DEATH are incredible. You can hear a few of their ahead-of-their-time songs here: <http://www.myspace.com/deathprotopunk>
One of the unfortunate things about punk is how many African-American bands were really involved, but got little credit. Everyone knows about Bad Brains, ARGUABLY the first hardcore punk band.
But there was also PURE HELL - <http://www.myspace.com/purehellband> (also all-African-American punk rock from the get-go) - again, an all-black punk rock outfit strangely overlooked.
And also, in the awesome book _Punk 365_ by Holly George-Warren, another NYC '77 era black-fronted band, THE PLANETS, were shunned: "Our main singer was black, and just about no one in the biz - except the A&R guy at Warner Bros. who signed the Sex Pistols - could get their head around that." The book says that The Planets "sounded akin to UK punks The Damned" - which in 1976, etc., would have been AMAZING.
No recording of The Planets exists, that I know of. We're lucky the demo recordings of DEATH from 194 resurfaced and were made into a new LP, "For the Whole World To See":
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/music/15rubi.html
-B.
W. Kiernan wrote:
"More Death, please? I also liked 'Fuck everybody who voted Tory' a lot. What a swell mix! Thanks! - yrs wdk"