[lbo-talk] More Bad Brains press on homophobia since their new LP just came out

[wrobert at uci.edu]

There is an alternative version of this story in Dance of Days, which I
suspect is more accurate.  That version has HR suddenly freaking out at
Turner, for reasons that no one else is aware of and possibly destroying
some art projects.  I had about the same reaction to this story that you
did.  Not only does Jenifer not accept any culpability for HR's homophobic
bullshit (if you read Dance of Days, you'll realize that this is not the
only time that this issue comes up with HR or the band), but he seems to
imply that MDC's response was somehow racist.  The sense you get from the
Dance of Days stories is that MDC's anger really came from the fact that
they thought so highly of the band, and that illusion was shattered.  On
the other hand, I suspect that this interpretation probably has something
to do with the extensive racism that the group really did have to deal
with (which I don't want to minimize.)  On the other hand, the other
impressively inaccurate thing that Jenifer states is that Bad Brains had
been a band long before hardcore.  It is true that they played a single
house show as the fusion band Soul Power (where they were effectively
booed off the stage), but this hardly constitutes a long trajectory. 
Rather punk produced Bad Brains, Bad Brains produced hardcore.....  of
this... enough

                             robert wood


> [Below is recent Pitchfork interview. Bad Brains
> bassist Daryl Jenifer's descriptions of Austin's Big
> Boys as 'frat boy-ish' is way wrong. Randy Biscuit
> Turner, Big Boys singer, who was gay, was found dead
> two years ago in Austin after having parlayed his punk
> notoriety into an art career -- not a frat guy. Also,
> Jenifer's comment about MDC, another gay-fronted
> Austin band, as being "up our asses ... Not literally,
> you know, figuratively speaking" sounds pretty
> smart-assed homophobic to me. Sometimes bands should
> keep their mouths shut. -B.]
>
>
>
> http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/44446-interview-bad-brains
>
> [...]