Death (protopunk band)

Death
The three original members of Death: David, Bobby, and Dannis Hackney
Background information
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Proto-punk garage rock[1] punk rock
Years active	1971–1976, 2009–present
Labels	Tryangle, Drag City
Associated acts	RockFire Funk Express, The Fourth Movement, Lambsbread, Rough Francis
Members	Bobby Hackney Dannis Hackney Bobbie Duncan
Past members	David Hackney

Death is a Detroit rock band formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1971 by brothers Bobby (bass, vocals), David (guitar), and Dannis (drums) Hackney. The trio started out as a funk band but switched to rock after seeing a concert by The Who.^[2] Seeing Alice Cooper play was also an inspiration.^[3] Music critic Peter Margasak retrospectively wrote that David "pushed the group in a hard-rock direction that presaged punk, and while this certainly didn’t help them find a following in the mid-70s, today it makes them look like visionaries."^[3] They are seen in many groups as one of the first punk bands in the world.^[4] The band broke up by 1977 but reformed in 2009 when the Drag City label released their 70s demos for the first time.^[5]

History

In 1964, the three young Hackney brothers (David, Bobby and Dannis) were sat down by their father to witness The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The following day, David found a discarded guitar in an alley and set about learning to play. Brothers Bobby and Dannis soon followed suit and they began playing music together.

The brothers practiced and recorded early demos in a room in the family home and performed their earliest gigs from their garage.^[6] Originally calling themselves Rock Fire Funk Express, guitarist David convinced his brothers to change the name of the band to Death. "His concept was spinning death from the negative to the positive. It was a hard sell," Bobby Hackney recalled in 2010.^[7]

In 1975 at Detroit’s United Sound Studios with engineer Jim Vitti, they recorded seven songs written by David and Bobby. According to the Hackney family, Columbia Records president Clive Davis funded the recording sessions, but implored the band to change its name to something more commercially palatable than Death. When the Hackneys refused, Davis ceased his support.^[8] The band only recorded seven songs instead of the planned dozen. The following year they self-released (on their label Tryangle) a single taken from the sessions: "Politicians in My Eyes" b/w "Keep on Knocking," in a run of just 500 copies.

The Hackney brothers ended the band in 1977. The brothers then moved to Burlington, Vermont and released two albums of gospel rock as The 4th Movement in the early 1980s. David moved back to Detroit in 1982, and died of lung cancer in 2000. Bobby and Dannis still reside in Vermont and lead the reggae band Lambsbread.^[9]

In 2008 the sons of Bobby Hackney (Julian, Urian, and Bobby Jr.) started a band called Rough Francis, covering the songs of Death after discovering the old recordings online. In 2009, Drag City Records released all seven Death songs from their 1975 United Sound sessions on CD and LP under the title ...For the Whole World to See. In September 2009, a reformed Death played three shows with original members Bobby and Dannis Hackney, with Lambsbread guitarist Bobbie Duncan taking the place of the late David Hackney.^[10] In 2010, their song "Freakin' Out" was used in an episode of the television program How I Met Your Mother entitled "False Positive" (Season 6, Episode 12).^[11] In 2015, the same song was used in an episode of the television program Ash Vs. Evil Dead entitled "The Killer of Killers" (Season 1, Episode 6). During a 2010 performance at the Boomslang Festival in Lexington, Kentucky the band announced that Drag City would release a new album with demos and rough cuts that predate the 1975 sessions. The album Spiritual • Mental • Physical was released in January 2011.^[12] In 2011, their song "You're A Prisoner" was used in the film Kill the Irishman.^[13] An independent documentary film about the band titled A Band Called Death, directed by Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino, was released in 2012.^[2]

In 2014, Death released their third studio album III, and in 2015 their most recent record, entitled N.E.W. was released.^[14][15]

Racism and Structural Barriers

While Death was an established punk band in 1972, preceding fan favorites and punk legends such as the 1977 Malcolm McClaren led Sex Pistols^[16], much of their erasure can be attributed to the pervasive racial barriers that manifest in the music industry. Pop Matters contributor Chris Barsanti notes that their unsettling band name, deviance from popular Black music forms like blues and funk, and an inventive sound deterred money-motivated music industry executives from supporting them. Their sound, however, was desired nonetheless and repackaged in white bands with softer names. The erasure of what Black artists have done and limiting of what Black artists can do is not exclusive to Death, but often the norm as seen in Ingrid Monson’s Freedom Sounds. The fact that their sound was not adequate for their Blackness, but could be coupled with white artists arises issues of authenticity—just because their music does not coincide with the norm, it does not mean that Death and other Black individuals are not capable of performing various genres and should receive credit for it. Their story captures the ways in which the music industry perpetuates oppressive systems. Instead of allowing their unique style to flourish with them and challenge the fictitious dominant ideologies in a truly punk fashion, their sound was stripped from them and tagged onto white artists to carry as the founders because it adheres to stereotypes.

The authenticity and marketability of Death as a Black punk bad holds great irony, beyond the fact that their ability to create the sound is not deemed sufficient criteria. The punk culture is known to be non-conformist, expressionist and emphasizes self-determination. Such characteristics are reminiscent of Death’s unwillingness to change their name^[17], their musical forbearers in Jazz and Blues—like Ornette Coleman’s choppy compositions^[18] and Billie Holiday’s bold Strange Fruit. Clearly, there is something intrinsically punk about Blackness in music and politics.

Derived from the punk scene in the United Kingdom and rhythm & blues and garage punk in the States, Proto-Punk took off during the 1960’s and 1970’s as a counterculture unlike any other. Described as a “ragged, highly energetic, often amateurish style of rock,” Proto-Punk was and remains unique for its raw sounds and fanatic arrangements that contrasted the preexisting disciplined structure of music for the time. Even acts like the Who and Jimi Hendrix fell short of the disruptive, destructive, and anarchic when compared to the environment of the proto-punk scene. Proto-punk paved the way for the Afro-Punk scene that is prevalent today. What was once thought to be an extension of the “white experience” and was a predominantly white subculture has since morphed into a more diverse social scene. Proto and Afro Punk music and culture acts as a vessel for individuals to speak out against politics, society, religion, injustice, war, and so many other issues that affect their community. Proto Punk was as much a cultural phenomenon as it was a social one. The punk scene became a counter culture where people who were not previously accepted by cultural norms now had a community to belong to. Death was a pivotal part in the Proto Punk scene but also the Afro Punk scene. Afro Punk became a subculture of Punk and Proto Punk by celebrating and expanding the African American punk scene. Punk was once a predominantly white scene until bands like Death began breaking down these racial divides. Punk, Proto Punk, and Afro Punk are all vessels for individuals to express themselves culturally, artistically, and musically while also being a platform to speak out against corrupt politics, social injustices, and other pressures on their community.

Discography

As RockFire Funk Express

• "People Save the World"/"RockFire Funk Express" 7" single (Recorded 1973, released 2011 by Third Man Records)

As Death

• "Politicians In My Eyes" b/w "Keep on Knocking" 7" (Recorded 1975, released 1976 by Tryangle Records, reissued 2013 by Drafthouse Films)
• ...For the Whole World to See (Recorded 1974, released 2009 by Drag City)
• Spiritual • Mental • Physical (Recorded 1974-76, released 2011 by Drag City)
• III (Recorded 1975-1992, released 2014 by Drag City)
• "Relief" online single (2012, CD Baby)^[19]
• Raw demo recording of "Politicians In My Eyes" (Recorded 1974, released online by Drafthouse Films, 2013)
• N.E.W. (Release Date: April 21, 2015 by TryAngle Records)

As The 4th Movement

• The 4th Movement LP (1980)
• Totally LP (1982)

Filmography

• A Band Called Death DVD/Blu-ray (2013, Drafthouse Films)

Popular culture

A version of "Where Do We Go From Here" with the vocals edited out is often used as bumper music during Wayne Resnick's Sunday night show on KFI AM 640. In 2015, the band's song Keep On Knocking was featured as part of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 soundtrack.

In 2015, the band's song Freakin Out was featured in the Starz network television show Ash vs Evil Dead during a grisly Diner fight scene in season 1 episode 6.

In 2014, the band's song Politicians In My Eyes was featured in the surf documentary Strange Rumblings in Shangri-La.

References

External links

• Death Homepage
• Interview with Bobby and Dannis Hackney at SuicideGirls.com
• NPR Interview Death: A '70s Rock Trailblazer, Reborn
• "The Horn" Article about Death