Death was an African-American punk band formed in Detroit, MI in the early 1970s. The story goes that the band was recording with Clive Davis of Columbia Records in 1975. After completing seven songs of what was to be a twelve-song recording session, Davis approached the band about changing their name in order to make themselves more marketable, but the band refused. As a result, the band was almost completely lost in punk history, with only an extremely rare, self-released, two-song 7" existing from the recording session.
In 2009, however, Drag City, a record label out of Chicago, released the seven-song session on an LP entitled ...For The Whole World To See. The album sparked a bit of a frenzy among punk enthusiasts. Jack White said of the record, "I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I was told the history of the band and what year they recorded this music, it just didn’t make sense. Ahead of punk, and ahead of their time." His thoughts were echoed by many within the punk community.
I've listened to the album a few times myself, and I'm extremely glad that Drag City was able to save this band from the depths of punk lore. Death slots in perfectly between bands such as MC5, The Stooges, etc. and the Ramones. Anyone who is interested in early punk should give them a listen.
No comments:
Post a Comment