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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

I Against I

Bad Brains

1986

I Against I
Album Summary

I Against I is the third studio album by the American rock band Bad Brains. It was released on November 21, 1986 through SST Records with the catalog number SST 065. The best-selling album in the band's catalog, I Against I finds the band branching out from their early hardcore punk style to touch on funk, soul, reggae and heavy metal. It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The title track was a Paul Rachman-directed video (Rachman would go on to direct the documentary film American Hardcore). The title I Against I presumably refers to the common Rastafarian phrase I and I, which is used in place of the first-person plural (i.e. we) to signify the union of the speaker, audience, and Jah (God) in love and peace. At the producer's suggestion, the vocals to "Sacred Love" were recorded over the phone from the prison where H.R. was serving time on a marijuana distribution charge.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.93

Votes

10003
Genres
Rock
Punk
Hard Rock

Reviews

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Wed Feb 02 2022
5

I Love. Bad Brains. Any hardcore kid worth his camo shorts (and I'd like to think I am) knows that what The Ramones were to punk, Bad Brains were to hardcore, a reignition (like their song, heh) of a genre that had grown bloated and moribund with mainstream exposure. Before they were getting banned in DC (also a song title, check it out) for their unrelenting, thrashy brand hardcore punk, Bad Brains were honing their musical craft as a band that played metal, funk and rhythm & blues. This is displayed in songs like House Of Suffering with its blistering drum flourishes and succinct guitar solo, something that was unheard of in punk, but that the Bad Brains harnessed with attitude and vitriol befitting the grittiest gutter punks. Individual virtuosity aside, what made the Bad Brains, and this work in particular, so iconic to this writer was their ability to be go from hard-driving, to groovy, to downright menacing all within a single album. This is a feat that would be commendable for any rock band, let alone one in a scene where bands are hardly known for musical range or diversity. Straight up classic. 5 stars, my guy.

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Sun Feb 21 2021
4

One of the most important hardcore punk records from one of the most important hardcore punk bands. There’s reggae, punk, rock, metal and all kinds of genres on this. I think I like Banned in DC better but this is a great listen. Favorite track: I Against I Least favorite track: Return to Heaven

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Tue Jun 29 2021
4

Yes, yes, yes. This is the way. Hardcore built on reggae grooves, vocals doing backflips, sparkling solos flying out of all the chug. It has it all. If you weren’t bouncing along to “She’s Calling You” do you even have a soul? Here is a band in total control of rhythm, dynamics and melody and using it to funnel their anger (and sense of a good time - remember “Edification first, then we can have some fun”) at a society falling apart around them. Show good taste: enjoy Bad Brains.

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Tue Aug 31 2021
4

An interesting album to be sure. The music is a combination of hardcore punk (which Bad Brains did not like to be called), reggae, and metal. Some songs also have a new wave tinge. The music itself features strong reggae inspired bass lines with guitar work that is slightly phased (in typical eighties fashion) that ranges from more punk inspired rhythms to virtuosic leads that sound more inspired by contemporary metal. The vocal delivery is similarly nuanced and ranges from growled phrases to a more straightforward delivery. Despite the range of influences and styles, this album is coherent and unique.

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Wed Oct 27 2021
4

This album shocked me, I wasn't prepared for this level of melodicism from a Bad Brains album. The Bad Brains I know are loud and abrasive, without subtlety. I am glad to find this side of this legendary band. 4 stars

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Tue Jun 29 2021
2

Schizophrenic riffs, tunes and vocals to start, which I took for a distraction technique, i.e. they don't really have a sound. Then I noticed both the tempo and the changeability hadn't let up by track 4 and realised that is sound. Liked it a lot better at that point. But then it turned to borderline metal sludge in the second half. So I'll hedge.

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Mon May 24 2021
5

this is a classic album that i'm betting gets low scores globally. but i fucking love it - they were unlike anything else happening at the time, and holy shit, were they something. i got to see them at the channel in boston, back in the early 90s!

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Wed Sep 07 2022
5

Much more metal than I was expecting, but that punk ethos runs deep. Honestly, what's more punk than delivering your vocals over the phone from a jail cell? These guys are it, always have been, always will be.

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Wed Sep 14 2022
5

Thank you, album generator, for forcing me to finally fix a gaping hole in my musical education. I've been meaning to check out Bad Brains for ages, especially since I moved to the DC area 14 years ago, but somehow have never to my knowledge heard a single song. And either I waited way too long to check out something so terrific, or the wait helped me to appreciate it all the more. "I Against I" is their third album, and apparently marked a bit of a shift and evolving of their sound, away from their hardcore punk roots. In trying to digest this album, and figure out what I think of Bad Brains, I listened to it 3+ times. (The second because a raucous carpool of 6th graders made the first hard to hear, and the third and other snippets because I increasingly realized that I loved it and wanted more.) At first I wasn't sure what to think of H.R.'s vocals. They were all over the place. And while there were some times where it seemed like he needed to reign it in a bit or stick to one style, the more I listened the more I realized there were multiple voices(?) I liked and most made up for the bits I didn't like. The guitars and the drums, though, I loved from the start. I was initially surprised, as I was expecting more of a punk sound from what I knew of the band. So the heavy metal and other influences took me on a ride that kept me on my toes. It certainly wasn't all perfect, but it grew and grew on me. I checked out their self-titled debut, and there was the hardcore punk I had been expecting. I liked it, but not as much as "I Against I." I waffled back and forth between 4 and 5 stars for quite a while. When it comes down to it, I think its a 4-star album. But a combination of the pleasant surprise, the missing piece, the breadth of influence, the passion and the joy, and finally, the comparison to other new-to-me 4s finally sealed the deal.

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Wed Sep 14 2022
5

Flawless. I love Bad Brains, but I return to this album much more than any other. This album takes in so much timely influence and then spits out much more. H.R. delivers vocally. The confluence of hardcore with funk is perfectly executed. Just superb.

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Thu Sep 15 2022
5

This album is so tight that it made me pass out.

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Fri Feb 02 2024
5

I've never heard of Bad Brains so I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. I'll listen again & check out more of their stuff.

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Fri Mar 01 2024
5

Great fast aggressive technical music. But the vocals are the star.

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Wed Mar 06 2024
5

Way ahead of its time… Amazing vocalist. Great story on one of the songs he called from prison and they recorded a song through the prison phone. He was in jail for distribution of marijuana. Metal is that?

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Wed Jan 06 2021
4

beautiful album i wasn't expecting. really showing my knowledge of punk here.

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Fri Feb 12 2021
4

Like living in a kick drum. Pure energy.

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Tue Jul 20 2021
3

I Against I is not what I was expecting upon looking at the album cover. I was expecting some reggae/hip-hop - guess it shows that you don't judge a book by it's cover! This was a cool listen to some mid 80s punk/ska of which I have never heard of the band. Best: Hired Gun Worst: Sacred Love 3.5 Stars

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Fri Sep 24 2021
2

I generally cut punk albums a lot of slack. Pretty music isn't the point, right? But, dang. This album is a royal mess. It makes no sense, the production is trash, the songs are poorly written and poorly performed ... it's just not good. It's not good punk, it's not good hardcore, it's not good rock. It's just not very good.

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Sun Aug 06 2023
2

Let's see what can I find positive to say about this? It was relatively short! Also, every once in a while one of the songs would start to sound good. It usually didn't last long, but there were a few glimpses of semi-goodness. I guess that's about it. 2 stars.

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Wed Jan 31 2024
1

1. intro - 0 2. againzt i - 0 3. houze of zuffering - 0 4. re ignition - 0 5. zecret 77 - 0 6. let me help - 0 7. zhez calling you - 0 8. zacred love - 0 9. hired gun - 0 10. return to heaven - 0

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Sun Feb 21 2021
5

Very good stuff! Gonna be giving it a second pass, and probably picking a couple tracks out to put into regular listening rotation. What can I say, I like what I like.

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Sun Jan 31 2021
5

Love it. The way I found out about the book. Also, learned what I against I means.

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Sun Apr 18 2021
5

Geil, hätte mir früher richtig gut gefallen, gefällt mir auch heute noch richtig gut.

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Mon May 10 2021
5

There is no socially appropriate time of the day to play Punk on speakers. That's what I believe, and so to solidity it I played this album at three different times of the day. My family rates this 2/5 and that makes me wonder where did it go wrong. I am a little ashamed as a big punk fan (for status and for the music) that I never heard of Bad Brains ever before. This album tears me apart because songs like Sacred Love and Secret 77 are perhaps some of my favourite songs yet I'm not sure if this deserves a 5/5. The album was an experience start to finish and it was extremely fun to listen to, speakers or earphones. Maybe Bad Brains has more consistency otherwise, like in their self titled as I've been told, but as my first bad brains album I will give this a 5/5. I don't care. 5/5

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Thu Jun 17 2021
5

literally so good all the way through i loved every single TRACK dude

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Thu Jun 17 2021
5

I had a blast listening to this one !!! It was super fun and wow I want to learn how to play guitar super badly. The song titles made me curious about the songs and I knew I would like all of them !!

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Wed Oct 27 2021
5

Pretty cool punk album. Interesting reggae twist. No complaints here

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Fri Jan 21 2022
5

ALL KILLER NO FILLER!! A singularly powerful album - retains the great intensity even when it slows down.

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Thu Feb 17 2022
5

Wow! Raw and aggressive, in the way I kinda like it. Much better than I expected.

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Wed Mar 16 2022
5

First of a rant: the reason why I went to the Amnesia Rockfest in Montebello, Québec, back in 2013, was because that edition of the festival featured the most incredible hardcore lineup ever, including, among other big names, Discharge, Cro-Mags, and Bad Brains, three bands I absolutely wanted to witness on stage, and three bands who cancelled at the last minute; Discharge and Cro-Mags, who were indeed touring together, got blocked at the frontier, while, if I remember correctly, Bad Brains singer H.R. got severely ill of his throat. Well, I guess I was much less lucky than people going to that piss pool of a festival to see The Offspring or Marilyn Manson, damn it! (Hey, at least I saw Alice Cooper! I even cried then!)  I read somewhere, some years ago, that when I Against I was released every hardcore/metal/punk venue played the song Re-Ignition before shows, with the whole audience going "Whaaaaaa?" every single time as a consequence. It wasn't the first time Bad Brains got us all going "Whaaaaaa?". From the start Bad Brains was an all black band playing hardcore, a genre predominantly, if not exclusively up to that point, white . And the audience went "Whaaaaaa?" (Racetraitor was a hardcore band who were utterly outspoken about white supremacy and white privilege decades before our modern social scientists started even mentioning those topics. By their confrontational approach, they used to call "crackers" the kids in their audience. "Racetraitor" and "crackers" are both white supremacist terms, reconfigured within the context of their thought provoking stance. It didn't go down well. The band earned an awful backlash from all the social and political sides involved, and their credibility as artists and individuals was severely questioned. - Straight Edge was a lifestyle that promoted a no alcohol, no cigarettes, no meat, no drugs, no promiscuous sex, no coffee, and no pharmacological drugs way of life. Straight Edge was also one of the most violent forms of hardcore punk music around. - Racetraitor ideologist and leader said recently: "We’ve had one time that turned into a physical fight. In the end, everybody was kind of forced to talk about what we wanted them to talk about. They just couldn’t ignore us." - The band would soon break up, one of the members would become a lawyer and work in the international human rights, another one would join pop-punk band Fall Out Boy. - This is the world in which we were growing up) Bad Brains was also a band of very technically skilled musicians who had all studied jazz. And the audience went "Whaaaaaa?" Social justice was a key factor discussed in the hardcore subculture, and so were the Bad Brains, but they were also concerned as much with spiritual issues, promoting the "Positive Mental Attitude"; they also practised the rastafarian faith and played reggae. And the audience went "Whaaaaaa?" Ric Ocasek was an early fan of the group and he went on to produce their second album, a few years before I Against I was recorded. And the audience. Yes, you got it.  The crucial point of this album is that, up to this point, and also in all of their subsequent releases, hardcore and reggae where two different styles that were never really meshed together, probably in the intent of keeping intact the sacred, spiritual nature of the genre. A groovy as hell record, I Against I showcases a real battle of Bad Brains against themselves. All of their influences, from jazz to punk, to reggae, soul, funk, and anything else come together in a streamlined, flawless, smooth even, beast of crossover never heard before nor since. All of these ingredients are integral part of the songs in a way that is impossible to discern, dissect, or separate, as if everything was actually processed through a blender in an irreparable manner. Like life itself, like death itself. Like the remnants of a battlefield served on a plate. I rest my case. PS: If you haven't watched the documentary Afro-Punk, I suggest you do as soon as you get a chance. Peace out. 

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Sun May 08 2022
5

Was always aware of bad brains because of everyone having a sticker or a shirt. I can see why.

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Thu Sep 29 2022
5

had heard of bad brains before but never heard any of their music, i am immediately a huge fan, funk, punk & reggae is right up my alley

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Thu Oct 13 2022
5

Sometimes I forget how great this band is

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Mon Nov 07 2022
5

Can’t believe I’ve never heard of these guys! Really cool blend of thrash, punk, alt rock, and funk. I can really see how these guys must have been huge influences on 90s bands.

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Wed Jan 25 2023
5

Surprisingly good. I really liked it and will probably have to check out their other stuff sometime soon

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Sun Mar 26 2023
5

The second I heard the opening track I knew I'd be really liking this album. I don't have a huge review of this album, I just enjoyed it a lot. It's exactly the sound I'm into and it was cool to hear it from an artist I'd never heard of before.

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Mon Apr 24 2023
5

I can't say I'd heard of Bad Brains before, so I wasn't sure what exactly to expect. This turned out to be a pleasant surprise - an absolute rush of punk rock with some funk and reggae elements. This was an interesting and energetic album throughout, and I've gotta say I really enjoyed this one. Favourite: I Against I

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Thu Jun 01 2023
5

Really refreshing punk music — I’ve put my punk listening on pause for a while and this reminds me of what I’ve been missing and then some. Increasingly frenetic and firmly on the pulse in the nation’s capital. The kind of punk album I’d put in a Time Capsule for Martians to listen to to get a taste of the US that has a fair balance of our rough history as well as impressive creative exploits made in spite of and because of it. The message of Bad Brains’ music is influenced by the musicians’ Rastafarian faith, so it’s more positive than other hardcore groups. I appreciate that because I like hardcore music but don’t like the lyrics usually. Secret 77 is a bop.

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Thu Jun 29 2023
5

Their best album? It is the only one I know (apart from the Banned in DC compilation), but I would not be surprised if it is true. It is a bit of a mix between hardcore and some kind of funk metal. Very strong songwriting, so much better than all the numerous bands it has inspired - on which I am usually less keen.

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Sat Jul 01 2023
5

stupendous. dreadlocks and mohawks! 5 stars.

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Tue Jul 04 2023
5

Slaps so hard. Hardcore is my favorite subgenre of punk, and this album is an iconic example of it. Mixing in the reggae/funk elements adds so much to it.

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Fri Aug 25 2023
5

Seminal album in the history of music.

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Mon Sep 11 2023
5

- I love this shit. It felt exciting and fresh. Very varied too. Reminded a bit of faith no more at times. She's calling you was a highlight.

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Fri Sep 15 2023
5

This goes so hard and hits so well.

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Sat Sep 16 2023
5

Big fan of Bad Brains. Had this one on vinyl back in the day. HR's vocals are so memorable and infectious. But I'm kinda confused as to why this album is on the list vs their self titled debut from '82, which I think is much more potent. This album has them leaning more into metal, and I suppose it might be more innovative, even influential, in that way, but I guess I prefer them more strictly hardcore. I'm with Adam Yauch in that I think the "yellow album" is the best hardcore punk album of all time. "I against I" shows they were at least as versatile as they were ferocious. This 5 stars is for all of Bad Brains since this is, unfortunately, their only showing on the list.

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Thu Oct 05 2023
5

Really great punk music. It’s amazing how they can seamlessly switch from different parts of the song so fast. The reggae elements feel more minor and woven in, too, which is nice. Don’t have any other thoughts, but I like this.

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Wed Oct 18 2023
5

Another boom dropped by Bad Brains. This one is less hardcore, little more experimental. A total boost of adrenaline.

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Mon Dec 18 2023
5

I'm really surprised I hadn't already heard of this album or group. I'm further surprised that, for once, I hear "oh so and so must have been inspired by this" in the album but do not conclude "and did it better...maybe this was better in its time" - this album is still good IMO. Re-Ignition and Hired Gun are highlights with the intro and Let Me Help as lowlights but still decent. 4.5

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Mon Jan 22 2024
5

If you don't like this album, you don't get it. You never will.

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Fri Mar 15 2024
5

I must admit. Ive only heard them in the background before, never actively listened. This was pretty rad, to say the very least.

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Wed Nov 04 2020
4

Only ever listened to "Pay to Cum", so it's fun listening to this because I can hear how it influenced other bands I like (Faith No More and Deftones, for sure). It's extremely unique, with some crazy vocals. I'm not a huge reggae guy, but I love the little splashes thrown on this record. Favorite tracks: "Secret 77", "Re-Ignition"

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Sun Apr 11 2021
4

Good but not essential bad brains.

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Mon Feb 01 2021
4

Bängeri! Kovaa punkkia från 80-talet

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Thu Mar 25 2021
4

Me ha costado mucho entrar en su estilo, pero debo decir que es un disco muy bueno

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Tue May 11 2021
4

Never really listened to them but really enjoyed this

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Mon Apr 19 2021
4

Angrier, punkier, funkier TV on the Radio. Out of left field album - really impressive, but not sure if I would listen often.

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Mon Jul 05 2021
4

What a surprise from 1986. I thought this record was fun, and had some punk and solos to it.

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Sat Jul 10 2021
4

I feel like every band I ever saw at Warped Tour could trace their lineage back to this album. Very influential! I especially love the gang vocals and guitar riffs throughout.

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Tue May 11 2021
4

So much to like, such genre-crossing strength. Prodigious punk, hints of reggaeton, early alt-rock, uncaged aggression.

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Tue May 11 2021
4

Punk with face-melting, virtuosic heavy-metal guitar. I'm very into the vibe---with just 4 parts (drums, bass, 1 guitar, vocal, for most tracks I think) the mix is great. Lots of fast tracks, but track 4 e.g. is really groovy and catchy. Kind of a reggae groove to track 5---interesting change of pace and not *too* out of place. Track 7 has a very 80s vibe (think the Police plus hair rock). Track 9 is great, sounds a bit like a punkier Rush. I like the eclectic influences---I'd say the band is at its best when it sounds less like Van Halen, which fortunately is most of the time.

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Wed Jun 23 2021
4

Not as hardcore as we thought back in the day but still decent

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Tue Aug 03 2021
4

Incredibly influential and groundbreaking. The instrumentation and lyrics are great and catchy. I'm not too versed on the history of pop punk vocals, but I feel like this is a good place to start. Highlights: 2, 3, 4, and 7.

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Thu Aug 05 2021
4

- feels strongly influential. Sepultura / ska / metalcore - innovative and diverse, thoughtful

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Tue Aug 10 2021
4

August 9, 2021 (Aug 18) This was pretty good but I'm not a fan of the vocals.

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Thu Sep 02 2021
4

This really grew on me. I'll give it a low 4, I think. It was a 3 until late last night.

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Thu Sep 23 2021
4

4.3 - They've clearly earned their reputation for being amazing musicians - Bad Brains is head and shoulders above peer bands. The fact that Black Flag and other lesser bands get more accolades to me stinks of racism. Great to hear black rockers that put Washington, DC on the map.

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Fri Oct 08 2021
4

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: House of sufferig, Re-ignition, Sacred love, Hired gun

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Sun Nov 14 2021
4

A hardcore skeleton with all kinds of neat things hanging from the bones. I was unsure about everything but the energy in the first half; The second side brings that and a bunch of other musicianship as well.

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Thu Jan 06 2022
4

all over the shop & all the better for it

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Thu Jan 06 2022
4

Like a weird buffet of your favourite foods stuck on your plate in odd combinations. Rock, punk, rap, funk, metal, and a bit of leftover late 70's/early 80's sneaking in now and again. I enjoyed this more than I expected to.

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Thu Jan 06 2022
4

Already familiar with this brilliant album. Very pleased to know this is rated.

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Sat Mar 26 2022
4

Feels very similar to a lot of albums on here, probably cuz there's a lot of punk rock. Nice to know though.

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Thu Apr 14 2022
4

Leuke metal/punk. En TIL dat deze band aan de wieg stond van de Hardcore scene

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Wed Jun 01 2022
4

The last time I listened to these guys I found nothing to interest me. That was in 1985. This time they sound great!

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Thu Jun 02 2022
4

This may be the best Bad Brain release. Not quite the hardcore punk of their debut, they still played faster and more proficient than their punk forbearers. I remember travelling down to DC to see them and was blown away - especially by H.R.'s singing . While Dr. Know's guitar doesn't work for me as much when he stretches out as much as he does on this release, and it may be more metal than punk, but it is still damn good. I have to wonder if they would have received more mainstream play if they were a white punk band.

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Wed Jul 06 2022
4

Ja, Bad Brains vind ik goed. Ik ben erg benieuwd naar het album Bad Brains van Bad Brains, misschien is dat nog wel beter.

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Thu Jul 28 2022
4

Bad Brains is too cool - hardcore, metal, funk? This is probably not my favorite album, but lots of respect for the band's innovations. 3.5 and rounding up.

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Fri Sep 09 2022
4

This was really quirky rap/rock/metal. 4/5

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Wed Sep 14 2022
4

Ugh. Growing up two hours south of DC I heard about BB all the time and specifically the antics of the lead singer H.R. But I could never listen to them all the way through. Maybe I didn't try hard enough, or maybe this just isn't as hard as it once was because I made it all the way through and to my surprise, it's listenable. I suppose Bad Brains broke the stereotype of black musicians being permanently tied to soul, jazz, reggae or rap and probably influenced one of my favorite bands of the late 80's / early 90's Living Colour and Ice-T's Body Count among others. Happy to have rediscovered this with fresh ears. https://www.presspop.toys/products/4560247870461

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Thu Sep 15 2022
4

It's weird having this as the only Bad Brains album on the 1001 list, however it's still solid and quite underrated by most Bad Brains fans.

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Fri Sep 23 2022
4

Pretty solid hardcore! It's fun listening to records like this and noticing how it's sounds matriculated into other, more mainstream albums I've heard.

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Wed Sep 28 2022
4

Excellent hardcore punk, though it's clear it is a product of the mid 80s. I've always loved tracks 2, 3, 4 and 7 from the first listen however I think I may prefer the first two albums which include the odd dubby reggae number and where the production is more energetic and raw on the punk tracks. (4.0)

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Fri Oct 21 2022
4

A classic foundational album for so much of the music that I love. Standouts: I Against I, House of Suffering, Re-Ignition, Let Me Help, Sacred Love, Return To Heaven

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Sun Nov 27 2022
4

Probably the first Bad Brains I listened to. Regrettably I didn't properly get into the band until my mid-30s. I wish 13 year old me had better taste and better access to music. I had forgotten how melodic and almost metal this album was. Almost Misfits in places too. Worlds apart from their first album but listening to that straight after I Against I makes me appreciate how much they had grown in their sound

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Sun Jan 01 2023
4

Not what I was expecting at all. seems a complete fusion of so many genres it doesn't really matter what it's listed at.

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