Pay to Cum

The first official Bad Brains release was a seven-inch issued in June 1980 on Bad Brain Records. It was recorded in New York City by Jimi Quidd at his Dots Studios, with H.R. on vocals, Earl Hudson on drums, Darryl Jenifer on bass and Dr. Know on guitar. The A-side runs 1:33. The flip side was "Stay Close to Me", and the original seven-inch had no Side 2. An earlier version from the June 1979 Inner Ear session is on Black Dots.

Jenifer has said the riff started as punk vibes fueled by the Ramones, the Damned and Return to Forever, and that the title meant nothing to the band and was just a play on words. The version on the 1982 debut came from Jerry Williams' recording of a May 1981 gig at 171-A. Martin Scorsese used the song in the 1985 film After Hours, and it plays over the opening credits of the 2006 documentary American Hardcore.