Marking their progression was 1983’s Rock for Light, the band’s second album, produced by Cars frontman Rick Ocasek. “He used to listen to the ROIR cassette on tour to hide himself up to go out and play,” muses [Bad Brains bassist Darryl] Jenifer. “You would never think that this cat would listen to the ROIR cassette to get energy going so he could go out and play some pop!” Nevertheless, Ocasek took a shine to the group, buying them gear, giving me the amps, and taking them into the studio to record their follow-up to their explosive debut.
“When we first came out, [punk] was kind of on some vulgar shit,” recalls Jenifer. “We started kicking PMA in our music, and the message was different than the regular punk rock. You know, a punk rocker can write a song about hate─I hate my mom or some shit, you know? We wasn’t on no shit like that. Some kids who wanted to see some regular shit saw us, and every kid’s heart and mind was opened. It’s like you’re just going to see some regular reggae music, and Bob Marley is playing. You might walk away from that and go, ‘Damn, that’s some consciousness in this music.’ When we would play, you see, [sings] ‘I got that PMA,’ and there was a whole mode of consciousness that was coming through it.”
—Jon Kirby writing in Wax Poetics about seminal rock group Bad Brains, a band of rastas who mixed punk rock with reggae and sent a message of love. Kirby’s piece ran in 2008.
from Longreads Blog » Longreads Blog http://blog.longreads.com/2015/07/31/bad-brains-mixed-punk-with-a-positive-mental-attitude/
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