HAS BAD BRAINS’ VOCALIST HR FINALLY LOST IT?
HR has always been “a very creative and artistic motherfucker” as Daryl Jennifer puts it. When the Bad Brains stayed at the Big Boys’ house back in the mid 80s, HR spray painted “Bloodclot faggots” right before leaving. This was a strange thank you note (more like a “thank you not”) for their gay hosts after being hooked up with: A place to stay, weed, booze, food and a sold out show.
Then there was the time he showed up at the record label in drag with a gun in a brown paper bag. He demanded they give him money (which they didn’t have) and then pranced around the office saying, “Now everybody’s gonna know.” The Big Boys found this story especially confusing.
Finally, there was the time he fell so in love with a chick in Montreal, he handcuffed himself to her and refused to leave her side even during poos and pees. When the Bad Brains would play a show she was instructed to wait by the stage and never leave his sight. Believe it or not, this relationship didn’t last very long.
However, none of these stories can hold a candle to the thousand words this picture tells. What the fuck is he wearing? He’s got Tony Orlando’s tuxedo shirt, my nana’s bathrobe, a pizza delivery guy’s scooter helmet, the beard of a German kid’s show host and he’s fucking playing Brian Setzer’s guitar like a ukulele. What the fuck is going on in that brain of his? After all these years and all these great yarns, it appears our beloved HR may have finally become completely unraveled.
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09.22.08 at 11:34 am
He looks happy at least. Last time I saw him he offered me his dinner. His early solo records like ‘Human Rights’ are outrageous.
09.22.08 at 12:22 pm
he’s always been crazy. probably the most intense performer i’ve ever seen as well. i’d imagine that having that much fire would probably burn you out at some point.
that and the crills i suppose.
bad brains is still hands down the best band that i’ve ever seen in my life,i still get the chills when i listen to the roir cassette.
oh and yeah he looks out of his mind in that picture.
09.22.08 at 12:36 pm
did you ever hear that Dillinger 4 Live album? They were supposed to open for the Bad Brains the night it was recorded, and like an hour before the show, HR left this long rambling crazy phone message on Paddy’s voicemail, he actually plays it over the PA and it’s on the live album. He’s going on and on about how they’re sorry they can’t make it to the show tonight, but be sure and look for their new DVD in stores soon! then he ends the message with a “hallelujah”. it’s pretty fuckin priceless.
09.22.08 at 1:37 pm
http://www.revolvermag.com/content/bad-brains
Let’s not forget to throw this in there.
09.22.08 at 2:38 pm
I’m weird about the Bad Brains. I like them too much so I don’t wanna talk about them because its like talking about Jesus if you were a bible thumper and you don’t want to make people think you are nuts. Does that make sense? They are/were the beginning of my fun journey into flying my freak flag freely. Amen.
09.22.08 at 2:57 pm
As you whippersnappers enjoy pointing out, I’m old enough to have surfed the first wave of American hardcore, and I’m puzzled to this day why these guys are considered so “revolutionary” and “intense” and “influential” and, you know, “righteous.” My friend used to have the “Let Them Eat Jellybeans” album, and we always made a point of skipping over “Pay to Cum.”
I saw Bad Brains at the Elks Club back in Philly in the early 80s and was bored after one song. There was an all-black Philly punk band called Pure Hell who all had Al Sharpton hairdos and wore all-black leather and were a thousand times better. There was another Philly hardcore band called Autistic Behavior with a singer who looked like Bob Newhart, and they blew both Black Flag and the DKs off the stage when they opened for them.
Then again, by 82 or so, I was much more interested in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Still, I believe it’s time that we, as Americans, stopped talking about anti-black prejudice for ONE FUCKING MOMENT and instead confronted the systemic, generations-old reality of anti-Philly prejudice.
09.22.08 at 2:59 pm
NO FUCKING WAY. Bad Brains still rules over all of Pure Hell shit. Philly needs to stick to making cheese steaks.
09.22.08 at 3:23 pm
Yes, Taeil, everything you say is a purely scientific matter that’s entirely objective and can be proven in a laboratory. Subjectivity and personal opinion have nothing to do with it at all.
Why do music fanatics act as if you’ve kicked their puppy in the head and their world starts a-crumblin’ down when you disagree with their tastes? Who the fuck cares? Stop it with the gay hero-worship, already! I still think Slade blasts the shit out of every punk band that ever existed, and it doesn’t bruise my feelings in the least when you inevitably disagree with me.
09.22.08 at 3:39 pm
Yeah, arguments over music are so pointless. Have you ever heard “Rock, Rot or Rule?” Its some hilarious dude who antagonizes music meat-heads by stating shit like “The Stones ROCK, the Beatles ROT and The Who RULES.” Then people call in and flip out defending their favorite band and get so fucking pissed they burst blood vessels.
That said, Bad Brains fucking rule and if you don’t think so you are lame.
09.22.08 at 3:41 pm
Thanks, Gavin.
09.22.08 at 3:42 pm
While we’re at it, Crass blow, too.
09.22.08 at 3:43 pm
You will shit laughing:
Rock, Rot and Rule is a recording of a prank radio interview between WFMU deejay Tom Scharpling and self-appointed rock critic Ronald Thomas Clontle (channeled by Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster) regarding Clontle’s controversial reference book, Rock Rot and Rule.
Clontle bills his book as “the ultimate argument settler,” but things quickly heat up when irate ‘FMU listeners call in to take him to task over statements like: “Madness invented Ska,” “Bowie and Neil Young rot because they’ve made too many changes,” “Puff Daddy rules,” and “The Beatles only rock because they had a lot of stinkers.
09.22.08 at 3:45 pm
re: jim goad
philly hc in the early 80’s definitely had better looking girls.
09.22.08 at 5:12 pm
I think it was purely the speed at which they played that made them known to the average dirty little punker, but amongst the other musicians around them, they were considered the most talented. Or, so says Anthony Keidis in his book, Scar Tissue. They’ve had their moments over the years, but were unable to get their shit together. Now, they are doomed to be thought of as “influential” because that’s just a nice way of saying they weren’t as successful as they should have been.
09.22.08 at 5:37 pm
Swiz was WAY better than Bad Brains and Shawn Brown was the best black HC singer of all time. That faggot Mark Anderson wouldn’t even put Swiz on the Postiive Force comps because Shawn has the nerve to say “bitch” in a song.
09.22.08 at 6:05 pm
Jim, how the Hell did you know about my punk rock labortory? Have you read my guide book to Punk rock as well? Rule number 1 was… Don’t talk about Taeil’s punk rock lab!
09.22.08 at 6:12 pm
BAD BRAINS FUCKING KILLED IT.
IT IS SAD TO SEE H.R. IN THAT STATE.
He looks like a homeless person.
09.22.08 at 6:21 pm
What do you mean, “finally”? HR lost his shit ages ago. Last I saw Bad Brains, HR sat on a fucking stool and was incoherent for the whole show. BOOOORING - I agree with Jim here.
09.22.08 at 6:31 pm
much respect to the other posters and other bands mentioned but…..
the only bands that ever came close to touching (early 80’s)bad brains live were minor threat,void,early cro mags.
i wish those guys had made some money but if HR is really crazy and as much as he blew it for those other guys it wouldn’t have been the same if he didn’t have all of his problems/demons.
and the beginning of soul craft still makes me want to drill someone in the face and feel spiritual about it.
09.22.08 at 7:08 pm
dude Swiz was good, but better than the bad brains?
Umm, no.
09.22.08 at 7:19 pm
You’re ASIAN, Taeil. I assume at least one room in your crib is a laboratory.
09.22.08 at 8:11 pm
If this is where PMA leads you, then I’m glad I’m a cynic.
09.22.08 at 8:45 pm
“….generations-old reality of anti-Philly prejudice.” it’s difficult not to be prejudice against a city that’s so awful it has an inferiority complex with New Jersey, Jim.
09.22.08 at 9:55 pm
HR is a paranoid schizophrenic that happens to make mostly good music. He’s ill but most pickle-dicked bastards think that he’s being quirky and artistic. I say get the man some help, they haven’t made a good record in 20 years, and Haile Selassie I was a corrupt dictator. Also, I saw Daryl Jennifer open up for Warzone some years ago and he was boring as shit. Thank Jah.
PS RIP Raybeez
09.23.08 at 6:20 am
You just committed a hate crime, Marshall. May the ghost of Frank Rizzo render you sterile.
09.23.08 at 9:11 am
I was born in 1982. What the fuck is everyone talking about? How come nobody’s listening to the Deftones?
09.23.08 at 12:41 pm
I saw them in SF a few years back. HR stood unmoving for the entire first 5 songs. LIke a frozen zombie statue. Then on the 6th he sprang to life and did a back flip, landed and started singing Pay to Cum right on cue. This was 7 or 8 yrs ago so he wasn’t a spring chicken anymore.
12.06.08 at 12:02 pm
[...] it’s a rumor that was started by people that don’t even know him but have just heard stories. Like the one where he looked like a white dude 40 years ago. [...]
01.25.09 at 12:04 am
Jim Goad is correct. I saw Pure Hell in 1979 and they were way better than the Bad Brains.