op-ed: a fantasy set-list of deep cuts for the bad brains/living colour/fishbone powerjam at afropunk 2016 #soundcheck

This year, AFROPUNK is bringing together the holy trinity of Bad Brains, Living Colour, and Fishbone for a super jam at the 2016 Festival. Will they play “Cult of Personality” “Everyday Sunshine” and “I Against I?” Probably. We’re pretty psyched. But here are 12 deep cuts that rarely get brought out that we’re hoping to hear too.

1. Living Colour – A? Of When
Frontman Corey Glover delivers the most aggressive vocal of his career on this standout industrial-leaning cut from Collideøscope. With one of the noisiest arrangements the band ever recorded, it’d be hard to pull off live, but maybe having a few extra hands on stage will make it happen.

2. Bad Brains – Send You No Flowers
Recorded in 1979, this track shows HR at his HRiest. Jumping from accusatory “you acts as if you know it all” to mocking before going completely off the rails. And that opening guitar line! The fact that this song didn’t see light until the mid-90’s deprived a decade of some of the best hardcore there ever was.

3. Fishbone – DUI Friday
Telling the story of a fucked up night out drinking, this track off 2011’s Crazy Glue kicks off with a slinky riff and a badass horn riff before climaxing in a car crash and a news crew in a helicopter. Also there’s a theremin. Most songs are better when they have a theremin part.

4. Living Colour – Bi


Due to a lawsuit from the band The Stain, Living Colour’s 1993 record Stain spent almost 20 years out print. And it’s a damn shame, because the record has some gems. Adding thrash and industrial flourishes to the band’s sound, Stain is definitely Living Colour’s darkest record. But it also contains this glorious anthem to bisexuality. 


5. Fishbone – In the Heat of Anger
This song was only ever released on the Japanese release of The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx, but it’s some of Fishbone’s best ska-punk. It’s got all the joy and weirdness and hooks that Fishbone does better than pretty much anyone else out there. And like just about everything off of Psychotic Friends, it’s begging for more musicians on stage.

6. Bad Brains – Return to Heaven
Earl Hudson’s known for impossible feats of drum heroics, but here it’s his stripped-back massive groove that demands attention, simply locking in with Darryl Jenifer in rhythm section perfection. HR’s vocals are some of the catchiest he ever recorded. The song is the band’s most perfect union of hardcore and reggae.

7. Living Colour – Elvis Is Dead
With a little help from Little fucking Richard, Living Colour bury Elvis. The lyrics riff on Public Enemy (“Elvis was a hero to most / But that’s beside the point”) and Paul Simon while pointing out that Elvis built his career by copying from black artists. Driving home the point, Little Richard delivers some of his trademark “oohs” over the band at the apex of their funk-metal riffage.

8. Bad Brains – Cool Mountaineer
What is a cool mountaineer? Who cares. This song is amazing.


9. Fishbone – Movement In The Light


Maybe the most beautiful song Fishbone ever recorded, this song off 1986’s In Your Face showcases a rarely seen side of Angelo Moore. Fish keeps his drums punchy and powerful, keeping this song from shifting into a cheesy 80’s ballad. The tension between Chris Dowd’s keyboards and Fish’s insistent drums gives the song the hint of darkness that keeps it grounded. 


10. Living Colour – DecaDance
Over a primal stomp, Vernon Reid contorts his guitar into impossible shapes while Corey Glover screams out against greed and economic inequality. It’s ferocious and triumphant and proof that the band was as fierce in 2009 as in1989. That riff would scream in the hands of Dr. Know or Darryl Jenifer.

11. Bad Brains – Youth of Today
This track off of 2012’s Into the Future kicks off with some straight-ahead punk rock before deconstructing itself. First it shifts into funk-meta before going full reggae. The band is maybe the most optimistic about that they’ve ever sounded.

12. Fishbone – Black Flowers
D’Angelo brought Angelo Moore on stage during his super jam with The Roots at the 2014 Festival to do a spell-binding rendition of “Black Flowers,” so maybe it’s too much to ask Living Colour and Bad Brains to do the same. But a man can’t dream, can’t he?