A Brief History of Afro-punk: The Black Artists that Shaped the Scene

The Bands

In the beginning, before the documentary saw its time, Afro-punk began in the early 70’s being pioneered by bands like Death and Pure Hell. With initial intent of playing funk music and other styles of likeness, Death pushed themselves into a more hard-rock direction with inspiration from seeing concerts performed by Alice Cooper and The Who. Originating in Detroit, Michigan, Death consists of three brothers Bobby, David, and Dannis Hackney. the band was formed in 1964 originally being Rock Fire Funk Express playing funk music, but soon made the switch to punk rock in 1971, calling themselves Death. This perceived them as “visionaries” as they stepped into the scene as one of the first all black punk bands. 1975 brought them their first recording session which consisted of seven songs and then in the following year, the band released some of these recordings as singles “Politicians in My Eyes” and “Keep on Knocking.” Death took a hiatus in 1977 due to a change in direction, but returned in 2009 for a reunion tour and later released an album in 2015. 

After Death and Pure Hell left their mark, other bands began to form including bands like Bad Brains and Fishbone. Formed in 1976, Bad Brains was an early influence on and involved in the new straightedge punk scene. With controversial opinions surrounding, straightedge was its own movement of change in resisting sex, drugs and alcohol unlike the rest of the punk-rock community. They saw it as a way of abstaining control from the government and others among the surrounding society. Bad Brains consisted of members Dr. Know (Gary Miller), Darryl Jenifer, Paul Hudson, and Earl Hudson. They first came together as a jazz fusion group first calling themselves Mind Power but soon, in 1977, geared towards hard-rock and changed their name to Bad Brains. While punk was the main style of music the band was going for, the band also had tendencies to lean towards reggae. Their first couple albums “Bad Brains” and “Rock for Light” were self released, but then in 1986 the band signed with SST Records and released “I Against I.” Since then, the band has released seven other albums with their most recent being “Into The Future” released in 2012.

UK Involvement

In the latter part of the 70’s afro-punk made its way to the UK featuring Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex, Don Letts, and Basement 5. Growing up out of Brixton, London, Frontwoman of the band X-Ray Spex, Poly Styrene, had been performing solo since 1965 with her first single “Silly Billy.” After recent works like this being in styles of reggae and ska, she turned to a more punky and alternative rock sound after seeing performances by bands like the Sex Pistols. With initiative to play music of this likeness, Poly Styrene put out an ad looking for other musicians who were excited to create in this new era of punk and thus X-Ray Spex was born.

Basement 5 was another of these bands that broke out of the punk age. Formed in 1978 London, this band consisted of members Dennis Morris, Leo Williams, and Richard Dudanski. Having a short career of 4 years, Basement 5 released LPs “1965-1980” and “In Dub” with some of their most popular works being “Last White Christmas” and “Silicon Chip.” 

Based from London, England, Don Letts had a huge part in the building of the punk community. In 1975, Letts ran Acme Attractions which was a clothing store that became the hub for punk bands and others among the scene. He was also a director, pioneering the first punk films and documentaries. He created several films and music videos spotlighting the punk scene in the UK. Some of his most notable works include the 1978 film “The Punk Rock Movie,” The 2000 documentary “The Clash: Westway to the World,” and several music videos for bands like The Clash, Musical Youth, and Big Audio Dynamite. Letts took a lot of his inspiration from the world of reggae and put it into his newly found love for the punk scene. From this, 1978 brought us his first EP “Steel Leg v the Electric Dread.” Soon after, Letts and former Clash band member Mick Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite in 1984 and from that Screaming Target was formed in 1990.

Festival RAR

During this same time, festival RAR, Rock Against Racism, was brought to the stage. Formed in 1976 by Red Saunders, Roger Huddle, Jo Wreford, and Pete Bruno, this movement was a response to rock musician’s (Eric Clapton and David Bowie included) racist and fascist remarks at the time; “Keep Britain White” being among these comments. The purpose for RAR was to bring black and white people, artists, and musicians together to listen and create music together. It fulfilled just that purpose with it’s first gig being held at Princess Alice pub including performances by Carol Grimes and Matumbi. By the end of this performance, the band members and audience came together for a jam which became a tradition for RAR since. Shortly after this, RAR began to gather quite the following which brought them their first fanzine, Temporary Hoarding. This gave them the spotlight they so desperately needed and the community kept building and building creating more than 200 RAR groups in the UK with others springing in the States and all across Europe. 

In 1978, the organization arranged two national carnivals. Before the music, there was a march in solidarity with the movement’s message of inclusion and was formed against political standings and decisions being made in parliament at the time. Once the march reached its destination, there were performances held by bands like The Clash, Steel Pulse, Tom Robinson Band, X-Ray Spex, Jimmy Persey, and Patrik Fitzgerald. The second festival followed this same pattern with performances after the march performed by Aswald, Elvis Costello, and Stiff Little Fingers. RAR saw its final festival in the year 1981 held in Leeds. RAR left a huge impact not only on the punk scene, but on the whole musical community as a whole. In 2019 the documentary “White Riot” was filmed about RAR and the festival, music, and community it produced.