Photo Credit: Drafthouse Films
By Jeremy Kohn
Leather jackets. Torn blue jeans. CBGB’s. Anti-Establishment. If music fans were asked to take part in a word association related to punk music, some of these responses may be their answers. If any prominent bands from the genre were “name dropped” during this exercise, it is likely The Ramones would be among the first . Many fans and music historians point to The Ramones as being the forefathers of punk’s signature sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GADVDNumOU However, much like the history we learn in school, what is recorded as being the first isn’t always the truth.
What if I were to drop this bombshell — The Ramones were not in fact the first punk band and the punk sound was invented four years earlier than The Ramones debut by an all-black band named Death, from the Motor City?
The origins of Death began as three brothers from Detroit after seeing the Beatles performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” decided to start their own band. The brothers Hackney: David, Bobby, and Dennis, purchased their respected instruments from a neighborhood pawn shop and quickly went to work recording a demo. After finishing their demo recordings, David decided to name the group “Death” explaining to his brothers the concept of spinning death from the negative to the positive, as an inspiration for the name.
With a completed demo in tow, the newly-christened Death went to Columbia Records. At Columbia, they met with executive president Clive Davis who liked the bands’ dynamic and energy, but was hesitant to sign the band because of their controversial name. Refusing to compromise on his vision, David and the band only recorded seven songs at Columbia, choosing to record at the independent record label Tryangle instead. Out of the Tryangle sessions came the band’s singles “Politicians in our Eyes” and “Keep on Knocking which were released to just 500 copies.
Photo Credit: Gawker.com
Disillusioned by the corporate policies of major record companies, Death called it quits in 1977. Any knowledge of the band’s existence fell to the wayside. Then mysteriously in 2008, the recordings of the band appeared online. Shortly after this discovery, the sons of original member Bobby Hackney began covering songs from Death’s Columbia recordings under the moniker Rough Francis. Drag City Records would next release the band’s early recordings as a 2009 full length album under the appropriate title, For the Whole World to See. The once elusive band was now being heard by the masses.
In 2012, the band was served it’s icing on the cake, when an independent film company released the documentary “A Band called Death.” The film highlights the bands’ musical struggles like their woes with recording an album, frustration with labels trying to change their identity, and documents the bands’ untimely, viral success. The movie contains interviews from all original band members excluding the bands’ leader and original lead singer David Hackney, who passed away from lung cancer in 2000. A newly-formed Death including the two Hackney brothers and recruiting Lambsbread guitarist Bobbie Duncan have continued to tour and record new music keeping Death’s vision alive.
The story of the band Death teaches us that a forgotten gem can rise to prominence in our digital age, forever changing the pages of rock ‘n’ roll history with just a few strokes of the keyboard and a click of the mouse.
I hope you enjoyed the first tale of Michigan’s Musical Mystery Menageries. There are many more fabled stories of Michigan’s mythical musical wonders to come.
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