# Black Fans of Hard Rock!  Fans of Black Hard Rock!



## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 7, 2010)

In a previous thread- 
Black People!- I talked about how few of us are seen at hard rock & metal shows.

Well, tonight, I finally got to see the 2005 documentary, Electric Purgatory, which is all about the black rock musicians of the past...ohhhhhhh...35 years or so.

I don't care how militant you are, I don't care how educated you are: you watch this documentary and you will hear about bands you have never heard of.

I'm saying that as a person who grew up the child of a music teacher, an entertainment lawyer, and the owner of 5000+ CDs.

Definitely worth the time to track down and watch.


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## Mark Chance (Mar 10, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> I don't care how militant you are, I don't care how educated you are: you watch this documentary and you will hear about bands you have never heard of.




Such as whom?

Most of the music I listen to which is done by Blacks falls into funk, R&B, rap, hip hop, blues, and reggae (and reggae's relatives such as ska and toasting). There's Jimi Hendrix, of course. In terms of heavier rock, all I'm familiar with is Bad Brains.

So, spill some band names. I'm curious to see how many I can plug into Pandora for some free samples.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 12, 2010)

The one that springs to mind instantly was Mandrill, a rawer, rockier version of Earth, Wind and Fire.

There were others I'd have to actually go back and scan through my recording- there were clips of bands that looked like Motley Crue in blackface...genuine ROCK bands, all black.

The bands with prominent black members or predominantly black lineups I already knew from before (some of which were not in the film, or were only in photo montages) included Bad Brains and Living Colour, of course, but also ones like God Forbid, Straight Line Stitch, Killswitch Engage, King's X, Mother's Finest, 24-7 Spyz, and the incredibly awesome Fishbone.

But beyond even those, there were some of the bands some of those guys were in before they made it...


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## Mark Chance (Mar 12, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> The one that springs to mind instantly was Mandrill, a rawer, rockier version of Earth, Wind and Fire.




That sounds excellent. Definitely going to have to plug that one into Pandora to see if it comes up.



Dannyalcatraz said:


> The bands with prominent black members or predominantly black lineups I already knew from before (some of which were not in the film, or were only in photo montages) included Bad Brains and Living Colour, of course, but also ones like God Forbid, Straight Line Stitch, Killswitch Engage, King's X, Mother's Finest, 24-7 Spyz, and the incredibly awesome Fishbone.




I like Fishbone and Bad Brains, but I never cared much for Living Colour. I'm not sure why. Probably has something to do with me not really being able to remember what they sounded like versus what they looked like. Still, perhaps they're do a relook.

Thanks for the names!


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 13, 2010)

Just as an FYI, Living Colour has 2 releases this century- one in 2003, as I recall, and one late last year.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 13, 2010)

I just noticed the film's website had a listing of many of the musicians who were interviewed for the film...

Many of these guys were in more than one band over the years.

Some others that were not, though, include 

T.M. Stevens
Hard Corp
Lucy Brown
Follow For Now (super-talented, only one album)
Eye & I
Bodycount (Ice-T's metal band)

and most surprisingly, Bootsy Collins.  Yeah, they talk about Parliament/Funkadelic, but he's also done some rock/metal with bands like Zillatron and Praxis.

And don't forget, there have been some killer rock/metal musicians in the lineups of bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Rollins Band.


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## Bullgrit (Mar 16, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:
			
		

> The one that springs to mind instantly was Mandrill, a rawer, rockier version of Earth, Wind and Fire.



Wait, what? A black band named after a monkey? They could probably get some free publicity by claiming that their record label forced that name on them.

Bullgrit


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## Dannyalcatraz (May 28, 2010)

Tosin Abasi, young black guitarist extraordinaire (Reflux, Animals As Leaders) just popped up on my radar:

Animals As Leaders
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VixG3b-C7Fk&NR=1]YouTube - Animals As Leaders - "Song Of Solomon"[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ho4-tExpTE&feature=related]YouTube - Animals As Leaders - "Tempting Time"[/ame]

Reflux
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qAm-WK1Vjc&feature=related]YouTube - Reflux - Above The Pyramid And The Eye[/ame]

His new band, Animals As Leaders, is on tour with Dillinger Escape Plan and others this year.


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## ggroy (May 28, 2010)

In the really heavy stuff, race isn't as prominent of an issue.  More important is technical musical ability and songwriting.

With that being said, there's some black musicians playing heavier metal type stuff.

In the virtuoso guitar world, there's Tony MacAlpine and Greg Howe.

In death metal, there's Suffocation.

(There's others which I don't recall offhand).


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## Dannyalcatraz (May 28, 2010)

True, but they're still sadly rare...though not so rare as black fans in the stands.


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## ggroy (May 28, 2010)

One of Metallica's original guitarists was black.  His name is Lloyd Grant.

Grant played on the demo version of "Hit the Lights", which ended up on the early pressings of the Metal Massacre compilation.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uyj8dcppJc"]YouTube - Lars Ulrich Talks W/ Lloyd Grant[/ame]


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## Dannyalcatraz (May 28, 2010)

ggroy, thank you for telling me something I did not know!  Learning something means I have not wasted my day.


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## grufflehead (May 28, 2010)

Mark Chance said:


> I never cared much for Living Colour.




Man, why you want to give me that funny vibe?


EDIT: And if you want a real obscurity, try these guys:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jXGP_5R_GQ"]YouTube- Scrap Iron Scientists - Dreadlock Criminal[/ame]

Don't know if they even recorded an album (there's a 3 song EP on Amazon), and their myspace page labels them as hardcore - I've generally steered clear of hardcore in the past, but if it's like this I may have to remedy that...


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## ggroy (May 28, 2010)

Went through my old record/cassette collection earlier.  Found a few other metal bands with black musicians.

- Black Death

Encyclopaedia Metallum - Black Death (USA)

- Znowhite / Cyclone Temple

Encyclopaedia Metallum - Znöwhite

Encyclopaedia Metallum - Cyclone Temple

- Zoetrope

Encyclopaedia Metallum - Zoetrope


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## ggroy (May 28, 2010)

Black Death sounded like Motorhead, early thrash metal style.

http://www.myspace.com/blackdeathcleveland


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## tecnowraith (May 28, 2010)

Okay, are we talking a all black memeber bands or bands with 1 or 2 members that are? Cause there will be different in rarity if so. If it was a 1 or 2 members that are black than you can throw in Sevendust to that list.


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## Dannyalcatraz (May 28, 2010)

There are actually very few all black rock bands, as was pointed out in the documentary that spawned this thread.

Black_ rockers_ are considerably more common, but still a relative rarity...and up until fairly recently in rock history, they tended not to get attention from the media or radio.  I happen to have a LOT of the original Headbanger's Ball, for instance, and but for Living Colour or Bad Brains, you hardly saw a black face on the show.

Even though they were far from being the first black rock band, Living Colour is essentially the band that broke that trend.  Up until their hit single, "Cult of Personality" you'd be hard pressed to find a predominantly black or black-fronted band that cracked the top 100 in the mainstream charts (as opposed to a genre chart- blues, jazz, etc.) after the 1950's.


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## ggroy (May 28, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> you'd be hard pressed to find a predominantly black or *black-fronted band* that cracked the top 100 in the mainstream charts (as opposed to a genre chart- blues, jazz, etc.) after the 1950's.




How about Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy?

"The Boys Are Back in Town" reached the top 10 in 1976.

The Boys Are Back in Town - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8UoUXmKH_A"]YouTube- Thin Lizzy - 'The Boys Are Back In Town' - Live[/ame]


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## ggroy (May 28, 2010)

The vocalist of the Brazilian death metal band Sepultura is black.

Derrick Green - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Dannyalcatraz (May 28, 2010)

ggroy said:


> How about Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy?
> 
> "The Boys Are Back in Town" reached the top 10 in 1976.




Yep...and that's going to be about the extent of it.

You'll see some crossover hits from Parliament/Funkadelic,  James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and other black artists, but those are all Funk, R&B, Soul and even the odd Country performer (like Charlie Pride).  Black_ rockers_ are almost invisible.

Electric Purgatory listed several bands that were black or black-fronted rock bands in the post-Motown era- other than Thin Lizzy, you probably wouldn't have heard of any of them until you hit the 1990s.  I don't recall a chart-maker among them, at this point.


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## The Serge (May 29, 2010)

I don't listen to much rock (or even top 40).  I mostly listen to Romantic era classical and movie scores.  

As a side question, I often wonder how many black/African American folks are around sites such as these...


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## ggroy (May 29, 2010)

(Looked through my old record/cassette collection more).

Speed metal band Hirax's lead singer Katon De Pena is black.

MySpace - Katon - 46 - Male - CYPRESS, California - myspace.com/katonhirax

Encyclopaedia Metallum - Hirax

De Pena later played in a band with former Metallica bassist Ron McGovney called Phantasm.  (McGovney played on the early Metallica demos).

Encyclopaedia Metallum - Phantasm (USA)


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## Dannyalcatraz (May 30, 2010)

I found one other black-fronted rock band besides Thin Lizzy that charted before the 1990s- and I'm embarrassed to say it took me this long to remember this guy:

Jon Butcher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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