Feature Song: Politicians In My Eyes by Death (1975/Tryangle Records/Detroit, MI)

Hey, remember when I said I was gonna talk about more things that happened in Detroit from the late 60s to early 70s and then completely forgot about it? Well the band I wanted to talk about was Death.

In 1964, David, Bobby and Dannis Hackney watched The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. Shortly thereafter, David spotted a guitar neck sticking out of a dumpster in an alleyway. To his delight, he discovered there was a guitar body attached, and immediately went about learning to play guitar. Bobby and Dannis also wanted to get in on the music thing and took up bass and drums, respectively. In late 1970, their mother got into a car accident, leading to a significant settlement the following year. She then gave her boys some money to buy the best equipment they could afford. With their new instruments and amplifiers, they began performing at neighborhood block parties as The RockFire Funk Express. In 1973, the brothers saw The Who live in concert, and started to move away from the Funk sound at practice. After taking in some Alice Cooper records, they decided to become a Rock band.

Tragedy struck the Hackney family in 1974, when their father was killed in a workplace accident. The sudden death of their father had a profound effect on David, who suggested changing the band name. According to Bobby, David's intent was to change people's perception of death to something more positive. With a new name, a new sound, and a new internal philosophy, Death stuck out like a sore thumb among their contemporaries in the dominantly-black East side of Detroit. Local venues were hesitant to book them, as their clientele were mostly interested in R&B. When they were able to book gigs, they would regularly receive pushback from the audience. Many voices in their community pressured them to abandon Rock music, as it had long since abandoned its black roots. But David was convinced that what he and his brothers were doing was genuinely revolutionary, and the pressure to stop from their peers only motivated them to keep going.

When the band was ready to record, they picked a label by pinning entries from the phone book to a wall and throwing a dart. The dart landed on Groovesville Productions, who signed the band in late '74 and put them to work the United Sound recording studio. The Hackney Brothers, who were between 17-21 years old, were sharing a studio with the likes of Funkadelic and Gladys Knight. During these recording sessions, Death caught the attention of record executives Brian Spears and Don Davis. They liked the band's sound, but thought Groovesville was too small to give this all-black rock band the big break they deserved. Don Davis then took the Hackney brothers to New York, where they met Arista Records president Clive Davis. Clive was impressed with the tapes they brought with them, but wouldn't offer a recording contract unless they changed their name. According to Bobby, David's response was "Hell no!" And with that, Death was kicked out of Arista records with only 7 of their intended 12 songs recorded. After an unsuccessful search for a new label, the Hackney brothers decided to found their own, releasing 500 copies of Politicians In My Eyes/Keep On Knocking on Tryangle Records in 1976.

With a single under their belts, the Hackneys had to go about getting it played on local radio. This presented even more difficulty, and not only because of the name of the band or the col9r of their skin. Radio was changing, and not just because of new music. The late 60s/early 70s saw a major shift in how music was chosen. While radio stations often worked to promote acts in particular genres from particular labels, playlists were still mostly constructed by the DJ's themselves. The more modern Top 40 format evolved out of Boss Radio, where playlists are handed down from executives. Needless to say, those executives were far less likely to give Death a chance than a DJ might have just a few years prior. On top of that, 1976 was the year Johnnie Taylor released Disco Lady, one of the songs that kicked off the disco boom of the late 70s. Many stations in Detroit that would have featured an all-black Rock band like Death began to shift toward a more Disco-oriented format.

After the frustrations of 1976, a distant relative offered the Hackneys a visit to their home in Vermont. The brothers decided to spend a few weeks in Vermont to clear their heads. A few weeks became a few months, and a few months quickly snowballed into over 30 years. While Death never officially broke up, they mostly agree that 1977 was the year they called it quits. While Death was no more, the Hackney brothers continued making music, releasing two Gospel albums as The 4th Movement in 1980 and 1981. After David moved back to Detroit in 1982, Bobby and Dannis formed Reggae outfit Lambsbread, who are still active. When David Hackney died of lung cancer in 2000, it seemed like Death was done for good and their memory would fade. Indeed, Bobby and Dannis never told their children about their time as a rock band.

In 2008, Bobby Hackney's son Julian heard Politicians in My Eyes/Keep on Knocking at a party in San Francisco and recognized his father's voice. He showed the song to his brothers, and Bobby Jr discovered that the single had become sought after by Punk fans. Bobby Jr convinced his father and uncle to dig out the old master tapes, and the surviving members of Death realized David was right. Their music truly was revolutionary, it was Punk before Punk was codified. The newfound acclaim was shocking to the elder Hackneys, who reformed Death along with Bobbie Duncan on guitar in 2009. This also encouraged Bobby Hackney's sons to form their own band, Rough Francis, who are still active today.

And that's the story of the first all-black Punk band.

Next Time: The Long And Complicated History of Punk Rock on Television.