Bad Brains: Positive Counterculture

Aaron Gilbreath goes into an in-depth journey of Bad Brains and his personal love for them, which really helps with his rhetoric in this piece. Bad Brains is a punk band that began in 1977, stretching into the early 90s as a mixed-race cast that stood for unity and positive mental attitude (PMA). The unconventionality of the individuals who made up the band in both personality and race allowed them to transcend certain social constructs, allowing their music to resonate to a broad demographic of listeners. As a punk band, they were unconventional in terms of the combination of different genres like reggae, other dance-influenced music, and dub, furthering the argument of why they actually exemplify punk better than any band in the movement. If you think about it, black people were and still are the original counter-culture figures (exemplifying punk), discriminated against in a domineering white society, albeit not out of choice. Paul “HR” Hudson, was the mastermind, of sorts, of the band, being the stage-diving, screaming lyricist nicknamed HR for “Human Rights.”

HR and the Bad Brains furthered their musical nuances by studying Rastafarianism and becoming spiritually fueled by god to push their messages. Such motivations propelled them out of the bounds of punk rock as they meddled with hair metal riffs and funk’s rhythmic sensibilities. This seemingly never-ending progression shows why they empowered musicians to follow their artistic visions (such as The Beastie Boys and The Chili Peppers). Bad Brains’ reason for their “positive side” of their empowerment through music was precisely to go against the punk conventions. They responded to the empty nihilism that dominated the scene at the time—they went against the conventions of a genre that was trying to go against conventions of the mainstream. When I say empty nihilism, I mean the “I hate this, I hate that” redundancy and predictability in punk that Bad Brains critiqued. While other bands complained about fleeting enemies of youth or the Regan Era’s obvious symbols of repression, Bad Brains challenged the fundamental flaws of America: racism, classism, materialism, and spiritual vacancy.

Bad Brains continued to push their passions and ideas past angry youths abiding by punk codes, but HR had to confront a problem that is still prominent today: missing the message of music when separating the musicians from the music. Bad Brains did indeed transform the idea of peace and love from a humorous hippie rhetoric into a valid ideal that even tough posturing rockers could support. They gave people the permission to destroy their adolescent armor and reveal true desires for harmony and human connection. However, “smaller minds” (used by Gilbreath) confused the combination of their message and attitude as a contradiction. Gilbreath argued that people mistook the fusion of punk thrashing but also positive messages to be oxymoronic in an unappealing, hypocritical way. However, one must recognize that this was “an expression of the human dichotomy, and a validation of the need to vent one’s anger without causing others harm” (Gilbreath, 2020). Simply, Bad Brains gave listeners a place to be angry and have an opportunity to heal. Anger is not the same as being hateful or destructive; anger is legitimate and purposeful. In their music, peace coexists with anger and it is perfectly illustrated by an Aristotle quote that writer Matthew Salesses points out. “Anger shows us not only that we feel we have suffered injustice, but also that we consider justice within reach,” ultimately concluding, “stay angry” (Gilbreath, 2020).

Works Cited

Gilbreath, Aaron. “Unity and Resistance: The Message of Bad Brains.” Medium, 20 June 2020, https://aarongilbreath.medium.com/unity-and-resistance-the-message-of-bad-brains-bec653612f9a.