pisses me off.
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Hey if y'all wanna discover some modern black punks I didn’t mention look up these:
X-Ray Specs
Zulu
Meet Me @ The Altar
Negro Terror
Black Pumas
Pleasure Venom
Whole Wheat Bread
F**k U Pay Us
Yes X-ray specs
Might add some more?:
Buggin
End It
Move BHC
Knife Wound
Rebelmatic
Kind Eyes
Winter Wolf
Playytime
Minority Threat
Negro Terror where so good RIP Omar Higgins
And let’s throw Soul Glo on that list
I also wanna shout out the band the Muslims for some modern queercore punks
Bad Brains still not being in the rock and roll hall of fame is criminal.
The rock and roll hall of Fame is a pay to win scam. It's not needed.
@@iamhereblossom1588 yeah and they just randomly throw acts together in there, it’s a fun show to watch if u love history of music and all, but it’s more a celebration for the hall of fame and the grift is for someone then for immortalizing various rock icons
Not being in the rock hall is more of an honor than being in it
can this comment be considered "Capitalist Realism" ?
@SurfingOnBrainwaves agreed. Although I was old enough for some venues at the time, they did not play in my town as early as 1979, but I was fortunate enough to see them on the i against i tour, and it was fantastic.
As a Latino rocker, I've always been a big fan of multicultural punk rock and other forms of aggressive rock n roll. The first punk band I got into was Suicidal Tendencies who have always had Black and Latino line-ups. As far as the origins of punk go, don't forget Peruvian trailblazers Los Saicos from the early 60's. As far as the modern era goes, there's Radkey who are the epitome of rock n roll. It's funny how people don't realize that throughout the history of punk rock, there has ALWAYS been Black and Latino representation right at the forefront. So glad to see you include Whole Wheat Bread in your recommendations as they are a great live band!
Los Saicos nunca fueron padres del punk ni el proto-punk. Aunque ame a los Saicos hay que admitir que todo el discurso de que Los Saicos crearon el punk es puro sensacionalismo, en ese entonces e incluso antes existían bandas de garage y surf haciendo música agresiva con letras violentas que rompian con la norma de las baladas y rocanroles de la época. El mérito de los Saicos es haber encontrado ese sonido por si mismos en un momento donde la accesibilidad a la música no era tan grande como hoy.
Hay un buen video al respecto del canal "La Musica Arruino Mi Vida"
@@ElGuayo tendre que buscarlo. Gracias por la recomendacion.
@@comedianfreak No hay de qué, el canal es muy bueno ✌🏻
Los Saicos are so fucking good. Hearing them for the first time was very similar to hearing the stooges or Death for the first time. Totally out of left field and nasty as shit lol. I love it
I got bullied for a majority of my childhood for listening to “white people music”. Hell, I still mostly do. My parents literally had my sister take my iPod with all my favorite bands on it, wipe it and put tons of radio hits on it. I was devastated. It took countless hours finding the right yt videos to rip and put in all the info manually.
thats kinda fucked but that happened to me too (but except my dad)
why are supportive parents an exception and not the norm 🫠 I want better for us. having your own family look at you weird when you be yourself and don’t fit into what’s expected is such a common experience and it is so painful 😭
Lies. You trolls are always finding a way to perpetrate blacks as monolithic. If that were the case, we wouldn't have created a DIVERSITY of genres.
@@rwmartinez1262ure... person will NBA players as your avatar... I'm sure you don't perpetuate a stereotype at all
-- sincerely written by a black guy that got bullied growing up for listening to punk and hardcore
@@losgryfog explain the correlation?
growing up I can’t say how often I heard “why do you listen to white music”, or got told I was acting “white” because I liked punk and hardcore music (still do).
Meanwhile, these bands introduced me to political and social issues way, taught me about diversity and inclusivity. while friends/coworkers joked about my PMA All Day tattoo, no one ever seems to know who the Bad Brains are.
Punk is good for the mind, and I’m stoked you pursued the genre despite the people around you being lame about it. Thats frankly pretty punk of you
The interesting thing is aside from racist parents nobody asks white kids why they listen to black music
Used to pull-up to school in my band tshirts "Why you tryna be a white boy for?" 😂😂😂
@@Tomdelongpenis I never thought about that; I did usually clap back with the “why do you listen to xyz”, and found hip hop, rap, house music, progressive rock, etc because of it. When it’s less about the genre and more about the music/message/etc, you find what you like more. If I were stuck on it needing to be punk/hardcore, I never would’ve found the politics in Rap, Metal, Hip hop, “world” music, etc.
I feel like People get so caught up on trying to make shit easy to identify that they lose opportunities to find what they really want… but I guess that’s kinda part of the punk thing too, where you’re encouraged to be, not to become. All that anti-poser ethic and DIY breeds it
@@dariuswilliams7509 bro, to this day. I’m 34 and I clean up just find for work, but wifey and I will still rock the band tee and jeans as default. I still can’t bring myself to buy band hoodies though, somewhere inside I still think 50/70 for one of those Gildan hoodies is too much 😂
I was a black girl being raised in the same house as my passing older half siblings in the 80’s. AC/DC, Beastie Boys, were in constant rotation in my older brothers room. I didn’t even think about it until he would drop me off at the bus stop blasting Metallica and i got confused looks ( I was a teen in the dawn of west coast gangster rap) I feel like I’m home here. To me my intro to black rock has to be Gap band and Funkadelic and Hendrix, from there the more Indy the better!
I was a black teen girl in the mid 2000s influenced by nu metal, screamo, etc. Also grew up on gap band, hendrix and funkadelic from my dad. It would've been cool to have you as a sister!
@@Heavenhellhaleema That would have been awesome, I feel like that too! I was an weird kid though and walked to the beat of my own drum. I probably would have been embarrassing, lol . This is the great side of social media ,we get to meet like minded people from across the globe.
@@tayriobravo6204 Lol I was the queen of all things embarrassing so we for sure would've had that in common 😅 but I agree, this aspect of social media is cool. Cheers from Northern California 🙌🏾❤️
@@Heavenhellhaleema lol People who grew up with Punk cringing at the mention of '' Nu Metal '' and '' screamo ''
For me it was my mom's love of Santana and Malo
As a 44yo Black gal who grew up in the suburbs during the 80s and 90s listening to folk, rock, metal, alt and grunge (still do) while my peers were solidly in the R&B/Rap camp...this video was illuminating. It was also heart breaking because I'd have LOVED to have seen some of the bands you mentioned in this video and am now on a hunt to see if I can find any more media related to them. I grew up feeling othered for my music tastes and now it's wonderful to see that no...I was just appreciating genres that my people started.
yeah but the way your being judged by them your judging them for not liking punk and stuff. Don't think you didn't want to other people when you got the chance.
We get it your a stem major and don't get why sex is everywhere.
@@nyxx7813 I...really have no idea what you're on about hon. Never was troubled by other people's musical tastes. My mom (also Black) was into pop, country and opera. Dad (still Black) was into Jazz, R&B and folk. Big brother was into hip hop, rap and rock and little brother was into synthwave and tech core.
It was interacting with anyone outside of my immediate family where the othering happened. What in my post made you think I would have crapped on other people's musical choices just because I didn't share them?
@@nyxx7813you are obviously projecting and feel personally attacked for some reason. flew right over your head.
You do realize the two bands that are known to have started punk ramones(us) sex pistols(uk) are both white
I hate that just because we’re black we can’t be differentl. We all gotta be ghetto smh
"The issue here at least on the UK side is many of the early punks weren't actually working class. A lot of them actually picked up their aesthetic and possibly even politics from art school...So the working class connection at least when it comes to the actual bands themselves isn't exactly crystal clear. Like the age of Matt Walsh's mistress."
God. Fucking. *DAMN* the set-up for that aside joke took me the fuck out. 😭
a completely different era
i bet all you Noobs are comparing art school then to now
Going to art school in the 70s certainly didn't mean you weren't from a working class family.
The working class made up for it with the later 'Oi' bands & demonstrated their inferiority to the earlier bands in the process. The lower middle class aren't much different in terms of circumstances as the working class, the real difference lies in upbringing, it has to be said that most working class people ( speaking as a person from a lower middle class background ) I came into contact with were more often than not more stupid, narrow minded & bigoted, they also tended to be inverted snobs who reckon they have some sort of exclusivity on what is fashionably called today 'authenticity'.
@@layditms2 the only thing different about art schools of today amd now is the technology. They're still overpriced, pretension for students too lazy to make actual art...
@@tarkiviststraight out of Clash Royale 😭
Punk is latino, and black, and urban, and suburban, and it is also none of those things.
Punk is punk. It is for all who have ever felt like "the system" wasn't designed for them. Black is certainly a label for which the system was not built for. "We are all brothers and sisters in binds." La Familia is big my brother, don't ever leave anyone out in the rain and La Familia will keep growing.
amen to that shit
Completely agree 🐇
🙄🙄🙄
Latino? Gtfo
@@rwmartinez1262 and that's how you show people you don't know shit about the history of punk music. The background vocals of nearly half of classic punk are in spanish. The music flourished in So Cal and Mexico City as it struggled to become accepted elsewhere.
Go do some research.
I played bass with Pure Hell for about a year. And then formed another band called Veronica Screams with the the drummer Spider.
Pure Hell was fire.
Great band 👍
I love Pure Hell, my man🤘🏿
And I still listen to your band all the time. I never heard of Veronica Screams, but I'm gonna look it up👍🏿
thanks to your band, it's helped found American punk and I absolutely thank you for it
Saw Pure Hell back in the day
I love the inspiration taken from the "The Band Called Death" documentary. More people need to know about Death
I was lucky enough to see them accompanied by my best friend when they came to Barcelona in October 2016; I've always had a hard time not being able to see bands like the Ramones and the Cramps, but at least I was able to see to the TRUE PARENTS of Punk: DEATH.
@@HandlesTheCyberman No, this is about the punk band Death. That death metal Death is awesome too, one of the pioneers of Death Metal.
Man, I gotta tell you...Show a black person A Band Called Death and they will fucking love it!
That band was so good. And in the film when they mention the label "didn't know how to market them," it left me floored. Here's how they could've marketed them: it's a band that's better than all the other current bands and that's all you need to know. I saw Death's album on the thumbnail and that's what lead me here. I figured, if you're gonna talk about Death then you probably know your shit.
Love that band
Great video! As a white kid growing up in 1980s suburbia, I was enthralled with punk and I'll die listening to it! I didn't know anything about Death until way into my advancing years. The documentary about them was amazing and I was blown away by their forward thinking in music. I think more people are beginning to know about them, deservedly so!
*No one* knew about Death until 2009 when they their album was finally released.
Death had a sound that was strangely 25 years ahead of its time.
I can't say I disagree!!!
Amazing. The documentary about them is on TH-cam
@@zainmudassir2964 I’ll look for it.
I just listened to politicians in my eyes mind you I don’t listen to this Genre of music but I really enjoyed it played it twice even, I didn’t even realise the song was 5minutes long until I finished my second listen😭
there's not enough shade under the sun to throw at the sex pistols, so i'm living for every moment of it here. pure hell was sadly missing from my punk education, but i definitely need to check them out, they sound _entirely_ up my alley.
I can't stand Sex Pistols. Not gonna lie Anarchy in the UK and Pretty Vacant are bops tho
Lol People with the dumbest kitschiest cgi and anime talking about Punk
You literally have nothing to do with Punk
vvtf even
@@lilbilliam You come across as the opposite of Punk anyhow
lol
@@layditms2 there's no sadder hobby than pretending you know shit about shit from someone's pfp
I always wanted to watch a doc about the parallel birth and evolution of punk rock and hip hop. They are so similar and nobody talks about it!
Thank you! I’ve been saying this for years. The energy, expression and vocal arrangements are so similar.
@@anakinnotvader yes! And both have roots in NY around the same years!
The first white fans of hip hop in NYC were punks. That's just a fact. At one point, the communities all had a whole lot of drives, passions, and interests in common. They really did mirror each other in a lot of ways, and even swapped influences early on.
@@RevShiftyEven Bill dissed The Beastie Boys in this video, which was really unfair. They were real hip hop artists AND punks. Also, remember Malcolm and Buffalo Dance? The crossovers go WAY back.
"Bad Brains is your favorite band's favorite band."
Truer words were never spoken. ❤❤❤
My favorite band is the Bad Brains' favorite band - The Damned.
Seriously - when I choose a CD/cassette from the shelf that was recorded at the turn of the '80s and '90s and look at the booklet inside, I will find a dedication to Bad Brains for the inspiration.
@@Miodowy Every. Single. Time. Their brief time in DC literally helped create the entire DC scene just a couple years later, which also inevitably leads to everything Discord and the whole post hardcore scene. You couldn't overstate their importance if you tried.
I would love to see your thoughts on the traditional skinhead scene and how it has carried on till today. ( traditional skinheads refers to the first wave of skinheads in the 60’s who held anti racist beliefs and were trail blazers for participating in multi racial cultural spaces and events. It as refers to people like me who even now proudly call themselves a skinhead but keep the spirit of anti racism alive)
I touched on it a little bit at the end but it's basically the same thing that happened with "woke"
It's funny to read this having grown up around original skinheads
Like how do you attach to things and '' keep X alive''
when the Originals already are ?
Me too. I'm an anti racist skin. If anyone accuses me of being a Nazi, just by looking at what I'm wearing, I politely let them know I'm Jewish. That stops them in their tracks usually
Skinheads came from mods, they listened to black ska music but if you think they were anti raciest your miles off. They were into football violence not peace and love and did not care for minorities, why would they it was a terrace cult. If you did not experience the cult in its hay day then your a cheap knock off who missed the boat, who will never know what it is to be a skinhead. The skins finally lost the terraces to the casuals which is the exact time they become irrelevant. I witnessed it all.
Skinheads originated in working-class areas; the entire culture was based on Pakistani immigrants taking jobs away from native-born whites.
Read a book and stop basing your opinions on internet misinformation.
Skinheads were always bigots; anti-racist skinheads did not emerge until 1987.
The band that got me into Afro punk the most was actually the AfroPunk festival outside of BAM in Brooklyn. I hung out with the lead singer of American Fangs for a bit. They were really cool. I couldn't believe how good their music was. I'm going to play their debut album again right after I'm done with this video. Nice job!
Glad you mentioned Death. I've seen many compilations called 'History of Punk' where someone (most of the time a white male) plays riffs in chronological order to tell the history of the genre. I've seen many of them, and never has anyone played anything by Death. Once I actually pointed out that Death was missing and someone commented calling me a poser because Death is a death metal band from Florida. Also, that quote about the Sex Pistols being the first boy band is pure gold.
Saying Death is a death metal band from florida is aggressively stupid lol. I’m from the punk scene is MI and Death does have a solid level of recognition up here
@@fatsteve2380 okay but death is literally also a death metal band from Florida. They're also a band people have actually heard of.
Death from Detroit are the best and their kids are great in Rough Francis.
Seen Death play a tiny venue called 242 Main
@@2emo2function oh yeah actually i forgot about them
lol Yall way more '' boy band ''
'' Fallout ''
Gaming is as anti Punk as it gets
lmao
Great video, Billiam! I’m not a punk guy, but I’m a metalhead and it’s nice to see the diversity of the “alternative” genres being brought to attention. There’s so many black metal musicians (not to be confused with Black Metal musicians) that don’t get the credit they deserve.
I'm only 8 minutes in and I love your attitude on music history. Also, maybe it's because I'm autistic, but I never quite got my head around the idea that my skin color was expected to make a difference in my music choices. If you feel it, you feel it, end of debate. I'm not about to apologize for loving BOTH Nine Inch Nails AND Missy Eliot, fight me.
Listening to this, I couldn't help thinking about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, another black musical frontrunner not really given her due until recently. She was a vocalist who was also a badass on a guitar who influenced those who became household names (Elvis, Chuck Berry, etc) while hers languished in anonymity for years.
She was huge in her day. But forgotten later.
Well alot of people inspired Elvis. Ask everyone he stole from.
@@Godloveszaza Elvis never pretended to invent anything. He grew up singing with black gospel choirs, listening to black records and basically living in a black neighborhood. He was signed to a record label specializing in blues, then played on blues programs by DJ's who thought he was black. But luckily for him, he was white. On top of young, charismatic, and really good looking.
The fact that he didn't use his platform to speak out against segregation, or acknowledge his privilege makes him look more complicit in hindsight.
Which probably came from growing up in poverty with the "don't rock the boat" mentality that many poor folks never escape. And made worse by the fact that he got locked into a nightmare contract as a teenager, by a manager who pretty much owned him, his family, and his career, until his untimely death at the age of 42. Elvis didn't knowingly steal anyone's career. But he did waste the opportunity to do more for his influences. And himself.
@@mperezmcfinn2511this
@@mperezmcfinn2511disagree.he was a pedophile and he was smart enough to know exactly what was happening. He could steal from us but couldn’t put us on. He’s a loser and he always will be. Who steals from black people and never even shouts them out?????? Who rapes little girls?? Pls with the bleeding heart he was poor. He was white and he WAS complicit
As a white dude who used to play punk, Death was probably my biggest inspiration for performing. That album is incredible front-to-back, shame it wasn’t released on time.
You weren't playing punk for very long. What made you quit so soon?
you are lying and saying this in a pathetic attempt to get woke props.
loser much?
or just incel?
Wow, thanks for this! I consider myself well versed in Punk and I had never heard of Pure Hell. With the time-frames mentioned in the video it's hard to think they wouldn't have influenced the Pistols.
A more in-depth look at the reggae and ska on the British and then American punk scenes would be a cool follow-up. It would be cool if Prince Buster was more well-known.
Oh, and The Monkeys were the first Boy Band. Challenge accepted.
Oh gawd.
So all these Noobs have to do videos on every fucking thing how we fucking grew up ?
It's hard to think pure hell could have possibly influenced the sex pistols at all, since Steve Jones and Rotten never went to NY until after they finished their album, and pure hell never went near London until whenever, at least years after Bollocks. I've watched a few shows since seeing this video - they are great, though not overly distinctive like bad brains or DK - , without an album, there's nothing other bands can learn from.
I agree with you about the Monkees, Davy Jones couldn't even play a tamberine, just hired as top cutie available. Like Sid..
Living Color and Bad Brains were one of my first bands I got into. They should be more out there. Black Rock and Metal should be bigger!
Why? Living colour was very much of their time and where pretty popular back then. Bad brains could be bigger, then again, they play hardcore which is an underground movement, it shouldn't be bigger.
@@AgentLemmon Yeah well I mean in a legacy sense. They are big but they aren’t really household names such as Metallica ect. And I think it should be that way in my opinion.
When I said this I didn’t mean that bad brains should be main stream or any of that.
Living Colour was at one point on SNL, opening for The Rolling Stones, & Cult Of Personality was on the radio night & day. They couldn’t have been much bigger. Band Brains were far more important, & should have been a household name.
Thank you for covering this. And bringing Bobby, David, and Dannis Hackney back to my ears. Very needed nuance throughout this video that did not fall on deft ears. Love your videos, keep on keeping on.
Thank you for a wonderful video, youngblood. I never heard of Pure Hell, but I saw the documentary about Death and was blown away! My son, who was raised on everything from Pfunk and Fishbone to Disturbed and Killswitch Engage, is now is now in a DC hardcore band. I just shared your video with him saying, " this is ours, son, we did it first." Again, thanks.
I just stumbled upon this video today. I'm from the DMV. What is the name of your sons band? I'd be interested in checking them out if they are playing a show some time soon.
I love knowing the DC hardcore scene is still moving. Being turned onto Fishbone as a young kid completely changed my taste in music (and everything else), and the DC scene is still legendary in some circles. It sounds like you did real well by your son, and I wish him and his band luck.
Are they supporting I could check out on TH-cam or the like?
Not only should a person not limit their musical palette, they should actively seek out styles they've never heard of before. If a person limits themselves based on anything other than what they find enjoyable they are only hurting themselves.
Forcing yourself to try and like things you honestly don't isn't too healthy either.
@@greghauser742 No one's saying to do that. But art isn't necessarily about what you like. For example I never liked shakespeare in high school (besides macbeth) but i can still understand that he had a huge influence on language and storytelling as we know it today
I love Death!!! Started listening to them freshman year of high school, bad brains + X-ray spex soon after. Literally JUST found out about pure hell a couple days ago. Listened to Noise Addiction straight through and loved it. I was so psyched to see this video on my homepage and recognize the album covers. Black punk deserves all the love
I think this was a really cool video. So many of us modern punks are very anti-racist. The anti-bigotry and anti-racism is what drew me into the genre
You're right that it's a very "white" genre, so i try to seek out less white band to support them so that our genre and community grows
And you should definitely join a band. Playing punk on stage is an adrenaline rush I've never managed to replicate
Punks are from everywhere, there’s a lot of whites people in the genre, but also a lot of blacks and latinos.
Seek bands not based on race or ethnicity, but based on quality.
(Bad Brains are the 2nd best punk band of all time, not based on ethnicity or race, but based on how awesome their music is).
@@mannyvelizofficial then what's the best punk band ever?
@@otisuyttenhove4226 it’s a tie between The Stooges and Dead Kennedys.
@@otisuyttenhove4226discharge
It's always been multiracial. Quit fixating on race.
I grew up in Maryland, and so I went to DC often, especially to the old 9:30 Club. Bad Brains changed so many people's lives. Thank you for posting this. Hey, Johnny Lydon (né Rotten) did come from the working class; he also recorded with Afrika Bambaataa. The rest of the Clash also were very much working class. Bad Brains came from upper middle class suburbs in DC metro area, btw. They didn't exactly come from poverty.
Thank you for posting correct information. There isn't much of that in this comment section.
The Bad Brains also helped create the entire DC scene and sound. That's why much of the DC scene was always different from what you'd find in NYC or LA at the same time, though a lot of those earlier scenes all had their own unique sounds.
I grew up in Maryland as well. Was too young to go to the 930 Club, but it was often mentioned on 99.1 WHFS.
@@RevShifty Agree, absolutely. I love them. I just know they came from middle class military families and were not exactly from "the street."
Despite im more into of post punk, this is truly fascinating to learn. Bonus points for add hobie in the thumbnail. It's about damn time he's about to get recognized
One really important figure missing here is Spot (AKA Glenn Lockett),SST Records' in-house engineer and who died a few months ago (RIP). Son of a Tuskegee airman and a white mother, he was behind the boards on some of the most influential albums/bands of the early to mid 80s (Black Flag's early releases, Minutemen, Husker Du's Zen Arcade, Descendents, Misfits, etc). Spot had a background in jazz, folk, etc., and really was essential to those the SST bands' evolution from basic 3-chord thrash to something more ecletic and influential.
Spot also played bass in Black Flag early on as well.
I would never want to be associated with SST's sound and engineering. It might of worked on one or two albums on the label but the HuskerDu catalog suffered for it.
RIP spot
@@brianmiller1077 That stuff was recorded 40 years ago under the most threadbare of conditions. SST didn't have the money to properly record all the bands they wanted, so they and Spot developed a way of recording cheaply and quickly with minimal time for mixing and mastering. The point was to get albums out to promote the bands as live acts while they are touring, rather than touring to support an album (Mike Watt talks about this all the time). Huskers and Black Flag definately suffered, but I think Spot's recordings are of the MInutemen sound perfect for that band's stripped down aesthetic. The problem I hear now listening to them is not so much Spot's production as much as how horribly the SST cataolgoue has been mastered for CD and digital formats. Unfortunately, Greg Ginn still has many of those master tapes and he isn't letting them go without a fight or a big payout.
@@brianmiller1077 Also Husker Du's sound suffered even more AFTER they ditched Spot and SST. The drum sound on Flip Your Wig or Warehouse: Songs and Stories? Yikes.
I just stumbled across Bad Brains earlier tonight. I have a lot of catching up to do. Thanks for this vid ‘cause you put me on to more Black artists.
I'm white & know very little about music history, so this was a really interesting video! I checked out Death's ...For The Whole World To See and loved it, I'll definitely listen to the other bands you mentioned. The idea of these musicians sticking to their values in the face of oppression & at the expense of fame/money/recognition really resonates with me. I'm glad their art has survived the test of time despite the barriers working against them. Thank you for sharing!
This was GREAT😍😍😍 I hope to see more of these❤ I hope you do one on how Voguing and Ballroom culture also have Black American origins.
I honestly could do one of these for practically every genre. House, EDM, ballroom, ragtime, the list just goes on. I might just do a few of those honestly
@@lilbilliam PLEASE do. The fact that ALL American music, and its global spinoffs came from Black American creativity cannot be overstated, in the age where the Ed Sheeran type appropriators believe copying existing music is inevitable, since they lack creativity and vision themselves❤🔥
@@lilbilliam The first Drag Queen was an ex slave who was doing drag balls in the late 1800s. They did the styalized dancing and dress. His name was William Dorsey Swann and was the first to be documented as referring to himself as a queen. I get irritated when people think "black and latino" people created drag🤣 Now they having whole voguing contests in Europe and underground drag balls in China. If you think its a story to bring out on this channel, puleez enlighten folks that THAT CHIT IS BLACK TOO😊
There are many black rock
bands around but nobody
wants acknowledge them .
I had the good fortune to see Death headline a music festival in Connecticut back in 2013. Truly awesome experience, one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen
Punk emerges in the US. The Clash played their first gig on the night of July 4 1976, after they met the Ramones in person, and had been listening to their album. The Ramones were on the their first UK tour when John Lydon was too uncertain to take the stage, and the day the Clash took their first stage. Punk is a term first used in a punk song by the Ramones. The way genres as created is by someone getting an identity, usually through a label by outsiders, and that identity becoming a point of relation for those in the scene or other outcasts looking for solidarity. The Ramones created the nucleus of that scene - but there was absolutely DNA all over the place. As for "white guy music," the Ramones used to go catch every early Run DMC show they could. That is by Daryl DMC's testimony. They got their first stage by Lou Reed. Run DMC is absolutely pedigree. They adopted their leather jackets from The Ramones. Again, by DMC's admission. The first clearly punk band that had Black members, it was Pure Hell - in 1974, same year The Ramones formed. th-cam.com/video/-S-H7vyhcCA/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=PureHell-Topic
The MC5 and The Stooges predate the Ramones by some time. After leaving school, James Osterberg worked with blues musicians in Chicago as a replacement drummer. He returned home to create something new based on what he had learned. The Ashton brothers took things further.
A young John Lydon saw the original Stooges' only London gig and later did a cover of No Fun with the nascent Pistols.
The Ramones came along later.
Anytime who grew up a fan of punk in the north Northeast knew that the earliest white fans of hip hop were the punks. The scenes had a lot in common at that time, and their hands helped support and boost each other. But that was pretty Northeast specific, it would seem. Not many scenes were as large, densely packed, or interwoven as NYC's was back in the day.
@@bluelines1
Except both bands were rooted in blue's and psychedelia and had their long jams/freakouts,the stooges were once known as the psychedelic Stooges,which was something the early punk bands avoided,an influence on punk, yes,but more along the lines of proto punk,while the mc5 bordered on cock rock
Absolutely correct
From one brother who has always had more of an affinity for the alternative to another, this was 🎯
When you mentioned the part about rebellion, dismantling power structures within punk etc and it’s connection to the black experience, I leapt up and screamed “YES!” at the screen. You get it. You fucking get it!
You made an instant subscriber out of me bro! 👊🏿
Hed pe is severely underrated. Also wanted to state that women were often sent to the back of the room in early punk years which is why the riot girl movement arose. All music is for everyone!
I did not know that
@lil' bill oh yeah, in the early 90s, they would get a beat down in the mosh pits if they tried to get near the stage. It was a big problem back then. Love this video was very enlightening!
Hed PE isn’t punk, they’re like alternative/nu-metal ish, but they deserve their credit. RIP to their DJ
dope video Bill , If we would have gone to school together we would probably have kicked it and confused a whole lotta stereotypes
Wasn't familiar with Pure Hell. Those guys are great. I'm glad I was able to find them through your video. Punk music always has resonated with me, but it took until my early 20s to find what the genre actually had instore.
Loved this. Growing up I knew Bad Brains but hadn't heard about Death until the documentary. I definitely didn't know most of this history. Thanks, great stuff as always.
oh wow, it turned into a Bad Brains story in the end!
also thanks for also talking about Death and Pure Hell, I genuinely learned something new today
as a gen z-er, the first three minutes of this are surprising because i saw bands like bad brains and death coming up and thought that that was kinda the appeal of punk: that it was inclusive and anyone can do it, even all black bands. It's made me continue trying to to make rock music early into my 20s, and i find the dichotomy between generations interesting.
Interesting video nonetheless, punk is incredibly black!!
'' and i find the dichotomy between generations interesting ''
vvhat dichotomy
Punk is multiracial
And many attaching to Punk now don't seem Punk in the slightest
@@layditms2 That's Gen Z, they have no interest in the scenes that made it what it is
I discovered Death a few years ago, and I love them! They had so much chaotic energy, and even if the other "punk" bands that came after them hadn't heard them, they were definitely punk before punk was punk!
What's with the quotes around 'punk'? The bands that "came after them" actually started the whole thing. No one even knew Death existed until 2009 when that record they recorded in 1975 was finally released.
Because believe it or not there were people that actually listened to their music and took inspiration from it. They may not have said it themselves but you can definitely tell if you compare the music.
@@lazyspacepirate Except there weren't. There's literally no example of anyone from the 70's or even the 80's punks scenes that have ever cited Death as an influence, or talked about them at all. That's objectively true. Don't you think that's a little odd for a band you think they "took inspiration from"? *Someone* would have at least mentioned them at some point, right? Everyone talked about the Stooges, MC5, and New York Dolls, yet no one ever talked about Death even once, because no one knew they existed until 2009 when their record was finally unearthed and they started touring the U.S. They didn't influence the punk scene. They were completely separate from it. Your theory is conjecture at best.
Most of the punks I grew up with also were really into hip hop and graffiti culture. So many of the styles of dress and even the "energy", often feels super similar. This video presents a deep dive into the history of punk, from the proto-punk/garage rock scene. You did a rad job digging up another massive example of black musicians 100% spearheading revolutions in musical styles. Most people never hear about this, and assume that white folks "created" these styles, when in fact they often had close ties or knowledge of underground black music and actively imitated innovations they experienced in those scenes. There's also the huge influence in Britain of the Caribbean immigrants who brought with them working class rude boy culture, which influenced skinheads (which were originally white working class kids who frequented soul and ska dancehalls), which later influenced British street punk of white musicians. Just goes to show that mass media is a mirror that reflects the power structure, and so white bands get all the credit, while many of the black originators, are barely named in pop history. Massive props for this insightful (and wry) correction of the historical record!
The originators of punk were mostly white, actually. At some point people are going to have to stop tryin to revise history to suit their own narratives and accept the fact that Whitey originated something they like.
Thank you for including Pure Hell! They’re rarely mentioned in this conversation and I don’t understand why.
I'm a black Metalhead and Goth guy. I've been listening to Goth Rock and Metal Music for 15 years, I love Punk to.. I dress Goth, Punk and Metal, I live in a white diverse area, but I work in a mainly black area, a lot of black people think the same, I never contributed to that hivemindset. I just enjoy what I enjoy. I'm a Goth and Metal musician myself for over a decade. Thank you for making this video, I wish there were more about black punk, metal and goth rock bands.
This is so weird. who vvould have thought hordes of people would still be into everything how we grew up.
"a lot of black people think the same, I never contributed to that hivemindset"
Yikes...why is this uploaded on a leftist page.
New members of Pure Hell personally and my brother played with them for a short period of time. They did have a huge following in Philly and some in New York. They were good guys that never got the recognition they deserved!
If you are interested in punk history, check out Los Saicos. 1964 Lima Peru. Their song demolicion is pure punk rock.
Absolutely! Was looking for this comment, crazy cool and interesting how it even predates anything in this video, it shows how far back traces of punk have gone even outside of the U.S. and Europe
They weren't a punk band.
@@greghauser742Punk police over here
@@brian.phillips1985 Just stating facts, actually.
@@greghauser742 🤓🤓
Artists like Little Richard and James Brown influenced future rock and punk acts in letting it all out on stage; being raucous and displaying energetic movement
i think the 60's girl groups planted some serious seeds too. their music wasn't exactly punk but it was simple in structure, high energy, contained relatable, honest emotion in the lyrics and was played by working-class teenagers without formal music training for the most part. and yeah pretty much all of them were black! their songwriting had a huge influence on bands like the ramones, stooges, misfits etc bc it was catchy, easy to play and unpretentious compared to late 60's/early 70's rock
The original line-up of Ramones were into bubble gum pop
This video is amazing. I'm a Blackndude with eclectic music tastes myself and there are few people who have taught me something new about music. This video taught me a lot. Excellent work
Bands like pure hell and Bad Brains we're so top-tier to be so underrated and Industry defining it is sad. Somehow we got locked part of our music. Even today bands like fire from the gods and Sevendust explicable that they do not get more respect and accolades from our community
Bad Brains are hailed as punk gods with in the actual punk scene (and by extension my sub-culture, the skateboarding world). They’ve been disrespected by the industry, but fuck the industry. The music industry especially the rock and roll side of it is racist as fuck. Bad Brains dosnt need their recognition
Pure Hell and Death were victims of happening too early and not getting the support to get off the ground and finding a wider audience. Bad Brains kind of self-sabotaged themselves (largely because of HR's antics). They actually were asked to open for U2 sometime in the mid 80s and HR screwed that up too.
Most especially a band called Candiria
Punk is multiracial
Maybe you are *very' new to it
Sevendust? Lol, you serious? They are one of the biggest poser bands out there.
So glad to hear you cover Pure Hell. Easily one of, if not, my favorite bands.
Whole wheat bread Have been one of my favorite bands since I was a teenager. They play a lot in my Hometown. I think they're from the same area. They are the most Down to earth people while also being incredible musicians. I once saw a WWB show and the bassist did a solo that was so dope. I miss seeing them doing shows. They just dropped a new album so hopefully a tour will follow❤
You look like Miranda Cosgrove in your profile pic
im so glad you brought a light to a amazing band that nobody knows about and should. theres a documentary out about them that was amazing. definitely should watch.!! and a shout out to another all black rock band from the 80's/90's " Living Colour" cult of personality has one of the hardest intro's ever in my opinion!!
Lil’ Bill I just want to say thank you for putting the spotlight on pioneers of punk telling the history of punk. I am 58, have been Rock and Roll since 1970, and also I am Black. To all who play outside the lines of what they say ( society says ) keep up the good work and make sure younger folks know about how much better it is being on the outside!
keep making videos.I am a 19 year old musician, I love your videos. you are gem of a person!
What does your age have to do with anything?
I grew up in the SF punk scene revolving around the Mabuhay Gardens as a little kid. Since my dad did the lights and sound, I was there almost every weekend. Back then, it seemed like everyone knew they were following a trail blazed by Black, Hispanic and Asian kids. In retrospect, particularly looking from a main-stream lens as well as a white one, it has come to look like bands like the Clash and the Pistols were the dawn of the genre, but tbh it was the beginning of the end of it. A bit like Nirvana suddenly made a generation of punk lovers out of the jocks in my high school who used to beat us up for looking weird, the Sex Pistols made fans out of the straight kids. Small pockets of fans might raise eyebrows, but no-one really cared until the money started coming in, and as always that process starts with whitewashing.
Bands like the Bags, Alley Cats and The Know were my first influences, and for many of us the introduction to the world of talk-back rock. To this day, I consider Alice Bag to be a genuine role model going into later life. As an 80's kid Bad Brains, particularly I against I were in heavy rotation in my walkman. Absolute genius.
I'm stoked to hear about a Detroit band!!
Oh, and I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that John Lydon is, was and always will be a hypocritical twat but then again the Pistols were created by Vivienne Westwood to sell clothes. lol
And as I'm thinking about it, I might as well point out the the whole "oi" thing was also stolen from Black music at it's core. If you've never seen This is England, now would be a good time.
th-cam.com/video/F4pt7d-ys5Y/w-d-xo.html
What do you mean Oi was "stolen from black music"?
@@greghauser742 th-cam.com/video/reGXa3vgeF4/w-d-xo.html
@@ambrsanford3703 So Don Letts is trying to say Oi is a black creation now? Interesting. I don't see where he explains that in the video though. Can you link the timestamp where he talks about it?
@@greghauser742 The Nazi "skinheads" co-opted a fully formed subculture with roots in multicultural (primarily Jamaican) music.
It's literally the entire video..
@@ambrsanford3703 ...That's skinhead culture in general, not Oi music. Oi started in the early 80's and it was mostly white skinheads making that music.
"Led Zepplin is a cover band" lmao finally someone said it
😂😂😂😂💯💯💯
So were The Rolling Stones and Elvis
🤣🤣🤣
Tbf, this is an old take but absolutely still true
It's been said tho
i’ve been frustrated lately with how a lot of mainstream musicians i like have turned out to be horrific people. seeing this video and listening to these bands has given me incredible music to listen to over the next week by musicians who are also really fucking cool people outside of the studio, and for that i am extremely grateful.
This shit got me so hyped to relive my musically younger days . So many memories. I actually got really deep in the east bay punk scene. I lived at Hazmat in Jack London sq in Oakland and frequently attended Burnt Ramen events in Richmond. I also almost fought Dean, the only other black guy in the scene at the time at the East Bay rats fight night.
Maaaan u gotta tell us more!👂🏾
As someone who was in the NY scene from the early-mid 90s, The Bad Brains were always well respected and universally worshipped by not only hardcore fans, but the biggest hardcore bands in the scene during that time.
You also need to check out Chaka Malik's late 80s hardcore band "Burn" & 90s Post hardcore band "Orange 9mm" as well as Carley Coma's band Candiria & the CT based hardcore band Ground Zero.
👍💯
I tripped over myself into seeing Orange 9mm opening for another band I wanted to see, and was so blown away I don't even remember what band they were opening for. And Candiria are absolute legends. I'm not even really a metal fan, but as time went on and they added math core to their sound, on top of the funk, hardcore, metal, hip hop, and even folk flavors that were already there was really something else. And their songwriting they always next level.
They were blending all those different flavors of music years before anyone else was, and they were never cringey about it. I'm so happy to see them mentioned here. Absolute legends to those who know.
@RevShifty hopefully the youth starts listening to them. I believe Candiria are still together, playing shows at venues on occasion. Chaka is still performing with Burn. Would love an Orange 9mm reunion!
I became more and more agitated the further constraints you put on the hypothetical protest at the start of the video. I feel that if there were a Bekdel Test for punks, this would be it.
Why would you willing sit through an hr long video if it just makes you more and more angry? Do you have literally nothing else to do with your time? Or are you just stupid. It's probably both, either way thanks from the engagement
i’ve been obsessed with egg punk lately, and i’ve been wanting to branch out within the punk genre. when i saw the premiere, i was super excited since the timing was perfect! i’ll definitely check out these punk legends 🤘
why does this shit anime have to be styled like how we grew up though ?
Can't you get your own ideas ?
Bravo! Great job! Thank you. I am a 62 year old punk rocker still playing in a punk band to this day and agree with you on every front in this video. I had friends in punk bands as long as 40 years ago that I believed were great artists and caring people with radical anti establishment tendencies only to find out decades later that they were always just racist capitalists in waiting
weird. Punk was always multiracial.
@@layditms2 while i agree Punk is multiracial, but dont forget nazi punk is a thing
@@layditms2 Truth.
By "racist capitalists" I'm guessing you're referring to conservatives. Sounds like you're one of many who can't seem to cope with the fact that there were always conservatives in the scene to a degree, and it was never some exclusively leftist circle jerk.
Most people who are radicals in their teenage years turn into "the man" when they get old.
Great video. I moved from suburban ATL to NYC in '89. Fell in with some skaters who introduced me to CBGBs. Saw Fishbone and RHCP there. And then 24-7 Spyz and Living Colour not long after. Cant remeber if I saw BB. But was familiar with them since bootleg tapes were on every corner in NYC. But '89 also introduced me to Public Enemy and I got re-routed from my potential punk journey into hip hop. Started making hip hop music videos early 90's and sample heavy music and jazz & reggae took over. Finally managed to play Bass in a band in 2000 and played CBGB's (only the lounge) But Still! And well it was neo-soul but it still counts. Kinda.
While I’m glad that Death eventually got their music released, it seems hyperbole to claim “Punk rock’s history is very black” based on one band with one single which apparently wasn’t even heard by the bands that actually popularized the genre. A band that doesn’t even predate The Stooges (the band that actually got cited as an influence by later successful punk bands) nor Los Saicos.
Im latino and I love late 70s & early 80s punk but I wouldn’t say “punk is peruvian” just because one band did it years before others. I’d much rather admire them by their own merits and how they were ahead of their time but I can’t say their efforts shaped the evolution of the genre, due to them remaining mostly in obscurity until not too long ago. And none of this is to discredit Death or Los Saicos, credit where credit is due. But like I said, to say they influenced the artists that put Punk on the map is simply not true.
So yeah, great job for shedding light on a obscure yet interesting band while shitting on bands that actually shaped the music while injecting “white people” every couple of seconds. Your admission of refusing to play in a band with whites speaks for itself. Imagine if D.H. Peligro thought like that…
VERY well said. This comment should be pinned to the top so it's the first thing everyone reads.
The thing is that "los Saicos" as far as I can tell from the research I've done, has never influenced black punk rock bands in America. And the reason why that is important is because most of white punk rock is influenced BY black rock bands in the 70s and 80s. I'm not saying that Latinos don't deserve credit but its a stretch to say you guys were as influential in the U.S as you were in Latin America. Also, Lil Bill refusing to join a band because whites were in it is completely fine because white people have a history of cultural appropriation, stealing, and a superiority complex against black people and that includes white Latinos as well if you were wondering.
@@My_name_is- bruh, for your first 3 sentences: that’s literally what I said. Underground Latin bands did NOT influence the first punk wave. I don’t know how you interpreted what I said as me advocating that Los Saicos influenced The Stooges, Ramones, etc 🤦♂️
And you saying that Lilbil is not wrong for refusing to play with whites because white people have a history of cultural appropriation and a superiority complex is assuming that ALL whites (“white latinos” included as you said) are cultural appropriators with a superiority complex. That’s like me saying “there's nothing wrong with someone refusing to play in a band with blacks because they have a history of smoking crack and stealing".
Two words: stereotypes, prejudices.
@@CareCrow78 don't play stupid with me. It's very well documented that white people have put Africans through hell for the past 400 years. Don't bullshit about stereotyping white people being this way and that being prejudice because we see the bullshit everyday. You will never convince me that the white people in that band are the victims of prejudice/racism when the whole system is in all white people's favor. Eminem is a prime example of cultural appropriation. Every white person that is asked who is the best rapper will say Eminem for a reason. It's clear to African people that you guys might not outwardly hate black people but will always want to feel like you need to be at the top of everything. The white people that don't even listen to rap always show up in every TH-cam comment section of every video and every Poll to make sure that Eminem is at the top of that list of any black rapper. It's obvious that you guys just want to colonize black culture. By putting yourselves at the top. TikTok is another example of white people trying to colonize black art as it has a bunch of white teenagers at the top like Charlie D'amelio and Addison Rae building their careers off the back of black people's dances.
Wait. This dude won't play in bands with white people? If that's true then fuck this guy.
Just realized im like six videos behind i need to watch that batman movie so i can catch back up with this channel i dig your style how you ride the line between the best kind of rant comedy and delivering factual information in a blunt way
Bro I loved the history you unfolded for us, I watched all the way through. But I can’t help but say you’re like Anthony Fantanos black doppelgänger. All love
RIP Chuck Mosley. Absolute legend and pioneer.
This is the sort of content I look for when watching TH-cam. This is an exceptionally well researched and argued statement on Punk. Thanks for this! I had always been aware of the influences of Ska and reggae had on punk; I listened to both extensively growing up. This was enlightening in terms of the influence of bands like Bad Brains and Death who I had heard of. I can't believe I had never heard of Pure Hell. Great video!
Death didn't influence anyone...No one even knew they existed until 2009 when their album was finally released to the world and their documentary came out a few years later.
I am so happy you made this video! Punk and its sub genres was a special interest of mine growing up, and im so happy to learn about these bands. Im kind of mad that with all my time researching punk ive never heard of any of these groups, but im thankful someone like you has taken the time to educate me on them 😊 cant wait to check all these bands out!
“world’s first boy band”
You are not wrong.
Been in many heated debates on this exact topic.
How were they a boy band?
The Monkees have that distinction
@@xbfdx988 The Sex Pistols were manufactured. Not an organic band. Pieced together by a producer looking to cash in on an emerging scene. He was also responsible for Generation X which is where we got Billy Idol. SSSputnik, the list goes on. McLaren was a capitalist. Just look at Johnny L now. At least Sid had the decency to burn bright and go up in smoke. The one thing they had over the Monkees was their “ability” to play their own instruments and write their own songs. Neil Diamond was not involved.
Now The Damned, The Clash, Souixsiee and the Banshees, The Pretenders … The GoGos … they were organic.
The one thing we can really take from the internet is history. Dig a little. You’ll have a blast.
@@tsquipnottsquip5128 they wrote one of the all time classic punk albums which isn't what a boy band does so they weren't. All other criticism don't take äway from that or their huge influence from punk especially in the years following and the thousands of punk bands that launched because of their influence
@@tsquipnottsquip5128 actually I knew who this from books in the 90s a good five years before I'd ever have the Internet. It doesn't make them any less legendary for a band manager to find members.
The clear influence of doo wop on punk is strangely overlooked often
52 years of listening to rock music and I'm still learning 🙂. I knew about Bad Brains from another video, but Death and Pure Hell are new to me. The latter have seriously intrigued me with their flourishes of psychedelia (wah-wah and echo on guitar that no one else in punk was using, to my knowledge) -- who knows what else they might've done had they continued on? Of course, that's often the sad part about bands like these: they didn't get the chance, or when they did re-form, whatever creative juice they had earlier has seeped away.
Been waiting for this one in particular; can't wait to check it out. As someone obsessed with music, specifically rock, and even more specifically punk, I am always happy to see people prop up music that isn't the same 10 or 20 bands; and this is that x100, because black punk artists have long been denied their due. Just look at a band like Detroit's Death; absolute trail blazers, but you have to go out of your way to know that, and it's sad.
mainstream is called mainstream for a reason.
@Lennard Dont be obtuse, part of what makes things mainstream is palatability and race is a part of that
@@jonesyftw9120 Lust for life by iggy pop is nice
nothing denied. Punk was always multiracial.
You noob
@@jonesyftw9120 Except most mainstream rap artists are black...
Right on! I am An Old (not just internet old, which seems to be 30), and can't tell you the number of times I stood in Hollywood (and elsewhere) lines waiting to see if HR was going to show up. 😆
There's a lot of great music out there. People are uploading their old tapes and videos. If that first wave or 2 or bands is too caustic for you, give Fishbone a try. If you like thrash, try Hirax.
Semi-relevant: One thing that always stood out to me about the influence of Black rock n' roll on the history of music is how influential Little Richard was. Lemmy - who was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix before Motorhead - wrote in his autobiography that when he discovered Little Richard, he loved the music so much that he became obsessed with it. He cited Little Richard as a massive influence on Motorhead, who obviously in turn would inspire generations of punk and metal bands.
and yet people want to give Lemmy shit for collecting WW2 paraphernalia.
For literal decades, Motorhead was the one band punks, skinheads, and metal heads all had in common. It cracks me the hell up to know that all sprang from Little Richard, because the real world is just that wild.
Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson are probably the biggest influences on rock music as a whole. I could be wrong or just plain uneducated, but that's where I see most influence coming from.
You tickling yourself with that turn of phrase is so wholesome 😂 and I agree it was nice!
I remember when this all happened, I was able to buy the record by Drag City. Treasure it. Mad respect to those dudes.
Pure Hell and Death are the best, both blew my mind on the first listen when I was a teen, they still rip harder than most bands. Both way too heavy for their time. Sick vid, long live rock n roll !
Also Led Zeppelin being the biggest cover band is the realest shit I’ve heard in a while haha
You were a teen in 2009?
bad brains is the only one here that I already know, good stuff. SiM (silence iz mine) from Japan is so heavily inspired by them, and they even have an ep called i against i
I'm 43 and was teased, bullied, and ostracized by my Black friends for listening to Rock and Metal in the 90's. Luckily, I found a diverse (Asian, Latino,) group of stoner, skater, metalhead burnout geniuses in high school to hang with and it was glorious. Then the garage rock revival of the early 2000's hit and I started slowly meeting more Black folks into rock. Now, I see that young people listen to any and everything on their phones and no one bats an eye. At first I was a bit jealous that they have a freedom I didn't but now I'm proud that I suffered and am living long enough to see the changes!
Death is not a punk rock band, it's hard rock, just like dead boys, punk rock didn't exist when these bands were at their peak, y'all just making shit up at this point.
Yea the death thing is reaching where they a bit before there time yes but so was The Stooges or blue cheer which came out befor death and the fact he missed out black punks from the uk like Don Letts is anoying but what do i expect from a Black American probably thinks spider punk is an American too
Grunge started like in the early 80's, so by the time "Smells like teen spirit" became huge as you kind of insinuated, the grunge scene was pretty much over in a lot of ways accept on mtv. It kinda grew side by side with thrash and Buzz Osbourne from Melvins said hardcore is very influential. So you're not wrong tho as far as hardcore being influential, it's just more direct. Great video! wish I heard Pure Hell when I was in my early 20's and obsessed with 70's glam cause they're fantastic. Same with x-ray specs.
Grunge is just punk in drop tunings
Loved this video, there is one specific moment in punk history where it really hits a meta-level for me on the influence that black people and black music had on the sound. Back before Iggy Pop formed the Stooges he left Ann Arbor and moved down to Chicago specifically because he recognized that all the white blues bands in Ann Arbor at the time were just copying the real blues, so he moved there to try and understand the real thing. This led Iggy to find blues drummer Sam Lay (legend) in Chicago who got him a gig playing drums for Big Walter Horton (legend) in no small part because having Iggy around would help Walter's otherwise all-black band play white clubs. Now I've set the scene so here's what I'm getting at, after spending some time in Chicago, Iggy got high on a bridge one night and realized he hadn't been able to understand the blues because he COULDN'T understand the blues since he wasn't black and the black experiences that created the blues were not his own. So, he realized that if he was going to make a sound that was actually unique he had to find a way to play a simple and stripped-down version of the blues that conveyed his own experiences rather than copying experiences he'd never understand. This realization is quite literally what led to the Stooges forming and to me is one of the key moments that created what would definitively become punk music. It just goes to show that even outside of the obvious influences black artists had on the sound, i.e. the actual musicians discussed in this video, the influence black folks had on the genre is still always there. In my opinion, Iggy was the first artist to bring the attitude and ethos that punk is so known for today to a wide audience, I think the fact that attitude came largely from the influence of black folks around him and the realization that he couldn't just be another white boy playing the blues is really damn cool. Hope whoever reads this agrees.
Poly Styrene in the thumbnail? I'm in!
Right??❤
Down. Notify plz
I was a rocking a smile when I saw that thumbnail
Noobs
@@layditms2 More like, safe haven from the noobs
Great video! Thanks for creating it. HR is a total legend. Last I heard, his wife was trying to raise money for treatment he needed. I hope he’s ok ❤
Fantastic video, Bill! Well researched and I enjoy your brand of humor. It's so important not to lose this important branch of punk rock history. Thank you!
You need a radio show Lil Bill. Love it!
Thanks for introducing me to Death absolutely loving their sound, it reminds me of Black Sabbath’s first album.
The Stooges first 3 albums are incredible. Especially Raw Power.
Bad Brains WERE the catalyst of hardcore in the east!!
Another band that had an influence in punk were the Chamber Brothers.
I just wanted to say I appreciate this video so much. I knew of all these bands but I had no idea about the history. So thank you so much!
Damn I'm such an uncultured kid, I always felt like an outsider in punk because of how white I was made to believe it is. Reminds me of Shonalika's recent conversation with Vlad Von Kitsch about being goth & poc. I'm discovering more and more about how much of my heritage was obscured from me to the point I mistook it for someone else's.
what your heritage
you didn't grow up with punk or goth either way
no matter if black or white
@@layditms2 *A wild gatekeeper appears*
The punk scene did become white and, yes, macho. From the Sex Pistols to skate punk. The punk scene was originally queer. Rebel, rebel on the street/Makeup on my face/Stockings on my feet/All the straights asking me why/I'm not a normal American guy/What makes America so straight/and me so bent?
@@ittixen Gatekeeping isn't real, and punk is everyone's heritage, not just yours. It was mostly whites and latinos who created it, and a handful of blacks. It's always been multiracial in other words. No one said it was just a white thing or tried to paint it that way so I'm not sure why a lot of you are saying it was "obscured" from you. The information was always there.
Why can't you just be a part of it without falsely claiming it's "your heritage"?
Jon Butcher over in Philly is a great under-rated guitarist. He has nothing to do with punk, but anyone into Hendrix, Clapton, Eric Johnson, Buddy Guy, or Stevie Ray Vaughan will like Jon Butcher's catalog. "Wishes" and "Send Me Somebody" are two favorites.
nice video! you now have 71.701! i downloaded some songs by death back in napster times, thinking it was the deathmetal band. been a fan ever since. it took over a decade till i found a physical record.
fu, Punk is and always been Majority White. I sincerely Appreciate Bad Brains, and most Especially Body Count, but don't pretend Black Folks own every musical style for the last 150 years. It pisses me off.
Punk is multiracial