I Luv I Jah

from the cassette Bad Brains, ROIR Records, 1982



I know that yesterday’s entry will only appeal, musically, to a small handful…so, I felt it was necessary to give all the uninitiated a taste of the Bad Brains’ other side. Played back to back, you get some indication of how varied their live shows were---raging fast hardcore one second, and stonerific dubby reggae the next. The punk scene in Britain was already well-stewed in reggae music and culture thanks to their massive population of immigrants from the West Indies, and that cross-cultural mix of seemingly dissimilar styles was exactly what compelled the Bad Brains to aim for the top in both disciplines here at home in the USA. The song drifts into existence on a cushion of cymbals and echoed guitar, proclamations of love for Jah. H.R. shows a nice range in singing here (if you only listened to their hardcore tracks you’d never know it), and the easygoing upbeat vibes always put a smile on my face, “…walking down Babylon lane, me trying to live my life in peace, two young men call me not their brother, they try to make I feel ashamed…but I love I Jah, ye-ah, he tells me not to be that way; I love I Jah, ye-ah, I gotta keep my P.M.A…” The acronym ‘PMA’ stands for Positive Mental Atittude, and at the risk of sounding like some corny-ass counselor, I have to admit that their songs have always had the impact of lifting my mood merely by reminding me that the attitude I have walking around this world is entirely up to me. The serene atmosphere continues on, “…my lovely sister, judge me by my clothes, yeah, only to learn of her mistake, not everyone’s alike; we’re not all uptight, ah no fuss no fight…cool that way, let me tell you ‘bout the cool that way…” The band itself is in top form here, easily walking alongside other top-notch reggae and dub productions of the time; the real show-stealer is Darryl Jenifer on the bass, taking joyfully unpredictable turns throughout but never losing the groove. As much as I love hardcore and punk, it was the Bad Brains’ dubwise interludes that provided me the perfect break I needed within all the madness; all of this, while at the same time bulldozing what people thought they knew about black musicians. Talk about ahead of their time!