I don’t think they are a homophobic band. However i do think they had views which were homophobic and think that HR was fairly problematic in his views. Most punks/hardcore kids i think were aware of this and rightly at times questioned them. As @riverwise pointed out before it was a thing and still was when i was getting into it.
My getting a pass comment was more aimed at the image of them which has cultivated over the last 10 years or so. In my experience they do now.
‘Not very much’ is questionable but i like the bad brains and aren’t trying to beef! i think they are an incredibly important band and are very good at times.
Dave DIctor was there and makes some good points.
First let me say I hated that whole incident. MDC adored the Bad Brains 1980-1982. After a gig where we really hit it off together in Oakland, we dropped everything in our lives to go across country on a mini tour with them on 2 days notice. Ended up playing 2 shows with them. One in Houston and the infamous one in Austin where we dropped off the tour. There in Austin they freaked out in the middle of the show about Gary Floyd’s and Randy Biscuit’s out gayness and refused to sing using the same microphone as them. The Bad Brains seemed to always have these much younger people in the scene around them. And it seemed no would call them on their bullshit. We were about the same age as them and a bit more politically sophisticated then the typical people in the DC and NY scene.
I only felt mistreated in that they came into a show that MDC and others had set up and hurled a lot of insults and anger towards our friends. Insults like “All gay people are blood clot faggots and they should be put to death." It wasn’t like they expressed that they didn’t like gay people and disapprove of their lifestyle. It was wishing death for the singers of two of our favorite bands in our original punk rock home town. It was sad to see it all go down and didn’t feel good at all. It was confusing that we could adore and agree with people about many political topics including human rights, yet disagree about homosexuality. With HR-Joseph we have never resolved anything, but with Darryl and Dr Know (the bassist and guitarist), we all expressed regrets on the topic years later.
Had a fairly big local scene with a lot of older heads who were tape traders and only indie record store imported a fair number of 7”s from the US because there was a market for them. Everything anyone bought was dubbed around 20 times and passed about. Only downside was that the sound was dictated quite a bit by the older guys so there was loads of NYHC and not a lot else. Lot of the younger crew got into stuff from other countries (Japan and Scandinavia particularly) by writing off to labels and bands and stuff. Sometimes worked, sometimes didn’t. Like others, MRR and skate videos were great sources as well.
Yeah I mean tbh I’ve heard about 50 different accounts of this event over the years and this is the only one where Bad Brains are alleged to have called for the death of gay people and refused to share equipment with them. I mean apart from anything else, if you did this at an MDC or Big Boys show in Texas in the early 80s, you would have surely had the living shit beaten out of you? It also just doesn’t tally in any way with accounts from people in their own scene. In Dave Rittman’s oral history of NYC hardcore, there are accounts of them sharing stages, vans and equipment with bands with openly gay members and also being protective of them when they got grief. I mean who knows at the end of the day, was all way before my time, but just seems that any account that puts Bad Brains in the worse possible light on this is accepted as gospel truth, without any scrutiny whatsoever
I mean, if we’re talking about getting a pass then I love roots reggae, which has similar issues for similar reasons (and I love Bad Brains too!). But I think it is right to say, in my experience anyway, that this attitude was a bigger deal a couple of decades ago then it seems to be now. Maybe because they have walked back on it since, in which case fair enough.
I stumbled across the CD in a shop last week and bought it, having not heard it in a couple of years, then along comes this thread a few days later. Spooky.
TBF - i was 1 or 2 and in birmingham when the initial incident happened so what do i know! Agree there are loads of different stories and people who back them, people who dont
but yeah, not trying to paint them in bad light was just an observation more than anything.
Yeah I know it was - that’s what I mean - seems strange that a touring band could come to a hometown show in Austin, say something this appalling, and not have taken an absolute flogging. Would have to say it also seems a little strange that there has only ever been one reported incident when it appears from his account that Bad Brains’ homophobia was so virulent.
I know that you weren’t trying to paint them in a bad light - my comment was more about the way this has been blown up generally over the years. I still love MDC too
Listening to the Misfits radio show now. TV Casualty, Static Age, 5 copies were pressed, 1 sent to a jukebox. Absolutely crazy. Anyone know how to split an MP3 on a Mac?
