These cats are in the Motor City making proto-punk and no mention of MC5 or The Stooges? Are we really to believe these guys, living in the early 70's in the protopunk epicenter, weren't digging on the 5 or Stooges? This is like saying you are a band in Liverpool in 1964 and you aren't digging on The Beatles.
It seems like it was a choice by the filmmaker to make it seem like Death were existing in an artistic vacuum.
I totally agree.. If they were into the Stooges or MC5 it would have been interesting to hear why they didn't try to hook up somehow... maybe it was the color thing... But their problem seems pretty simple -- their name. The Stooges, Ramones, MC5, ect were all on major labels. No label was going to put out a band called Death in 1975. And there weren't any indies to speak of. Too bad David didn't see a cloud that reminded him of something else...
shareThere was an interview with Wayne Kramer from MC5 that was cut for whatever reason. I saw this at a film festival tonight, where there was a brief Q&A afterwards. It was asked if they were influenced at all by MC5 or the Stooges. The oldest brother (that wasn't in the band) said he didn't know, but the director did point out (like the other poster) about the brief scene in the movie, the interview that was cut, and also that the brothers did see MC5 in concert. Iggy Pop was mentioned in the Q&A also but I can't remember the context (if Iggy Pop was a fan now, or if that was one of the bands the brothers all went to see).
The unmedicated life is not worth living.
They mentioned listening to CKLW. The Big 8 didn't play bands like the MC5 and The Stooges. Similar to Detroit Rock Stations in the late 70's and 80's would never play The Ramones or anything out of their comfort zone. Perhaps they never heard the MC5 or Stooges? I grew up in that era and never heard the Stooges until the early to mid 80's when I was in College.
Detroit radio sucked. And still does
Opinions are made to be changed - or how is truth to be got at?
I had wondered that myself. But then again, Detroit was a much larger city back then, so it's quite possible that they missed those bands, especially thinking of their city as Motown Land. And it's quite possible that David, as the ringleader, simply never thought to try to link up with those bands. It sounds like Death had a very insular attitude in those days after all. Wish the movie had it explored that a bit though.
shareThey pretty much said it all when they said they were a Black band playing punk . This was the mid-Seventies. This band didn't fit any demographic that THE STUDIOS could fit them in. Music was still very limited in the vision they had for artists. They weren't even used to White people singing R&B outside of The Average White Band and disco performers. Black people playing Rock or Punk was too weird for them even though Jimi Hendricks was already a legend. Punk wasn't;even mainstream back then even though there were bands signed on to major labels.
In other words, the music industry was too stupid to know what to do with them. If they were White, they would've been successful. It's really sad because if they had started just maybe ten years later. They probably would've made it even tough they were Black. Wrong place, wrong time. But at least they're finally getting recognition.
But in showbiz, it takes a lot more than talent and being signed to a label to make it. They probably just didn't have the local support that would get them noticed. I think it might have been better if they had a manager before they were signed to drum up some loyal fans. Back then a lot of rock bands got a buzz going by playing in a lot of clubs. They might not have been able to get into the White rock clubs back then because the club owners probably never heard of Black groups playing punk and assumed they were some kid of novelty; if they had even heard of them.