Black Randy And The Metrosquad
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Black Randy And The Metrosquad were a punk/New wave act from the late 1970s and early 1980s who were deemed to stand out from other bands the Los Angeles punk scene. Not only for their surreal and smutty sense of humour, but also mixing proto-punk with seventies soul, pop and avant-garde music. The band formed in Los Angeles in 1977 with Black Randy as front man, David Brown as musical director, playing keyboards and guitar. However, the band had a rotating and fluid line up, which even included backing singers such as Alice Bag and Belinda Carlisle.
Black Randy's lyrics gave him a reputation for being as witty as he was offensive with songs about gay prostitution,Marlon Brando and Idi Amin to name but a few. Their first single, "Trouble at the Cup" even advocated fighting the police, though this (like all Their Material) was as toungue in cheek as his cover of James Brown's classic (Say it loud) I'm Black And I'm Proud. Some saw this cover as offensive because it made the song a mocking attack on black pride, others (considering that Black Randy was white) saw this as irreverent, ironic and very funny. He also covered the Theme from the cult Blaxploitation film Shaft, by Isaac Hayes in the same irreverent manner.
These songs were collated onto their only album, Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie, which had sophisticated and even innovative musical arrangements that had more in common with post-punk than hardcore bands like Black Flag. This album lead to the band being the most represented act on Dangerhouse Records, the label they helped establish. It should be noted that this was the label's only album release, though this was not due to nepotism, but other bands having aspirations to be on major labels and the possibility that Black Randy's offensive songs could jeopardise their chances. When Dangerhouse records folded, their releases were later re-issued by Sympathy For The Record Industry but were unceremoniously dropped in the early Twenty first century.
The band imploded early in 1980 when their frontman succumbed to drug and alcohol problems, which were evident in chaotic live shows where songs were hardly sung and Brown tried to salvage the show to no avail. Tragically, Black Randy died of AIDS in 1984 brought about by his drug problems.
