hypersongs

Death

A Detroit trio of the Hackney brothers who played proto-punk in the 1970s, recorded seven songs in 1975, and saw them released as ...For the Whole World to See in 2009; "Keep On Knocking" opens it.

Three brothers in Detroit

Death were the brothers Bobby Hackney (bass and lead vocals), David Hackney (guitar) and Dannis Hackney (drums) of Detroit. They were inspired by the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964; David taught himself guitar on a discarded instrument. They formed in 1971 (a fan blog says 1972) as Rock Fire Funk Express, playing funk, and in 1973 David persuaded them to rename the band Death, seeing the word as a positive spiritual journey rather than something dark. They had switched to rock after seeing the Who and Alice Cooper. Dannis later said: if they ask you to change the name and you do it, they'll ask you to change everything else.

On February 18, 1975 they recorded seven songs at United Sound Systems in Detroit with the engineer Jim Vitti, in sessions arranged by Don Davis's Groovesville Productions with Columbia funding. Columbia wanted a new name, David refused and the support was withdrawn; Dannis says the request came from people working with Clive Davis rather than from Davis himself. The brothers pressed 500 copies of "Politicians in My Eyes" with "Keep On Knocking" on their own Tryangle label in 1976 and gave them away at gigs.

Rediscovery

The band ended in 1977 and the brothers moved to Burlington, Vermont, where they made two gospel-rock albums as The 4th Movement; Bobby and Dannis later formed the reggae band Lambsbread. David died in 2000. In 2008 MP3s of the single reached Chunklet magazine, copies sold for up to $800, and Bobby's son Julian heard the songs in California and recognized his father's voice. Drag City released ...For the Whole World to See on February 17, 2009; Mike Rubin's article in the New York Times in March 2009 brought wider attention. In September 2009 Bobby, Dannis and the guitarist Bobbie Duncan played three reunion shows, and Mickey Leigh invited them to Joey Ramone's birthday party.

Spiritual-Mental-Physical (DC447) followed in January 2011, III (DC583) on April 22, 2014, and N.E.W. in 2015, and a Death and Rough Francis split 7-inch in 2023; Rough Francis is a band of Bobby's sons, named for a nickname of David's. The documentary A Band Called Death, by Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett, premiered at the LA Film Festival on June 16, 2012 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 13, 2013. Gawker named them among the first punk bands, and Evan Rapport's book Damaged calls them the first all-black punk band. Questlove called them the Ramones, but two years earlier.

Albums

Songs

  • Keep On Knocking ...For the Whole World to See · 1975

    The opening track of ...For the Whole World to See and the B-side of the 1976 Tryangle single.

Sources

  1. Death (proto-punk band), Wikipedia
  2. A Band Called Death, Wikipedia
  3. Death, Drag City
  4. Death interview, Red Bull Music Academy Daily (2016-01)